Appropriate Adult

Series Similar to Appropriate Adult

If you enjoyed Appropriate Adult, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. A Confession

   2019 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, also on ITV1.

   A Confession tells the story of how Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher deliberately breached police procedure and protocol to catch a killer, a decision that ultimately cost him his career and reputation.

2. Des

   2020 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, also on ITV1.

   Des is based on material from the book Killing for Company by Brian Masters, which focuses on one of the most infamous cases in UK criminal history, that of serial killer Dennis Nilsen. Told through the prism of three men—Dennis Nilsen, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay and biographer Brian Masters—the series exploring the personal and professional consequences of coming into contact with a man like Nilsen.

3. The Moorside

   2017 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile.

   Following the disappearance of nine year-old Shannon Matthews from The Moorside Estate in Dewsbury, the police and community mount a frantic search. Despite their efforts, no trace of her can be found and within a few hours the police investigation takes on the scale of a murder enquiry.Emotional public appeals for information from her mother Karen Matthews amount to nothing, and the community, led by Julie Bushby, stand by her and make extraordinary efforts of their own to find Shannon.Despite the support, doubts are beginning to creep in for some regarding Karen's behaviour. Friend and neighbour Natalie struggles with her conscience as she becomes convinced that Karen knows more than she is revealing.Just as all hope is close to fading, Shannon is found alive. The wild celebrations of Julie and the community are rapidly cut short when they learn that Shannon was being held by a man known to Karen.

4. The Pembrokeshire Murders

   2021 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, also on ITV1.

   In The Pembrokeshire Murders, the story centers around two unsolved double murders from the 1980s. In 2006, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins decided to reopen both cases. Employing pioneering forensic methods, Wilkins and his team found microscopic DNA and fibres that potentially linked the murders to a string of burglaries committed in the 80s and 90s. The perpetrator of those robberies was nearing the end of his prison sentence, but if Steve Wilkins was right, he was also a serial killer. Could Steve and his team find enough forensic evidence to charge their suspect before he was released to potentially kill again?

5. The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

   2014 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8), hidden gem, also on ITV1.

   This drama tells the real-life story of retired schoolteacher Christopher Jefferies who was initially questioned by police as a suspect in the murder of Jo Yeates who rented a flat from him. He was vilified by the press, partly on account of his eccentric appearance and long flowing hair, even after he had been released on bail by the police.

6. Collision

   2009 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, hidden gem, also on ITV1.

   Police drama series. Troubled detective John Tolin returns to work after an extended period of leave, and is handed a complicated case involving a shocking road traffic accident.

7. The Widower

   2014 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8), also on ITV1.

   The Widower is a three-part drama from ITV Studios based on the crimes of convicted murderer, Malcolm Webster, played by Reece Shearsmith (Psychoville, The League of Gentlemen, A Field in England).The Widower tells how, over a 13 year period Malcolm Webster set about poisoning and murdering his first wife, attempting to do the same to his second wife and moving on to a further scheme to deceive his third fiancée.

8. Gangland Undercover

   2015 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.1), hidden gem.

   The only man brave enough to sneak into three outlaw biker gangs and live to tell the tale, Charles Falco, author of "Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws", goes from convict to infiltrator as he secretly documents the Vagos' illegal activities and ultimately brings them to justice. With the real Charles Falco starting each episode in a silhouetted interview, his story is brought to life in this fact-based docudrama series that sees Falco work as an informant for the Feds on a covert mission inside the dangerous Vagos' world of violence, murder and drug trafficking. Having climbed the gang's ranks while facilitating 62 arrests, Charles Falco exposes how he crippled the criminal enterprise from the core of the biker underworld in this mind-blowing true story, Gangland Undercover.

9. Lewis

   2006 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8), also on ITV1.

   A spin-off of the popular series Inspector Morse, a special two-hour drama picked up five years after the series ended. It is now continuing in its own series, with Lewis and Hathaway investigating in Morse's old stomping ground of Oxford.

10. Quirke

    2014 · Drama, Crime · ended

    Recommended for similar Crime profile, hidden gem.

    Quirke is a bold, mesmerising drama full of mystery, secrets and intrigue.A consultant pathologist in the Dublin city morgue in the 1950s, Quirke is a powerful character more at ease among the cold silent slabs than the company of his fellow men. But in truth, his profession provides his greatest pleasure: inquisitive by nature, he is fascinated with unlocking the secret to these cadavers' deaths. After a body vanishes from his mortuary one night Quirke's curiosity is piqued by the lengths his brother is prepared to go to, to cover up the cause of one young woman's death in childbirth.Based on the novels by John Banville.