Top 250 Tv Shows Like P.I. Private Investigations

An edge-of-your-seat view into the lives of everyday heroes committed to one of America's noblest professions. For the firefighters, rescue squad and paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51, no occupation is more stressful or dangerous, yet so rewarding and exhilarating. These courageous men and women are among the elite who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death.

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.

A first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat following Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. Based on Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction book of the same name.

A close-knit anthology series dealing with stories involving malice, violence and murder based in and around Minnesota.

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.

21 Jump Street revolves around a group of young cops who would use their youthful appearance to go undercover and solve crimes involving teenagers and young adults.

Baywatch Nights is an American police and science fiction drama series that aired in syndication from 1995 to 1997. Created by Douglas Schwartz, David Hasselhoff, and Gregory J. Bonann, the series is a spin-off from the popular television series, Baywatch.

Private detective Cassie Dewell partners with ex-cop Jenny Hoyt on a search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. When they discover that these are not the only girls who have disappeared in the area, they must race against the clock to stop the perpetrator before another woman is taken.

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

Jonathan Ames, a young Brooklyn writer, is feeling lost. He's just gone through a painful break-up, thanks in part to his drinking, can't write his second novel, and carouses too much with his magazine editor. Rather than face reality, Jonathan turns instead to his fantasies — moonlighting as a private detective — because he wants to be a hero and a man of action.

The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.

Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. He also appeared on two episodes of Barnaby Jones. Cannon is the first Quinn Martin-produced series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 124 episodes.

A riveting police drama about the men and women of the Chicago Police Department's District 21 who put it all on the line to serve and protect their community. District 21 is made up of two distinctly different groups: the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head-to-head with the city's street crimes and the Intelligence Unit that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond.

Lighthearted look at the adventures of two Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles. The main characters are Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello, two motorcycle officers always on the street to save lives.

Follow real-life law enforcement officers from various regions and departments of the United States armed with nothing but with cameras to capture their actions, performing their daily duty to serve and protect the public.

A Las Vegas team of forensic investigators are trained to solve criminal cases by scouring the crime scene, collecting irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that solve the mystery.

Fastlane is an American action/crime drama series that was broadcast on Fox from September 18, 2002 to April 25, 2003.

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.

Highway Patrol was a syndicated, fictional police action series produced from 1955 to 1959, concerning the activities of the highway patrol and their leader, Dan Matthews (who held no rank). Although filmed in and around the Los Angeles area, the state setting for the stories was never identified, and city and street names were fictionalized.

Hunter is an American police drama television series created by Frank Lupo, and starring Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter and Stepfanie Kramer as Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1991. However, Kramer left after the sixth season to pursue other acting and musical opportunities. In the seventh season, Hunter partnered with two different women officers. The titular character, Sgt. Rick Hunter, was a wily, physically imposing, and often rule-breaking homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. The show's main characters, Hunter and McCall, resolve many of their cases by shooting dead the perpetrators. The show's executive producer during the first season was Stephen J. Cannell, whose company produced the series.

A character drama based on the 2001 Elmore Leonard short story "Fire in the Hole." Leonard's tale centers around U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of Kentucky, a quiet but strong-willed official of the law. The tale covers his high-stakes job, as well as his strained relationships with his ex-wife and father.

The Killing is an American crime drama television series based upon the Danish television series Forbrydelsen. Set in Seattle, Washington, the series follows the various murder investigations by homicide detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder.

Syd Burnett has left her complicated past behind to become an LAPD detective. Paired with a new partner, Nancy McKenna, a working mom with an equally complex past, Syd is pushed to examine whether her unapologetic lifestyle might be masking a greater personal secret. These two women don't agree on much, but they find common ground when it comes to taking on the most dangerous criminals in Los Angeles.

A dark psychological crime drama starring Idris Elba as Luther, a man struggling with his own terrible demons, who might be as dangerous as the depraved murderers he hunts.

Filmed over 10 years, this real-life thriller follows a DNA exoneree who, while exposing police corruption, becomes a suspect in a grisly new crime.

The Mod Squad was the enormously successful groundbreaking "hippie" undercover cop show that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Pete Cochren, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Linc Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas. The iconic counter-culture police series earned six Emmy nominations, four Golden Globe nominations plus one win for Peggy Lipton, one Directors Guild of America award, and four Logies. In 1997 the episode "Mother of Sorrow" was ranked #95 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

Adrian Monk was once a rising star with the San Francisco Police Department, legendary for using unconventional means to solve the department's most baffling cases. But after the tragic (and still unsolved) murder of his wife Trudy, he developed an extreme case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now working as a private consultant, Monk continues to investigate cases in the most unconventional ways.

Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”.

Former British soldier Jonathan Pine navigates the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington where an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. To infiltrate the inner circle of lethal arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper, Pine must himself become a criminal.

John Reese, former CIA paramilitary operative, is presumed dead and teams up with reclusive billionaire Finch to prevent violent crimes in New York City by initiating their own type of justice. With the special training that Reese has had in Covert Operations and Finch's genius software inventing mind, the two are a perfect match for the job that they have to complete. With the help of surveillance equipment, they work "outside the law" and get the right criminal behind bars. 

Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series. Filmed in a film noir atmosphere and featuring Henry Mancini music that could tell you the action with your eyes closed, Peter Gunn worked in style. Known as Pete to his friends and simply as Gunn to his enemies, he did his job in a calm cool way.

Sergeant “Pepper"” Anderson, an undercover cop for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department, poses undercover from mob girl to prostitute.

Riptide is an American TV detective series that ran on NBC from December 3, 1983 to August 22, 1986, starring Perry King, Joe Penny, and Thom Bray. Riptide was created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell, and produced by Stephen J. Cannell Productions in the wake of Magnum PI's success. The main theme was composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. A mid-season replacement, it debuted as a two-hour TV movie in early 1984.

Sexy New York detective and single mother Harlee Santos fell in with a tight-knit group of dirty cops, taking bribes and protection money that she uses to provide the best life for her honest, talented daughter. But when she's trapped by the FBI and forced to inform on her own "brothers," she'll have to walk the fine line between love, loyalty, honor and betrayal, and try to keep it together for her daughter's future.

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.

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.

Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City.

Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, who work as private eyes, for a deceptive sting operation. It was broadcast on the CBS network for three seasons between September 9, 1975 and August 20, 1978, bumping the Hawaii Five-O detective series to Friday nights.

Sergeant Thomas Jefferson Hooker is a tough-as-nails veteran police officer with the LCPD who turns his back on a gold badge and goes back to patrolling the streets and training recuits. Along with his young partners in blue, Hooker take on Lake City's toughest criminals.

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

Sledge Hammer! is an American satirical police sitcom produced by New World Television that ran for two seasons on ABC from 1986 to 1988. The series was created by Alan Spencer and stars David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer, a preposterous caricature of the standard "cop on the edge" character. Al Jean and Mike Reiss, best known for their work on The Simpsons, wrote for the show and worked as story editors.

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.

Dempsey and Makepeace is a British television crime drama made by London Weekend Television for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham. The leading roles were played by Michael Brandon and Glynis Barber, who later married each other on 18 November 1989. The series combined elements of previous series such as the mis-matching of British and American crime-fighters from different classes as seen in The Persuaders! and the action of The Professionals.

Two police officers, the older Lt. Stone and the young upstart Inspector Keller, investigate murders and other serious crimes in San Francisco. Stone would become a second father to Keller as he learned the rigors and procedures of detective work.

Mike Hammer, Private Eye is an American syndicated television program based on the adventures of the fictitious private detective Mike Hammer, created by novelist Mickey Spillane. The show starred Stacy Keach and was seen as an attempt to revive the character he had played in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and The New Mike Hammer - two moderately successful syndicated CBS series from the 1980s. Mike Hammer, Private Eye premiered on September 27, 1997. The show failed to gain a wide audience and, as a result, it was canceled after only one season. The final show of the series aired on June 14, 1998.

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer. The gritty, crime fighting detective—created by American crime author Mickey Spillane—has also inspired several feature films and made-for-TV movies.

New York Undercover is an American police drama The series stars Detective J.C. Williams and Detective Eddie Torres, two undercover detectives in New York City's Fourth Precinct who were assigned to investigate various crimes and gang-related cases.

The Ghost Squad was a 2005 British crime drama series produced by Company Pictures, for Channel 4. The show was created by Tom Grieves. Inspired by the real life "Ghost Squad" that existed between 1994 and 1998, secretly investigating police corruption, the premise of the series is that the squad continued to operate in secret after officially being shut down. It starred Elaine Cassidy as a police constable recruited into the squad and Jonas Armstrong as her handler. The show was cancelled after a single seven episode series.

The Insiders is a mid-1980s American television detective series starring Nicholas Campbell, Stoney Jackson and Gail Strickland.

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.

Buddy Faro was the best private detective in the business, until he disappeared in 1978 after a case went bad. Twenty years later, he's brought back to Los Angeles by private detective Bob Jones and they reopen Buddy Faro Investigations.

The series follows officers of the Chicago Police Department as they fight crime on the streets and try to expose political corruption within the city.

Ex-cop and recovering alcoholic Hank Dolworth partners with his best friend, former criminal Britt Pollack, in an unlicensed private investigation business. The series is set in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California, although it is portrayed as a distinct town, with Dolworth having once been a member of the fictional Ocean Beach Police Department.

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.

Elijah Kane leads a hardcore undercover team of Seattle based cops who take on the local criminal element with a high-octane style of enforcement.

Case Histories is a British drama television series based on the Jackson Brodie detective novels by Kate Atkinson. It stars Jason Isaacs as Jackson Brodie.

Just an ordinary boy from the Sofia suburbs becomes the first bulgarian undercover cop. Forced by his father when he was young to lie and cheat, Martin becomes the perfect liar. That skill, and also the hatred of the 'underworld' makes him the perfect match for a dangerous mission - to infiltrate the crime organisation of a rich and powerful businessman. While infiltrating and living in fear of being uncovered, Martin falls in love with the most inappropriate woman - Djaro's girlfriend, Suni. Just when he gains the trust of the mobsters, it appears that the real enemy is in the police. Martin is alone against all, facing difficult decisions.

A drama about the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anticorruption unit.

In Southern California, a beachfront property was seized and turned into a residence for undercover cops. They are all top agents of the DEA, FBI, and Customs and they are living in this house unofficially known as "Graceland". Coming of a new graduating at the top of his class, FBI rookie, Mike Warren, could make the life of a legendary FBI agent Paul Briggs and the others, more complicated or it could reveal the truth. It is based upon actual events.

In the late 1960s, a Los Angeles police sergeant with a complicated personal life starts tracking a small-time criminal and budding cult leader seeking out vulnerable women to join his “cause.” The name of that man is Charles Manson.

Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild.

The Covert Investigations Unit (CIU) risks going undercover to infiltrate and bring down criminal organizations. In this new style of short-term, high-intensity undercover work, each covert “play” is crafted quickly and executed at an even faster pace. Placed into various worlds of crime without a safety net, the cops are in constant danger, as they repeatedly go off the grid. Wearing wires, coaxing confessions, and setting up stings, the cops of the CIU must think quickly, talk smoothly, and rely on pure instinct. They slip in and out of characters so often that, sometimes, they lose track of who they really are.

UK is the most surveilled place in the world. It is home to more than 6 million CCTV cameras -- about 1 for every 14 people -- that operate 24/7 and generate more than 1 billion hours of video every week. Crime reporter Nick Wallis tells us how UK police uses this vast surveillance network for active crime prevention as well as tracking down outlaws.

La Viuda Negra is a 2014 Spanish-language telenovela produced by RTI Producciones and Televisa for United States-based television network Univisión and for Colombia-based television network Caracol Television. It is an adaptation of the book La patrona de Pablo Escobar de José Guarnizo based on history from Griselda Blanco.

An absurdist, retro-futuristic 80s cop extravaganza. The series follows undercover detective Dazzle Novak, a handsome idiot who commits more crimes than most criminals. His tyrannical chief, Pizzaz Miller, won't get off his back, and hotshot rookie Rad Cunningham is dying to see him fail. With the world against him, Dazzle is thrust into a living nightmare: having to do actual police work.

Family. It can be the most important thing in the world. And it can also be a massive pain in the arse. Undercover is a high stakes action comedy about Chris, a lonely, over analysing neurotic traffic police officer who finds himself hopelessly out of his depth when he infiltrates an Armenian crime family.

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

Icelandic crime drama featuring Chief of Police Andri.

London cop and compulsive gambler Harry Clayton is on the verge of losing everything. On the night when his huge debts are to be called in, he meets the enigmatic Eve, who gives him a mysterious bracelet said to endow the wearer with immense luck. Harry's fortunes suddenly begin to shift, but he also soon finds himself sucked into a sinister crime wave sweeping through the city.

Undercover follows Maya, the first black Director Of Public Prosecutions. Just as she is about to take up the post and her life comes under intense public scrutiny, she learns that that her husband Nick has been lying to her for years. Twenty years ago Nick was a fearless and dedicated undercover officer, infiltrating organisations considered a danger to society because of their political beliefs. Nick built himself a fake past and now with his wife unsuspecting and his conscience killing him – his secret identity may compromise the new Director of Public Prosecutions.

It’s 1993, and Paloma Luisa Marquez Hermosa is on top of the world. Originally from Columbia, she now heads a very discreet – and very efficient – criminal organization that smuggles cocaine into Montreal and launders drug money. Nicknamed the “Cali Cartel Godmother”, she stops at nothing to provide for her family. But Paloma eventually becomes the target of Paul Généreux, an honest cop who’s determined to destroy her organization – until his investigation turns into a tangled web of corruption that reaches the upper echelons of the police force.

"Stockholm: Lost Identity" narrates over 13 chapters with almost surgical detail the criminal, judicial and media research about the disappearance of a young woman by a network of trafficking. An attorney general, an undercover agent and a journalist will be immersed in a police plot that mixes suspense, drama and action where law and justice are two different sides of the same coin.

Detective John Cardinal attempts to uncover the mystery of what happened to the missing 13-year-old girl whose body is discovered in the shaft-head of an abandoned mine. At the same time, he comes under investigation by his new partner, Lise Delorme, a tough investigator in her own right.

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.

Set against the backdrop of a major drug cartel bust, the series follows two low-level cops who have spent far too much time in a car together, two criminals who are largely kept in the dark, two dispatch workers who haven't really clicked and two Mexican tunnelers who are in way too small a space considering they've only just met.

A dark and compelling thriller centering on Detective Superintendent Elizabeth Bancroft, a female detective with an explosive secret.

From crippling payday loans to cars that cheat emissions tests, this investigative series exposes brazen acts of corporate greed and corruption.

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.

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.

See the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel as an American DEA agent learns the danger of targeting narcos in 1980s Mexico.

A four-part undercover investigation by Al Jazeera into Israel’s covert influence campaign in the United States. To get unprecedented access to the Israel lobby’s inner workings, undercover reporter “Tony” posed as a pro-Israel volunteer in Washington. The resulting film exposes the efforts of Israel and its lobbyists to spy on, smear and intimidate US citizens who support Palestinian human rights, especially BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. It shows that Israel’s semi-covert black-ops government agency, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, is operating this effort in collusion with an extensive network of US-based organizations.

In early 90s Boston, an African-American District Attorney comes in from Brooklyn advocating change and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran invested in maintaining the status quo. Together they take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown in a case that grows to encompass and eventually upend Boston’s city-wide criminal justice system.

Following the investigators tracking down the criminals who steal £1.25 billion every year from the NHS - from organised crime rings to NHS staff themselves.

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.

Set in 1932 Los Angeles, the series focuses on the origin story of famed defense lawyer Perry Mason. Living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator, Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage. L.A. is booming while the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression — but a kidnapping gone very wrong leads to Mason exposing a fractured city as he uncovers the truth of the crime.

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.

Cordell Walker, a widower and father of two with his own moral code, returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there's harder work to be done at home.

In 1985, American DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Mexico’s most notorious drug lords. Thirty-five years later, three former cartel insiders share unprecedented details. This is the story of Camarena, the drug cartel he infiltrated, and the narc who risked everything to discover the truth.

The true story of the rise of a shadowy new generation of cocaine kingpins and of law enforcement's desperate efforts to bring them down.

With her son grown up, single mom Pearl Nolan decides to pursue her lifelong dream and launches a private detective agency, which she runs from her family's restaurant in the coastal town of Whitstable. Drawn by her caring nature, locals soon flock to her with all manner of cases. But when an old friend dies suspiciously, Pearl finds herself in conflict with gruff new cop in town, DCI Mike McGuire.

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.

An affluent couple living in a small seaside town are targeted by two local teenagers looking to make a quick buck. However, the break-in takes a dark turn when one of the youths winds up dead and an elaborate cover-up is staged to make the killing appear to be self-defence.

The Son of Sam case grew into a lifelong obsession for journalist Maury Terry, who became convinced that the murders were linked to a satanic cult.

Under pressure, fraying at the edges. In relentless night-time Liverpool, copper Chris is paired with a rookie. Will they save or destroy each other?

Dom and Kay join the Met Police in the hope of cleaning up their community, but are unwittingly thrust into the murky world of deep cover infiltration as they become part of a powerful criminal enterprise. But for Dom and Kay it quickly becomes more of a fiasco than Donnie Brasco…

Investigation which scratches the surface of the child grooming gangs in Telford, U.K. Allegations of police corruption and bribery between senior officers and local businessmen.

A night of passion leads to love between con man Charlie and undercover CIA officer Emma, who are unknowingly on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the ‘family business’ so he can get out for good, Emma’s closing in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in-hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences.

Minor incidents - huge impact. The gob-smacking stories of ordinary coppers who stumbled upon key pieces of evidence and helped take down major criminals.

Over the 1980s and 1990s Dublin transformed from a recession-blighted backwater to one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. As its fortunes changed so did those of its criminals, who began selling heroin, ecstasy and cocaine. Dublin Narcos tells the story of the rise in addiction, violence and organised crime which persists to this day, with first hand testimony from the kingpins and cops to the ravers and users. We also hear from the fearless journalists whose attempts at exposing the drugs barons led to the death of one of their bravest, Veronica Guerin.

An elite squad of detectives investigate high-profile crime and corruption in metro Toronto.