Why Crime Dramas Have Taken A Turn For The Better

My nan always “loved a good murder”. Don’t panic. I wasn’t formerly in possession of a gun-toting granny but rather, a prolific reader of gruesome, plot-driven detective novels. Ever the well-behaved girl (never issued with anything more serious than a parking fine) my nan consumed books as if they were boxes of Tim Tams. She preferred to couple her daytime reading with an evening spent watching British (always British) cop dramas; usually sipping on a glass of good scotch to complement her viewing. There are so many reasons that I wish she were still alive today, perhaps the pettiest of which is that she would have loved the golden era of crime television we currently inhabit.

I’ve spent the past month or two laid up following major surgery and have been channelling my late nan’s penchant for gory dramas. With the seemingly infinite options presented by Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, SBS on Demand, ABC iView, Foxtel and more, the challenge isn’t finding something to watch but figuring out what it worth the investment of time. To help you navigate the sea of options, below are the crime dramas that have caught my eye (and breath) recently. This is by no means an exhaustive list, or even a top five, of what’s currently on the market. These television shows do, however, meet one singularly important and overriding common criteria: The unapologetic presence of complex, feminist characters.