River

Series Similar to River

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

1. Case Histories

   2011 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, hidden gem, also on BBC One.

   Jackson Brodie, a former policeman turned private detective, comes to the rescue of the bereaved, even as he struggles with past and present-day personal problems.Case Histories is a British drama television series based on the Jackson Brodie detective novels by Kate Atkinson. 

2. Inspector George Gently

   2008 · Drama, Crime · ended

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

   Crime drama, set in the 1960s, about an old-school detective trying to come to terms with a time when the lines between the police and criminals have become blurred.Based on the Inspector Gently novels by Alan Hunter.

3. Scott and Bailey

   2011 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, hidden gem.

   Scott and Bailey is a crime drama series which follows the personal and professional lives of two female detectives working for the Manchester Metropolitan Police.

4. Waking the Dead

   2000 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, also on BBC One.

   Drama series following the members of a Cold Case investigation team as they use advanced forensic techniques to uncover the truth and bring criminals to justice.

5. Wallander

   2008 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, also on BBC One.

   This drama follows Inspector Kurt Wallander – a middle-aged everyman – as he struggles against a rising tide of violence in the apparently sleepy backwaters in and around Ystad in Skane, southern Sweden. Based on the international best-selling books by Henning Mankell.

6. DCI Banks

   2010 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile.

   No-nonsense Yorkshire detective Alan Banks (Stephen Tompkinson) tackles each new case with the weary professionalism of a man who has seen too much. Watch him doggedly decipher the clues in the gruesome murders on his patch.

7. Unforgotten

   2015 · Drama, Crime · returning

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

   Unforgotten focuses on ‘cold' murder cases. Each series deals with a new case, introducing seemingly unconnected characters who are gradually revealed to have some relationship with the victim. As the murder mystery unfolds, the emotional ramifications of the crime on the lives of those affected are also explored. 

8. And Then There Were None

   2015 · Drama, Crime, Mystery · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, also on BBC One.

   Europe teeters on the brink of war. Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island, an isolated rock near the Devon coast. Cut off from the mainland, with their generous hosts Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime. When one of the party dies suddenly they realise they may be harbouring a murderer among their number.

9. Houdini & Doyle

   2016 · Drama, Crime, Mystery · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, hidden gem.

   Inspired by true events, the series follows two great men of the 20th Century and real-life friends - Harry Houdini, master magician, escape artist and paranormal debunker; and Arthur Cohen Doyle prolific writer, creator of "Sherlock Holmes" and paranormal aficionado. They grudgingly join forces with New Scotland Yard to investigate unsolved, inexplicable and possibly supernatural crimes, alongside the first female Constable of the London Metropolitan Police Force, Adelaide Statton.In the series, Houdini, Doyle and Stratton are tasked with the cases that nobody else can solve. It challenges their sense of what is real and what is not. Houdini is a skeptic, while Doyle believes in the unseen. Their diverse viewpoints make solving crime a challenge and often Stratton is put in the middle. The trio will take on cases that involve vampires, ghosts, monsters and poltergeists... or are they a ruse to conceal murder?

10. The Mrs Bradley Mysteries

    2000 · Drama, Crime, Mystery · ended

    Recommended for similar Crime profile, hidden gem, also on BBC One.

    The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries is a crime drama series that aired on BBC One from 1998-2000. The series is based on the character created by detective writer Gladys Mitchell.Adela Bradley, a sophisticated woman of the world, and her chauffeur George Moody are an unlikely pair of investigators back in the England of the 1920s. The sexual tension between Mrs. Bradley and George fairly crackles along as each episode unfolds to a logical conclusion while Mrs. Bradley, with the help of her trusty chauffeur George, employs her unique sleuthing talents in solving the mysteries that come her way.