Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Series Similar to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

If you enjoyed Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. Murder One

   1995 · Drama, Crime, Legal · ended94% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / Legal profile, highly rated (8), hidden gem.

   Theodore Hoffman is a prominent defense attorney in a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. After successfully defending the wealthy but suspicious Richard Cross in a lurid murder trial, he is now involved in the defense of Neil Avedon. Neil is a famous young actor who has had severe drug and alcohol problems and was subsequently charged with the murder, after Cross was acquitted. This single case will run an entire television season (interspersed with bits from other cases that the firm is involved in).

2. Silk

   2011 · Drama, Crime, Legal · ended93% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / Legal profile, highly rated (8), hidden gem.

   Series about life at the Bar, the dilemmas and problems that modern day barristers have to face, and what it means to become a silk.

3. Conviction

   2006 · Drama, Crime, Legal · ended92% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / Legal profile, also on NBC.

   Conviction is a legal drama series from Dick Wolf is a fast-paced, character-oriented story focusing on young assistant district attorneys of the New York District Attorney's office, headed by bureau chief Alexandra Cabot, who handle tough, high-profile cases that challenge their experience.

4. Killing Time

   2011 · Drama, Crime, Legal · ended92% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / Legal profile, hidden gem.

   A 10 part crime drama following the story of Andrew Fraser's rise from small time lawyer to successfully defending the most infamous criminals this country has ever seen, and then his ultimate downfall and imprisonment for five years in maximum security. His clients included Dennis Allen, Jimmy Krakouer, Alan Bond and those accused of the Walsh Street murders. At the top of his game, Fraser commanded a huge salary and lived the dream. But when his cocaine addiction spiralled into a thousand dollar-a-day habit, he lost everything and his life became intertwiined with villains, larrikins and soldiers of justice. He was disbarred, discredited, broken financially and his marriage was destroyed. Caged amongst serial killers and psychopaths, Fraser is forced to reflect on where it all went so wrong, and try to salvage his shattered reputation.

5. Cold Case

   2003 · Drama, Crime · ended92% match

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

   Cold Case is a drama about Lilly Rush, an enigmatic and highly effective detective on the Philadelphia Homicide Squad. Rush's instinctive understanding of the criminal mind and her singular passion for uncovering the truth makes her the perfect fit for investigating cold cases, yester-crimes that have remained unsolved - some only a few months old, others going back decades. Rush and her team use their wits to take on aging evidence and witnesses with buried secrets, uncovering fresh clues, digging into old wounds and doggedly pursuing the truth.

6. The Night Of

   2016 · Drama, Crime, Legal · ended91% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / Legal profile, highly rated (8.4).

   The Night Of is an eight-part limited series that delves into the intricate story of a fictitious murder case in New York City. The series follows the police investigation and legal proceedings, all the while examining the criminal justice system and the purgatory of Rikers Island, where the accused awaits his trial.Filmed in and around Manhattan, the HBO series is based on the BBC's Criminal Justice, created by Peter Moffat.

7. Life

   2007 · Drama, Crime · ended91% match

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

   A detective gets a second chance after serving twelve years in prison for a crime he did not commit. 

8. Better Call Saul

   2015 · Drama, Crime, Legal · ended91% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / Legal profile, highly rated (8.6).

   Better Call Saul is the prequel to the award-winning series Breaking Bad, set six years before Saul Goodman became Walter White's lawyer. When we meet him, the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and often against, Jimmy is "fixer" Mike Ehrmantraut, a beloved character introduced in Breaking Bad. The series will track Jimmy's transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts "criminal" in "criminal lawyer.

9. The Good Wife

   2009 · Drama, Crime, Legal · ended91% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / Legal profile, highly rated (8.1).

   The Good Wife follows Alicia Florrick, a wife and mother who boldly assumes full responsibility for her family and re-enters the workforce after her husband's very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him in jail. Pushing aside the betrayal and crushing public humiliation caused by her husband Peter, Alicia starts over by pursuing her original career as a defense attorney.

10. The Sopranos

    1999 · Drama, Crime · ended91% match

    Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.9).

    The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.