Best tv shows like Life on Mars
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural, featuring an officer from the Greater Manchester Police who travels back in time after being involved in a road accident. The title is a reference to David Bowie's 1973 single "Life on Mars?" An American adaptation of the series was produced by ABC and ran for one season from October 2008 to April 2009. A Spanish adaptation of the series was broadcast from April to June 2009. A Russian adaptation of the series The Dark Side of the Moon was broadcast in November 2012. A sequel to the series, Ashes to Ashes, also referencing another David Bowie song, began airing on BBC One in February 2008, followed by a second series in 2009 and a third and final series in 2010.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, surreal, tense, rough, captivating, stylized, crime drama, enigmatic, futuristic, serious
Best tv shows and movies like Life on Mars (2006):
Similar in 80%
The Bill (1984)
Plot Summary:
The Bill is a police procedural television series that was broadcast on the ITV network from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, entitled Woodentop, which was broadcast in August 1983. In its final year on air, The Bill was broadcast once a week, usually on Tuesdays or Thursdays, in a one-hour format. The programme focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work. At the time of the series' conclusion, The Bill was the longest-running police procedural television series in the United Kingdom, and was among the longest-running of any British television series. The series was produced by Thames Television. The series name originated from "Old Bill", a slang term for the police. This was also Geoff McQueen's original title idea for the series, before he eventually decided on "The Bill". Although highly acclaimed amongst fans and critics alike, the series attracted controversy on several occasions. An episode broadcast in 2008 was criticised for featuring fictional treatment for multiple sclerosis, and another episode in the same year resulted in litigation, submitted by MP George Galloway for defamation. The series has also faced more general criticism, concerning the levels of violence it portrays, particularly prior to 2009, when it occupied a pre-watershed slot. During its time on air, The Bill won several awards, including BAFTAs, a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award and the title of "best drama" at the Inside Soap Awards in 2009, the latter being the series' fourth consecutive win. Throughout its twenty-seven-year run, the programme was always broadcast on the main ITV network. In later years, episodes of the show were repeated on ITV3 on their week of broadcast. The series has also been repeated on other digital stations, including UKTV Gold, Alibi, Watch and UKTV G2. In March 2010, executives at ITV announced that the network did not intend to recommission The Bill, and that filming on the series would cease on 14 June 2010. The last ever episode of the series was aired on 31 August 2010.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, sincere, detective, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 84%
Ashes to Ashes (2008)
Plot Summary:
Crime drama series featuring Life On Mars' DCI Gene Hunt. After being shot in 2008, DI Alex Drake lands in 1981, where she finds herself in familiar company.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, surreal, serious, tense, mind bending, suspenseful, stylized, crime drama, offbeat, sentimental
Similar in 82%
The City and The City (2018)
Plot Summary:
When the body of a foreign student is discovered in the streets of the down-at-heel city of Besźel, it’s just another day’s work for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But he uncovers evidence that the murdered girl came from Ul Qoma, a city that shares a dangerous and volatile relationship with Besźel, and this case will challenge everything Borlú holds dear.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: mind bending, detective, neo noir, tense, captivating, suspense, apocalyptic, dystopian
Similar in 84%
Life on Mars (2008)
Plot Summary:
Life on Mars is a science fiction crime drama television series which originally aired on ABC from October 9, 2008 to April 1, 2009. It is an adaptation of the BAFTA-winning original UK series of the same name produced by the BBC. The series was co-produced by Kudos Film & Television, 20th Century Fox Television and ABC Studios. The series tells the story of New York City police detective Sam Tyler, who, after being struck by a car in 2008, regains consciousness in 1973. Fringing between multiple genres, including thriller, science fiction and police procedural, the series remained ambiguous regarding its central plot, with the character himself unsure about his situation. The series also starred Harvey Keitel, Jonathan Murphy, Michael Imperioli, and Gretchen Mol. Life on Mars garnered critical praise for its premise, acting, and depiction of the 1970s but suffered from a declining viewership after its premiere and a two-month hiatus. ABC announced on March 2, 2009 that it would not be ordering a second season. A DVD set of the complete series was released on September 29, 2009.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, captivating, surreal, detective, futuristic, mysterious, allegory, mind bending
Similar in 84%
Crime Traveller (1997)
Plot Summary:
Detective Jeff Slade and his beautiful colleague Holly are armed with something very special in the ongoing fight against crime their very own time machine. Invented by Holly's father, Professor Frederick Turner, the time machine may be a bizarre mixture of D.I.Y. technology, but it works, just, sending the charming, maverick detective Slade on a dangerous roller-coaster ride through both the present and the past. Intriguing complex puzzles are solved with the aid of their unreliable collection of nuts and bolts and flashing lights, but they must always obey the rules of quantum physics, or risk being lost forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 453
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: detective, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Hill Street Blues (1981)
Plot Summary:
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in North America.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, clever, serious, detective, retro, atmospheric, neo noir, rough, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Dalziel and Pascoe (1996)
Plot Summary:
A British crime drama based on the "Dalziel and Pascoe" series of books by Reginald Hill, set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton. The unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-china-shop-copper Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick Detective Sargent, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining a down to earth wit and humour.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, detective, crime drama, tense, realistic, witty, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Suspects (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in London, each episode is a self-contained story, starting with a news report, then following the team of three detectives as they investigate the circumstances the crime. The cases themselves are hard-hitting with contemporary themes, such as the search for a soldier with PTSD, a murder that has been made to look like an assisted suicide and the gang rape of a young teenager.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: detective, psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, crime drama
Similar in 78%
Lewis (2006)
Plot Summary:
Inspector Robert Lewis and Sergeant James Hathaway solve the tough cases that the learned inhabitants of Oxford throw at them.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: clever, realistic, detective, serious, crime drama, suspenseful, atmospheric
Similar in 83%
The Last Detective (2003)
Plot Summary:
The Last Detective is an ITV drama starring Peter Davison as Dangerous Davies. The first series aired in 2003 with three more seasons succeeding this. The first consisted of a pilot and three episodes, the second and the third series both consisted of four normal episodes and the fourth series increased the run to five episodes and the duration of each individual episode to 90 minutes as opposed to the previous 70-minute format. As of 2007 this series had 17 episodes in total.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: detective, clever, realistic, suspenseful, dark, crime drama, semi serious
Similar in 84%
Cracker (1993)
Plot Summary:
The wise-cracking Fitz is a brilliant but flawed criminal psychologist with a remarkable insight into the criminal mind.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: clever, detective, crime drama, rough, witty, dark, psychological, tense, sincere, realistic
Similar in 81%
Inspector George Gently (2007)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, suspenseful, crime drama, clever, realistic, dark, period drama
Similar in 75%
Shetland (2013)
Plot Summary:
Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, tense, crime drama, serious, stylized, detective, suspense, realistic, noir, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Scott & Bailey (2011)
Plot Summary:
D.C. Rachel Bailey and D.C. Janet Scott have a robust and engaging friendship which enables them to draw upon each other’s strengths and investigate murders for the Manchester Metropolitan Police.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, realistic, detective, crime drama
Similar in 86%
The Brokenwood Mysteries (2014)
Plot Summary:
In a seemingly quiet country town the newest resident, Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd, finds that murder lurks in even the most homely location.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, detective, witty, tense, captivating, suspense, humorous, crime drama
Similar in 75%
Unforgotten (2015)
Plot Summary:
'Unforgotten' follows modern police team DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunny Khan, who gradually unravel long-forgotten secrets which have a dramatic impact on their investigation and the four potential suspects. The slow revelation of the secrets will also affect the personal lives of both Sunny and Cassie.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, realistic, crime drama, tense, suspenseful, clever, captivating, disturbing, atmospheric
Similar in 75%
Trial & Retribution (1997)
Plot Summary:
Trial & Retribution is a feature-length ITV police procedural television drama series that began in 1997. It was devised and written by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series Prime Suspect. Each episode of the Trial & Retribution series is broadcast over two nights. The 2008 series 10 had 10 episodes, the longest run of the drama so far. The latest series was number 12 which aired in February 2009.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: detective, crime drama, tense, rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Grace (2021)
Plot Summary:
Brighton based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is a hard-working police officer who has given his life to the job, but his career is currently at rock bottom. He’s fixated by the disappearance of his beloved wife, Sandy, and running enquiries into long forgotten cold cases with little prospect of success. Following another reprimand for his unorthodox police methods, Grace is walking a career tightrope and risks being moved from the job he loves most.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Steppe (2018)
Plot Summary:
Experienced chief of police Seyfi and newbie officer Nuri Pamir start to investigate the case of a child murder taking place in the city. The case brings them to Mr. Abbas and his daughter Dilara, who are well-known individuals in their circles.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Turkey
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, detective
Similar in 80%
Murder Investigation Team (2003)
Plot Summary:
Murder Investigation Team is a British police procedural drama series produced by the ITV network as a spin-off from the long-running series, The Bill. The series is based around the cases of a Murder Investigation Team, who are linked to the Sun Hill borough of London, as featured in The Bill.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 69 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, crime drama
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The Mallorca Files (2019)
Plot Summary:
Amongst the vibrant international community of the eponymous Spanish island, a British and a German detective with very different approaches to policing have a clash of personalities. Despite - or perhaps because of - their very different approaches, the sleuths form a perfect complementary partnership as they seek to solve a new crime on the island each week.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, France, Germany, Spain
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, captivating, suspense, crime drama
Similar in 81%
Life on Mars (2018)
Plot Summary:
While investigating a serial murder case, Han Tae Joo gets into an incident. When he wakes up, he finds himself back in 1987. To get back to his present world, he must solve the murder case.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 65 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, detective
Similar in 79%
Foyle's War (2002)
Plot Summary:
As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, War
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, captivating, detective, suspenseful, realistic, crime drama, atmospheric, dark, period piece
Similar in 84%
River (2015)
Plot Summary:
John River, a brilliant police officer whose genius and fault-line is the fragility of his mind - a man haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, detective, crime drama, surprise ending, melancholic, atmospheric, enigmatic, tense, captivating
Similar in 85%
Identity (2010)
Plot Summary:
Identity is a British police procedural drama television series starring Aidan Gillen and Keeley Hawes, airing in the UK during July–August 2010. Concerning identity theft, the series was created and written by Ed Whitmore, a writer most noted for his work on the BBC's Waking The Dead and the acclaimed ITV mini-series He Kills Coppers. The remake rights have been sold to the ABC Network in America who are developing their own version of the show. ITV confirmed that the show had been cancelled on 19 October 2010, after a single series.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 717
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, serious, realistic, captivating, detective, crime drama, suspenseful, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Life of Crime (2013)
Plot Summary:
A female cop becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer of a 15-year-old girl, and hunts him over the course of her 28 year career in the force.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, detective, period piece, rough, serious
Similar in 76%
The Closer (2005)
Plot Summary:
Deputy Police Chief Brenda Jean Johnson transfers from Atlanta to LA to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Johnson's quirky personality and hard-nosed approach often rubs her colleagues the wrong way, but her reputation as one of the world's best interrogator eventually wins over even her toughest critics.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, sincere, tense, serious, detective, suspense, inspirational, bloody, thrilling
Similar in 81%
Endeavour (2012)
Plot Summary:
The early days of a young Endeavour Morse, whose experiences as a detective constable with the Oxford City Police will ultimately shape his future.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, detective, intellectual, realistic, atmospheric, crime drama, period piece, captivating, melancholic, costume drama
Similar in 90%
Chasing Shadows (2014)
Plot Summary:
Chasing Shadows' follows a team of special operatives who are tracking down serial killers.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective, crime drama, captivating, suspense
Similar in 77%
Unforgettable (2011)
Plot Summary:
Former Syracuse, New York, police detective Carrie Wells has hyperthymesia, a rare medical condition that gives her the ability to visually remember everything. She reluctantly joins the New York City Police Department's Queens homicide unit after her former boyfriend and partner asks for help with solving a case. The move allows her to try to find out the one thing she has been unable to remember, which is what happened the day her sister was murdered.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, detective, thrilling, tense, realistic, exciting