British mysteries that haven't been on PBS [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Here are some that used to run on BBC America or that I've found on Netflix:

Jonathan Creek: (Alan Davies) is a nebbishy guy who designs elaborate stunts for magicians. A true crime writer named Maddie (Caroline Quentin) contacts him for help in solving an impossible crime, and a hilariously squabbling partnership is born. The first three years are the best, after which Caroline Quentin left.

The Last Detective: Peter Davison's DC Davies is called "the last detective" because his superiors consider him "the last detective they'd ever assign to a case." Despite his bumbling manner and confused home life, he is actually quite capable.

Kavanagh QC: Inspector Morse fans will enjoy seeing the late John Thaw in a different role, that of a barrister, married with two problematic teenage children. The cases are always interesting and ambiguous, with a lot of depth and characterization, and the courtroom scenes show differences between the British and American legal systems.

New Tricks: A woman police detective (Amanda Redman) who botched a hostage rescue is assigned to form a cold case squad with three eccentric and annoying retired cops. This is one of the newest series on the list, and it expertly combines police procedural plots with eccentric humor.

Blue Murder: Caroline Quentin plays a homicide detective who is also a divorced mother.

Midsomer Murders: Midsomer must be the most dangerous part of Britain, because there's a murder in one of its villages every week. These clever and often bizarre updatings of the English village mystery (with Love Boat-like casts of has-been and will-be celebrities) star John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby.

Messiah: Like the movie Seven, this series can be on the gruesome side, as the cops try to catch some really kinky sociopaths.

Cracker: This was remade for U.S. television, but the British original, starring Robby Coltrane is much edgier. Cracker is a police psychologist who seems to be in desperate need of psychological counseling himself, and the harsh social commentary only adds to the plots.

Life on Mars: The U.S. remake, with its overly literal final episode, was cut short before its time. You may enjoy seeing the original, which is two seasons long, and comparing it with the U.S. version. John Simm (the Master on the new Doctor Who) plays Sam Tyler, the Manchester cop who may have traveled back in time, and Philip Glenister plays his hilariously hard-boiled and bigoted boss. I have not yet seen the sequel, Ashes to Ashes.

Waking the Dead: Think Cold Case with quirkier characters and the emphasis on investigations instead of reenactments.

Taggart: This long-running Scottish police procedural has survived the death of Mark McManus, the actor who played the title character, to become the longest-running crime show on British television. I enjoy the Scottish setting, even if the accents are hard for this American ear to decipher at times.

Lovejoy: Ian McShane (of Deadwood fame) plays Lovejoy, a hapless antique dealer who genuinely appreciates and knows the antiques he deals in but can't resist a little scam now and then.

A Touch of Frost: Jack Frost (David Jason) is an older police detective, almost always melancholy, often out of luck, constantly in conflict with his superiors. But he gets the job done.

Two of my favorites from the days when A&E was actually artful and entertaining have not been released on DVD in the U.S. but are available from Amazon UK. They are:

Dalziel and Pascoe: Based on Reginald Hill's novels, this is about a grouchy but amusing Yorkshire police superintendent (Warren Clarke) and his younger partner (Colin Buchanan). The series can't capture Hill's writing, but it's good fun anyway.

Silent Witness: Samantha Ryan (Amanda Burton) is a medical examiner from Northern Ireland, and her family's involvement in the troubles there add interest to this crime drama.