Top 250 Tv Shows Like The Life
Two cops... To Choices... Look the other way or break the rules
A list of the best tv shows similar to The Life. If you liked The Life then you may also like: The Wire, Blue Bloods, Law & Order, Breaking Bad, The Rookie and many more great tv shows featured on this list.
Two Canadian cops start videotaping the drug scene in Vancouver.
Blue Bloods
A drama about a multi-generational family of cops dedicated to New York City law enforcement. Frank Reagan is the New York Police Commissioner and heads both the police force and the Reagan brood. He runs his department as diplomatically as he runs his family, even when dealing with the politics that plagued his unapologetically bold father, Henry, during his stint as Chief.
Law & Order
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
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 Rookie
Starting over isn’t easy, especially for small-town guy John Nolan who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of being an LAPD officer. As the force’s oldest rookie, he’s met with skepticism from some higher-ups who see him as just a walking midlife crisis.
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.
21 Jump Street
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.
The Bill
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.
Blue Thunder
Blue Thunder is a 1984 ABC television series based on the movie of the same title featuring the Blue Thunder helicopter. The series uses the converted Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter and large portions of stock footage from the 1983 film. A ground unit named "Rolling Thunder" backed up the helicopter in the television series. This was a large support van with a desert camouflage off-road vehicle stored inside. The television series cast includes James Farentino, Dana Carvey, and former professional American football players Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus. The series was canceled by ABC after they felt the similar Airwolf on CBS would win the ratings battle. Also, the series aired at the same time as the CBS soap opera Dallas on Friday nights, and lost. Eleven episodes were made before the series was cancelled.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
A single-camera ensemble comedy following the lives of an eclectic group of detectives in a New York precinct, including one slacker who is forced to shape up when he gets a new boss.
Chicago P.D.
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.
Continuum
The series centers on the conflict between a group of rebels from the year 2077 who time-travel to Vancouver, BC, in 2012, and a police officer who accidentally accompanies them. In spite of being many years early, the rebel group decides to continue its violent campaign to stop corporations of the future from replacing governments, while the police officer endeavours to stop them without revealing to anyone that she and the rebels are from the future.
Da Vinci's Inquest
Da Vinci's Inquest is a Canadian dramatic television series that aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. While never a ratings blockbuster, seven seasons of thirteen episodes each were filmed for a total of ninety-one episodes. The show, set and filmed in Vancouver, stars Nicholas Campbell as Dominic Da Vinci, once an undercover officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but now a crusading coroner who seeks justice in the cases he investigates. The cast also includes Gwynyth Walsh as Da Vinci's ex-wife and chief pathologist Patricia Da Vinci, Donnelly Rhodes as detective Leo Shannon, and Ian Tracey as detective Mick Leary.
The Glades
This Crime series follows Matt Passmore as Jim, a Chicago cop who gets kicked off the force after being shot and wrongfully accused by his ex-captain of having an affair with his wife. After receiving his payout, Jim decides to moves to a small Florida town to join the state police.
Holmes & Yo-Yo
Holmes & Yoyo is an American comedy television series that aired on ABC for 13 episodes during the 1976-1977 season. The series follows Detective Holmes and his new android partner Yoyo, on their adventures and misadventures, as Holmes teaches Yoyo what it is like to be human, while trying to keep his quirky partner's true nature a secret from criminals and fellow cops.
Hunter
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.
The Killing
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.
L.A.'s Finest
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.
Lethal Weapon
A slightly unhinged former Navy SEAL lands a job as a police officer in Los Angeles where he's partnered with a veteran detective trying to keep maintain a low stress level in his life.
Life on Mars
A detective chief inspector from 2006 is investigating a serial killer when he is knocked over by a speeding car. Waking up, he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to 1973. Initially struggling to come to terms with his situation, he has to come to terms with the old-fashioned technology and attitude of the day, while figuring out how he came to be trapped in the past.
The Mod Squad
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.
Orange Is the New Black
A crime she committed in her youthful past sends Piper Chapman to a women's prison, where she trades her comfortable New York life for one of unexpected camaraderie and conflict in an eccentric group of fellow inmates.
Paradise PD
An eager young rookie joins the ragtag small-town police force led by his dad as they bumble, squabble and snort their way through a big drug case.
Police Woman
Sergeant “Pepper"” Anderson, an undercover cop for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department, poses undercover from mob girl to prostitute.
Robocop: Prime Directives
Ten years after the original Robocop, Delta City is city owned and operated by OCP. RoboCop finds himself nearly obsolete and his former partner, John Cable, has returned to Delta City as its new Security Commander. But slowly, new enemies arise, and Murphy and Cable begin an investigation into a mysterious villain known as the Bone Machine.
Shades of Blue
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 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.
Starsky & Hutch
Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City.
T. J. Hooker
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.
The Beachcombers
The Beachcombers is a Canadian comedy-drama television series that ran from October 1, 1972 to December 12, 1990 and is the longest-running dramatic series ever made for English-language Canadian television. In all, 387 episodes were produced.
Sledge Hammer!
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.
Cold Squad
Cold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series first broadcast in 1998 that followed the investigations of a part of the Vancouver Police Department Homicide Division tasked with solving cold cases, the titular Cold Squad, as led by Sergeant Ali McCormick. The cast of Cold Squad was diverse and changing, McCormick being the only character to appear in all 7 seasons. Some notable series regulars include Detective Tony Logozzo in seasons 1-2, Sgt. Frank Coscarella in seasons 3-4, Sgt. Len Harper in seasons 5-7, Insp. Vince Schneider season 1, Insp. Simon Ross season 2, Insp. Andrew Pawlachuk seasons 3-7, Det. Mickey Kollander seasons 3-6, Det. Nicco Sevallis seasons 3-6, Christine Wren seasons 4-7, as well as Det. Samantha Walters and Const. Ray Chase in season 7. Between the second and third seasons, almost the entire on-screen cast other than Julie Stewart were replaced. This along with the new sets, a significant revamp of the credits and theme music, and even having McCormick's hair change from auburn to dirty-blonde all contributed to a considerable reworking of the series.
The Sweeney
Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
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.
Reno 911!
This partially unscripted comedy brings viewers into the squad car as incompetent officers swing into action, answering 911 calls about everything from speeding violations and prostitution to staking out a drug den. Within each episode, viewers catch a "fly on the wall" glimpse of the cops' often politically incorrect opinions, ranging from their personal feelings to professional critiques of their colleagues.
Dempsey and Makepeace
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.
Haunted
Haunted is an American television program first aired in September 2002 on UPN. The program, which was filmed in Vancouver, was canceled in November 2002 due to low ratings. As a result, only seven of the completed episodes were aired. However, all eleven filmed episodes have subsequently been shown in international airings of the show. In August 2007, the series aired on HDNet. The series then began airing on Sci Fi in September 2007 and January 2008. In 2009, Chiller began airing this program as part of their daily marathon line-up. It plays there sporadically. A marathon of the entire series ran all day on October 31, 2010 on Universal HD.
Intelligence
Mary Spalding, the director of the Vancouver Organized Crime Unit, offers Jimmy Reardon, one of Vancouver's top organized crime bosses, immunity from prosecution in exchange for his role as a police informant.
Traffic Cops
Cameras follow the officers of the Road Policing Units and Road Crime Teams of several UK law enforcement departments.
White Teeth
The lives of three families are woven together across three decades in multi-cultural Britain.
Hawaii Five-0
Steve McGarrett returns home to Oahu, in order to find his father's killer. The governor offers him the chance to run his own task force (Five-0). Steve's team is joined by Chin Ho Kelly, Danny "Danno" Williams, and Kono Kalakaua.
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.
True Justice
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.
Line of Duty
A drama about the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anticorruption unit.
Love it or List it Vancouver
Vancouver families are struggling with homes that no longer suit their needs. Whether they've outgrown the home they once loved or the luster has worn off, homeowners are faced with the dilemma of whether they should love it or list it.
Crossing Lines
Through globalization, many countries have been opened and barriers removed to ensure easy trade, travel and cultural diversity. However, this openness has given opportunities to criminals looking to exploit the system and ultimately threaten our global safety. As Europe has become a "safe house" for criminals eluding law enforcers, a special kind of law enforcement team is needed to handle specific ongoing crimes on a global level. "Crossing Lines" is the story of one such team, made up of five international cops, headed by Captain Daniel. The team - comprised of individuals who have little in common - must learn to live and work under the most dangerous and potentially deadly conditions. Housed in an unused storage section underneath the ICC, this mismatched team faces bureaucratic, jurisdictional and cultural obstacles while traversing continents in pursuit of justice.
The Bridge
A murdered body on a bridge between El Paso and Juarez bring together El Paso detective Sonya Cross and Chihuahua State Police detective Marco Ruiz.
Happy Valley
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.
Motorway Cops
Cameras catch the intense action that follows the law enforcers of Britain's motorways as they pursue criminals of all types.
The Real Housewives of Vancouver
The Real Housewives of Vancouver is a Canadian reality television series on the Canadian Slice cable network. It is the first Canadian installment of The Real Housewives franchise; production for the Shaw Media series began in August 2011. The show premiered on April 4, 2012 at 9pm ET/PT. The two-hour premiere achieved the record of the highest-rated premiere in the network's history, which attracted 1.2 million viewers.
Moonbeam City
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.
No Offence
Keeping these streets clean is a Herculean task, enough to demoralize even the keenest rookie – but there’s a reason why this hotchpotch of committed cops are on this force, on this side of town. Drug labs, arsonists, neo-Nazis and notorious murderers are all in a day’s work for this close-knit team, led by the dizzyingly capable but unquestionably unhinged DI Vivienne Deering. But when a particularly twisted serial killer emerges it leaves even the most hardened of these seasoned coppers reeling.
Blood and Water
A young female police detective is fighting cancer while trying to solve the murder of a Vancouver billionaire's drug-addicted son.
The Aliens
Nearly 40 years ago aliens crash-landed in the UK. They look like us, but are forced to live in a ghetto. Border control officer Lewis falls in love with one.
The Godmother
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.
Traffic Cops
An action-packed documentary series following Yorkshire-based law enforcers. Originally titled "All New Traffic Cops" for two series. It was renamed again in 2018 as "Traffic Cops: On the Edge" and then as "Traffic Cops"
Cardinal
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.
Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television
In this series, the LAPD thinks it's a good idea to form a task force partnering actors with homicide detectives. A super meta half hour comedy, the show within a show within a show is as much about Hollywood as it is an action-comedy procedural. Starring Ryan Hansen and Samira Wiley as his strait-laced partner Detective Jessica Mathers, the series features a who's who of stars playing bizarro versions of themselves including Joel McHale, Donald Faison, Eric Christian Olsen, Jon Cryer and Kristen Bell.
Worst to First
Everyone has their dream neighbourhood. That one area they would love to move to but can't quite afford - until now. Talented contractors, and brothers-by-law, Mickey and Sebastian help desperate families find the worst house in the best neighbourhood in Vancouver, and transform it into a home that is first in their hearts.
No Activity
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.
Valley Cops
Documentary series following South Wales Police, where everyone knows everyone, and cops and robbers are on first-name terms
Seven Seconds
Tensions run high between African American citizens and Caucasian cops in Jersey City when a teenage African American boy is critically injured by a cop.
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.
Psychedelica
Exploring the history and use of psychedelic plants. Psychedelica examines; Sacred Healing ,Integrating Shamanic, Wisdom, Treating Illness with Plant Medicines, Set, Setting, & Psychotropic Experiments, Expanding Human Consciousness, Shadow Side of Psychedelics, Indigenous Medicine of the Mind, and The Holy Mushroom Theory. Psychedelica is an original series streamed on Gaia. 2018
Bulletproof
Police duo Bishop and Pike are two best mates bonded by the same moral code, despite their differences. Packed full of humour, action and emotion, Bulletproof is about friendship, conspiracies and ghosts from the past.
Wild Bill
U.S. police chief Bill Hixon lands in the British town of Boston, Lincolnshire, with his 14-year-old daughter Kelsey in tow hoping they can flee their painful recent past. But this unfamiliar, unimpressed community will force Bill to question everything about himself and leave him asking whether it's Boston that needs Bill, or Bill that needs Boston?
Mare of Easttown
A detective in a small Pennsylvania town investigates a local murder while trying to keep her life from falling apart.
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.
Code 404
In the near future, an undercover Detective Inspector gunned down and killed during a botched sting is brought back via an experimental Artificial Intelligence project. Full of glitches, he’s got to track down the person who shot him, prove himself as a cop so as not to get shut down, and save his marriage and his friendship, all with his partner Carver to boot.
#FreeRayshawn
Iraq war veteran Rayshawn takes shelter in his apartment building after being set up by New Orleans police on a drug deal. Amid a police standoff and growing media frenzy, a sympathetic cop tries to convince him to surrender.
American Rust
A compelling family drama and a timeless story told through the eyes of complicated and compromised chief of police Del Harris of a Pennsylvania Rust Belt town full of good people making bad choices.
The Last Narc
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.
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.
Big Timber
Follows the dangerous work of logger and sawmill owner Kevin Wenstob as he and his crew go to extremes to keep the family sawmill, and their way of life, alive.
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.
The Responder
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?
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.
Hope Street
The arrival of DC Leila Hussain sets tongues wagging – what brings this big city girl to a sleepy Northern Irish seaside town? Warm-hearted detective drama in a stunning setting.
Black Ops
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…
Highland Cops
Welcome to Britain's biggest beat. Covering 12,000 square miles of loch, glens, islands and mountains, cutting-edge crime fighting meets traditional ways of life.
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.
A Good Cop
Inspired by true events. It revolves around the lives of three NYPD officers during the "defund the police" movement. Each officer is at a different stage of their career, each one with a different perspective on policing.
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.