Top 250 Tv Shows Like Criminal Activities

Leave the crime to the criminals

A list of the best tv shows similar to Criminal Activities. If you liked Criminal Activities then you may also like: The Wire, The Blacklist, Kin, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and many more great tv shows featured on this list.

The Wire

Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.

The Blacklist

Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.

Kin

The lives of a Dublin family embroiled in a gangland war and the consequences of their choices.

Breaking Bad

Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family's financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime.

The Sopranos

The story of New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. Those difficulties are often highlighted through his ongoing professional relationship with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The show features Tony's family members and Mafia associates in prominent roles and story arcs, most notably his wife Carmela and his cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

True Detective

An American anthology police detective series utilizing multiple timelines in which investigations seem to unearth personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within or outside the law.

13 Reasons Why

After a teenage girl's perplexing suicide, a classmate receives a series of tapes that unravel the mystery of her tragic choice.

The Affair

The Affair explores the emotional effects of an extramarital relationship between Noah Solloway and Alison Lockhart after the two meet in the resort town of Montauk in Long Island. Noah is a New York City schoolteacher with one novel published (book entitled A Person who Visits a Place) and he is struggling to write a second book. He is happily married with four children, but resents his dependence on his wealthy father-in-law. Alison is a young waitress trying to piece her life and marriage back together in the wake of the tragic death of her child. The story of the affair is told separately, complete with distinct memory biases, from the male and female perspectives.

Alias

Sydney Bristow, an agent who has been tricked to believe she is working for the U.S. government, is actually working for a criminal organization named the Alliance of Twelve. Upon learning this, Sydney becomes a double agent for the real CIA.

American Gothic

A prominent Boston family attempts to redefine itself in the wake of a chilling discovery that links their recently deceased patriarch to a string of murders spanning decades — amid the mounting suspicion that one of them may have been his accomplice.

Angel

The vampire Angel, cursed with a soul, moves to Los Angeles and aids people with supernatural-related problems while questing for his own redemption. A spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Black Donnellys

Meet the Donnelly brothers: Tommy, Jimmy, Kevin and Sean. There is nothing these four Irish brothers wouldn't do to protect each other, and for them that means lying, cheating, stealing and, occasionally, calling the cops. Narrated by wannabe gangster Joey "Ice Cream," this gritty series bears witness to the Donnelly brothers' sudden involvement in organized crime, focusing on how they go from boys to mobsters, and showing how their new life affects their relationships with friends, family and lovers.

Blossom

Blossom is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC from January 3, 1991, to May 22, 1995. The series was created by Don Reo, and starred Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, a teenager living with her father and two brothers. It was produced by Reo's Impact Zone Productions in association with Witt/Thomas Productions and Touchstone Television.

Boardwalk Empire

Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition is a place where the rules don't apply. And the man who runs things -- legally and otherwise -- is the town's treasurer, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, who is equal parts politician and gangster.

F is for Family

Follow the Murphy family back to the 1970s, when kids roamed wild, beer flowed freely and nothing came between a man and his TV.

Gangs of London

When the head of a criminal organisation, Finn Wallace is assassinated, the sudden power vacuum his death creates threatens the fragile peace between the intricate web of gangs operating on the streets of the city. Now it’s up to the grieving, volatile and impulsive Sean Wallace to restore control and find those responsible for killing his father.

Kingpin

Kingpin is an American crime drama television series which debuted on the NBC network in the U.S. and CTV in Canada on February 2, 2003 and lasted 6 episodes. NBC's answer to The Sopranos and also influenced by The Godfather, Macbeth and Traffik, the story was about a Mexican drug trafficker named Miguel Cadena and his family life. It was to be followed by a television series, but low ratings canceled those plans. Commercials for the mini-series on NBC featured the song "Más" by the Mexican band Kinky.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Liberty Street

Liberty Street was a Canadian drama television series, which aired on CBC Television in 1995. Produced by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler, the team behind the long-running Degrassi series of television shows, Liberty Street was an attempt to create a similar series depicting the lives of a group of young adults living on their own for the first time. The pilot film, X-Rated, aired in 1994 and was developed into an 11-episode series. The cast included Henriette Ivanans, Joel Bissonnette, Billy Merasty, Kimberly Huie and Pat Mastroianni. Parts of the show were shot in and around the Liberty Village area of Toronto.

Millennium

A retired FBI serial-profiler joins the mysterious Millennium Group, a team of underground ex-law enforcement experts dedicated to fighting against the ever-growing forces of evil and darkness in the world.

MINDHUNTER

An agent in the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit develops profiling techniques as he pursues notorious serial killers and rapists.

The O.C.

Ryan Atwood, a teen from the wrong side of the tracks, moves in with a wealthy family willing to give him a chance. But Ryan's arrival disturbs the status quo of the affluent, privileged community of Newport Beach, California.

The Player

An action-packed Las Vegas thriller about a former military operative turned security expert who is drawn into a high-stakes game where an organization of wealthy individuals gamble on his ability to stop some of the biggest crimes imaginable from playing out. Can he take them down from the inside and get revenge for the death of his wife, or is it true what they say: the House always wins.

Marvel's The Punisher

A former Marine out to punish the criminals responsible for his family's murder finds himself ensnared in a military conspiracy.

Quantico

A diverse group of recruits has arrived at the FBI Quantico Base for training. They are the best, the brightest and the most vetted, so it seems impossible that one of them is suspected of masterminding the biggest attack on New York City since 9/11.

Scream: The TV Series

What starts as a YouTube video going viral, soon leads to problems for the teenagers of Lakewood and serves as the catalyst for a murder that opens up a window to the town's troubled past. Everyone has secrets. Everyone tells lies. Everyone is fair game.

The Shield

The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.

Sons of Anarchy

An adrenalized drama with darkly comedic undertones that explores a notorious outlaw motorcycle club’s (MC) desire to protect its livelihood while ensuring that their simple, sheltered town of Charming, California remains exactly that, charming. The MC must confront threats from drug dealers, corporate developers, and overzealous law officers. Behind the MC’s familial lifestyle and legally thriving automotive shop is a ruthless and illegal arms business driven by the seduction of money, power, and blood.

Spooks

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

Twin Peaks

The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.

Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.

A chronicle of the two major police investigations by LAPD Detective Greg Kading into the deaths of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.

Vegas

Ralph Lamb wants to be left in peace to run his ranch, but Las Vegas is now swelling with outsiders and corruption which are intruding on his simple life. Recalling Lamb's command as a military police officer during World War II, the Mayor appeals to his sense of duty to look into a murder of a casino worker – and so begins Lamb’s clash with Vincent Savino, a ruthless Chicago gangster who plans to make Vegas his own.

NYPD Blue

Police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwined several plots involving an ensemble cast.

Renegade

Framed for murder, Detective Reno Raines becomes a fugitive bounty hunter who fights crime while trying to clear his name. His troubles began after he testified about police corruption, leading Lt. Donald Dixon to set him up.

John from Cincinnati

In Imperial Beach, California, the Yosts—a dysfunctional family of surfers—intersect with two new arrivals to the community: a dim-but-wealthy surfing enthusiast and man spurned by the Yosts years ago.

Miami Vice

The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.

Brotherhood

A working-class Irish family rules a city built on loyalty and corruption. The Caffee brothers, Tommy, a rising politician desperate for reelection, and Michael, a hardened criminal returning from seven years on the run and eager to reclaim his turf, fight for survival on opposite sides of the law. In their ruthless quest for power, the entire Caffee family is driven to lies, betrayal and infidelity -- threatening to tear them and the city of Providence, RI apart.

Reunion

Reunion is an American television series that aired on FOX in late 2005. The series was intended to chronicle 20 years in the lives of a group of six high school friends from Bedford, New York, with each episode following one year in the lives of the six, beginning with their high school graduation year 1986. Each episode also featured scenes in the present where Detective Marjorino is investigating the brutal murder of one of the group during the night of their 20-year class reunion in 2006. The identity of the murder victim was not revealed until the fifth episode, "1990". Due to low ratings, the series was canceled after only nine episodes, and the identity of the killer remained unrevealed in the aired episodes.

The Untouchables

Special Agent Eliot Ness and his elite team of incorruptible agents battle organized crime in 1930s Chicago.

Push, Nevada

A mild-mannered IRS agent travels to a remote desert region in search of missing money and stumbles into a strange small town where mystery, danger, and peculiar characters lurk around every off-kilter corner. Everyone in Push has a secret, but no one is talking … unless they're telling our man to get out of town, fast.

Meadowlands

The Brogan family enters a witness protection program and are moved to a bucolic neighborhood to begin a new life, but they soon realize that it's not so easy to escape the past.

Spicy City

Spicy City is an animated television series which was created by Ralph Bakshi for HBO. The series lasted for one season which consisted of six episodes.

The Untouchables

The Untouchables is an American crime drama series that aired for two seasons in syndication, from January 1993 to May 1994. The series portrayed work of the real life Untouchables federal investigative squad in Prohibition-era Chicago and its efforts against Al Capone's attempts to profit from the market in bootleg liquor. The series features Tom Amandes as Eliot Ness and William Forsythe as Al Capone, and was based on the 1959 series and 1987 film of the same name.

Human Trafficking

The story of an American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent going undercover to stop an organization from trafficking people, and the struggles of three trafficked women.

Vanishing Son

Vanishing Son is a short-lived syndicated action television series that was part of Universal Television's Action Pack. Starting as a series of four made for television movies in 1994, the series debuted on January 16, 1995. Vanishing Son I, Vanishing Son II, Vanishing Son III, and Vanishing Son IV, were aired on February 28, July 18, July 25, and October 10, 1994, respectively. The series was ground-breaking for the casting of an Asian male in an attractive leading-man role.

Traffik

Traffik is a 1989 British television serial about the illegal drugs trade. Its three stories are interwoven, with arcs told from the perspectives of Afghan and Pakistani growers and manufacturers, German dealers, and British users. It was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, winning three. It also won an International Emmy Award for best drama. The 2000 crime drama film Traffic, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was based on this television serial. In turn, the 2004 American television miniseries Traffic was based on both versions.

Funland

Funland is a comedy thriller serial, produced by the BBC, about a detective who arrives in Blackpool to find the killer of his mother with only the flimsiest of clues to go on. It was first screened from 23 October 2005 to 7 November 2005, on the digital channel BBC Three. Created by Jeremy Dyson and Simon Ashdown, the series consists of a fifty-minute opening episode followed by ten half-hour installments.

The Line

The Line is a Canadian television drama series, which debuted on Movie Central and The Movie Network on March 16, 2009. Created by George F. Walker and Dani Romain, the series is being produced by The Nightingale Company, and shot by Richmond Street Films. The program was originally announced under the working title The Weight.

The Silence

Drama about a deaf girl who witnesses the audacious murder of a policewoman.

The Shadow Line

A murder is investigated by both sides of the line, cops and criminals, using opposing methods. But the real line is the morality within each person and how far they will go before they cross it.

Magic City

Set in 1959 Miami, Florida shortly after the Cuban Revolution, Magic City tells the story of Ike Evans, the owner of Miami's most glamorous hotel, the Miramar Playa. Evans is forced to make an ill-fated deal with Miami mob boss Ben Diamond to ensure the success of his glitzy establishment.

Femme Fatales

This provocative hit series tells the stories of dangerous women who find extraordinary ways of coping with their problems, channeling their survival instincts and bringing out their inner guile.

Top Boy

A thrilling and raw crime drama following a gang of drug dealers in Hackney, London - an honest and gripping rendition of inner-city drug and gang culture.

Mob City

The true story of a decades-long conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department, under the determined leadership of Police Chief William Parker, and ruthless criminal elements led by Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of L.A.'s criminal world. The series is a fast-paced crime drama set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and '50s. It's a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.

Top of the Lake

A woman haunted by her past, Detective Robin Griffin, investigates complex and unsettling cases.

Power

A successful New York entrepreneur lives a double life as the head of a drug empire that serves only the rich and influential, all while wanting to escape the underworld and keep his family safe.

Hostages

A high-octane suspense drama that centers on Dr. Ellen Sanders, a premier surgeon thrust into a chilling political conspiracy when she and her family are held captive in their home by rogue FBI Agent Duncan Carlisle, a desperate man doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, who orders Dr. Sanders to assassinate the President when she operates on him.

Mafia's Greatest Hits

Uncovers the extraordinary truth behind some of the Mafia's most notorious outlaws, and reveals how the FBI and law enforcement developed the techniques to crack the organization and bring it to justice. This is the story of the rise and fall of the Mafia, told by the people who brought it down.

El Señor de los Cielos

Set in the 1990s, these are the life and times of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, a man who became the head of the Juárez cartel. Nicknamed “El Señor de los Cielos” (Lord of the Skies) because of the large fleet of airplanes he used to transport drugs, he was also known for washing more than $200 million through Colombia to finance his huge fleet. He is described as the most powerful drug trafficker of his time.

Narcos

A gritty chronicle of the war against Colombia's infamously violent and powerful drug cartels.

The Mafia with Trevor McDonald

Trevor McDonald embarks on an eye-opening journey inside the secretive world of the American Mafia, gaining unprecedented access to people who have experienced first-hand, the money, glamour and violence of the United States’ most famous organised crime network. In this two-part documentary series, Trevor delves into the lives of people with a fascinating story to tell, some of whom have never appeared on television before.

Slasher

Thirty years ago, in the sleepy community of Waterbury, a killer known as “The Executioner” murdered Sarah Bennett's parents. Now Sarah and her husband Dylan have returned to town, only to find herself the centerpiece in a series of horrifying murders centered around the seven deadly sins.

Case

A dramatic thriller about a broken lawyer who seeks redemption through his investigation into the suspicious suicide of a teenage ballet prodigy.

In the Dark

DI Helen Weeks grapples with pregnancy as she undertakes a very personal abduction case.

Bad Blood

A dramatization of the life and death of Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto.

Caught

David Slaney escapes from jail and attempts to hook up with his partner for one last deal, while evading the detective on his trail. Based on the novel by Lisa Moore.

Drug Lords

Witness the stories of history's most notorious kingpins, their terrifying enforcers, and the men and women who've sworn to bring them down.

Condor

Young CIA analyst Joe Turner has his idealism tested when he learns that the CIA has been using an algorithm he developed to spy on American citizens, leading the organization to a terrorist plot that threatens the lives of millions. Inspired by Sydney Pollack’s 1975 political thriller Three Days of the Condor.

Impulse

16-year-old Henry Coles is an outsider in her new town of Reston, New York. With a major chip on her shoulder and no friends, she remains withdrawn and isolated, but everything changes when a traumatic encounter with a classmate triggers something deep within Henry— unleashing a power she cannot control.

Too Old to Die Young

Detective Martin Jones, who leads a double life as a killer for hire in Los Angeles' deadly underground, suffers an existential crisis which leads him deeper into a blood splattered world of violence.

I Am the Night

Fauna Hodel, who was given away by her teenage birth mother, begins to investigate the secrets to her past, following a sinister trail that swirls ever closer to an infamous Hollywood gynecologist connected to the legendary Black Dahlia murder.

Your Honor

New Orleans judge Michael Desiato is forced to confront his own deepest convictions when his son is involved in a hit and run that embroils an organized crime family.

Briarpatch

Dogged investigator Allegra Dill returns to her border-town Texas home after her sister is murdered. What begins as a search for a killer turns into an all-consuming fight to bring her corrupt hometown to its knees.

Jett

Fresh out of prison, world-class thief Daisy ”Jett” Kowalski is forced back into doing what she does best by dangerous and eccentric criminals determined to exploit her skills for their own ends.

Godfather of Harlem

Loosely based on infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who in the early 1960s returned from ten years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy attempts to regain his piece of Harlem.

ZeroZeroZero

Based on the book of the same name by bestselling author Roberto Saviano, ZeroZeroZero is an unforgettable exploration of the inner workings of the global cocaine trade.

Defending Jacob

A family's lives are irreparably disrupted when the 14-year-old son is accused of murdering a fellow classmate.

Obliterated

A special forces team thwarts a deadly plot in Sin City and parties accordingly. But when the real threat emerges, they must sober up to save Las Vegas.

The Stranger

A web of secrets sends family man Adam Price on a desperate quest to uncover the truth about the people closest to him.

Clarice

In 1993, six months after the events of The Silence of the Lambs, FBI Agent Clarice Starling returns to the field to pursue serial murderers and sexual predators while navigating the high stakes political world of Washington, D.C.

BMF

The drug trafficking drama is inspired by the true story of two brothers who rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980s and gave birth to one of the most influential crime families in the country. It revolves around brothers Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory, who together took their vision beyond the drug trade and into the world of hip-hop. The drama, per Starz, will tell a story about love, family and capitalism in the pursuit of the American dream.

Fear City: New York vs The Mafia

New York City in the 1970s was ruled with a bloody fist by five mafia families, until a group of federal agents tried the unthinkable: taking them down.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

In a dystopia riddled with corruption and cybernetic implants, a talented but reckless street kid strives to become a mercenary outlaw — an edgerunner.

La Bruja

La Bruja is a 2011 Colombian telenovela starring Flora Martínez, based on the novel of the same name by Colombian writer Germán Castro Caycedo.

Mayor of Kingstown

In a small Michigan town where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry, the McClusky family are the power brokers between the police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians in a city completely dependent on prisons and the prisoners they contain.

Narco Wars

Narco Wars explores how opportunistic smuggling networks in Latin America turned into powerful and ruthless drug cartels with the power to destabilize and tear apart whole countries. The series combines gripping access to cartel members and the law enforcement agencies opposing them with a deep dive documentary exploration of the geo-political, social and cultural factors that led the cartels' rise.

Face to Face

Bjørn investigates the killing of his daughter. People around him believe she might have committed suicide, but he doesn't accept that. Both the stakes and the suspense rise relentlessly as Bjørn inches closer to the truth.

We Own This City

The story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force — and the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work.

Black Bird

As Jimmy Keene begins a 10-year prison sentence, he gets an incredible offer: If he can elicit a confession from suspected killer Larry Hall, Jimmy will be freed. Completing this mission becomes the challenge of a lifetime.

En la Boca del Lobo

Based on a true story and the book, At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel by award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel, En la Boca del Lobo follows the series of events that ultimately lead to the dramatic downfall of Colombia’s infamous Cali drug cartel. The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, an engineer and soldier who rises ranks and became in charge of the security of the godfather of the Cali Cartel, one of the largest criminal organizations in the world and rival of the Medellin Cartel.

Last King of the Cross

Inspired by John Ibrahim's best-selling autobiography, this series is an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim who organize the street but lose each other in their ascent to power. The story tracks John Ibrahim's rise from a poverty-stricken immigrant with no education, no money, and no prospects, to Australia's most infamous nightclub mogul in Sydney's Kings Cross — a mini-Atlantic City, barely half a mile long with every form of criminality on offer.

Rabbit Hole

Nothing is what it seems when John Weir, a master of deception in the world of corporate espionage, is framed for murder by powerful forces with the ability to influence and control populations.

The Penguin

Witness the The Penguin's rise to power in Gotham's criminal underworld in the aftermath of the Riddler killings.

The Most Hated Man on the Internet

Determined to remove her daughter's photos from a revenge porn website, a persistent mother launches an online crusade to shut down its cruel founder.

Bookie

A veteran bookie struggles to survive the impending legalization of sports gambling, increasingly unstable clients, family, co-workers, and a lifestyle that bounces him around every corner of Los Angeles, high and low.

The Brothers Sun

When a mysterious enemy targets his family, a Taipei triad member heads to Los Angeles to protect his strong-willed mother and oblivious younger brother.

Get Gotti

Murder. Extortion. Drug smuggling. Racketeering. The charges are mounting against John Gotti — but will any of them stick to the "Teflon Don"? Told from both sides of the law, this docuseries from the makers of "Fear City" follows the FBI's battle to bring down infamous mob boss.

Facing Destiny

A youth named Diego (David Chocarro) was released from prison, 20 years after being incarcerated. He was unjustly accused of a school massacre. Soon after his release, he finds himself entangled in a series of conspiracies and intrigues. With the help of his psychiatrist, Antonia(Maritza Rodriguez), he begins to uncover the mysteries surrounding the massacre.

Sort results by:

X close
Clear filters
...