If you're a fan of investigative shows and don't mind some gore and pulsating drama on-screen, we have good news for you. Move over Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, we have new on-screen investigators to keep you hooked. Here are four that are our absolute favourites on Amazon Prime Video.
Los Angeles Police detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) does everything he can to solve a case but also annoys bureaucrats in his police department with his peculiar characteristics. The show starts with Bosch shooting a suspect. Two years later, he's facing trial after being sued by the suspect's family in a wrongful death civil suit. Bosch isn't your typical follow-all-rules type of cop and before you know it, you're cruising through the seasons as he chases murder cases. Welliver (also known for shows like Deadwood, Lost, Sons of Anarchy) lifts the entire show on his able shoulders. He's funny, he's tough, he's Bosch!
While the first season takes its inspiration from the Michael Connelly novels The Concrete Blonde, City of Bones and Echo Park, the sixth is inspired from Connelly's The Overlook and Dark Sacred Night.
The show kickstarts in pretty Vienna, moves to the UK and then to Paris – all within the first seven-minutes. A glamorous Russian assassin called Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is at large and British intelligence MI6 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) is tasked with capturing her. The three-seasoned series (the first season is written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag fame) is a delicious and titillating cat-and-mouse chase between two intelligent, powerful women who get obsessed with each other. Killing Eve is dark, funny and fashionable. Comer's character has to be one of the best-dressed characters on television. A special mention must be made of the now iconic pink tulle dress worn in the first-season that was designed by Molly Goddard.
Dexter ran for eight seasons from 2006 to 2013. The series centres around Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) – a bloodstain pattern analysis for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department by day and a vigilante serial killer by night. From featuring the 'Ice Truck Killer' in season 1 to the deadly 'Trinity Killer' in season 4, Dexter is a high-octane wild ride that's a treat for crime nerds. Full of blood, gore and murder investigations, Dexter is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Hall was nominated at the Primetime Emmy Awards five times in a row from 2008 to 2012 and won a Golden Globe Awards for 'Best Performance by an Actor In a Television Series – Drama' in 2010.
The suave Idris Elba stars as Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) John Luther in this psychological British cop show. The five-seasoned series that began in 2010, centres around the brilliant, sometimes violent Luther, for whom nothing comes before his job. But Ruth Wilson as the murderess Alice Morgan with a genius-level IQ is the real scene-stealer here. Elba, who won a Golden Globe for Luther in 2012, has hinted that a film might be made from it in the future.
Recommendations in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video