Best tv shows like Wallander
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Sweden, Germany, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: bleak, detective, psychological, tense, serious, suspenseful, crime drama, realistic, atmospheric, noir
Best tv shows and movies like Wallander (2008):
Similar in 81%
Sebastian Bergman (2010)
Plot Summary:
Swedish crime drama series about forensic psychologist Sebastian Bergmann.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 649
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, detective, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Beck (1997)
Plot Summary:
Beck follows the Swedish police officer Martin Beck and his partner Gunvald Larson investigating various crimes.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, serious, realistic, noir, anime, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Collision (2009)
Plot Summary:
Collision is a five-part television drama miniseries, which debuted on ITV & UTV in November 2009. In the same month, it was also on PBS as a series in two parts. It tells the story of a group of strangers whose lives intertwine following a devastating car crash. The crash opens a number of startling revelations as stories of everything from government cover-ups and smuggling, to embezzlement and murder start to unravel. The series is open-ended, with a number of unresolved issues; moreover, the story is ostensibly resolved in a metafictional manner with a flashback to an incident in the service station and the swatting of a wasp, which precipitates the initial crash, thus allowing the characters to carry on on their journeys. The wasp as a motif and theme is frequently in evidence throughout the series. The original British broadcast of Collision was edited from the original 5 hours down to three and a half hours. The American broadcast on PBS's Masterpiece Contemporary, the Australian broadcast on ABC1 and the Region 1 DVD release all featured the shortened version. In Australia, Foxtel and Austar's W Channel aired Collision in its original format of five 45-minute episodes, Tuesday, 15 March 2011.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 201 min
Plot tags: detective, realistic, tense, serious, suspenseful, dark, crime drama
Similar in 86%
Eyewitness (2016)
Plot Summary:
Two teenage boys secretly meet up in a cabin, bear witness to a shooting and barely escape with their lives. Desperate to keep their relationship a secret and in fear of being found by the perpetrator, they remain silent but soon learn that what has been seen cannot be unseen -- and when you witness a horrible event, it changes everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, atmospheric, suspense, psychological, tense, disturbing, bleak, noir, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Wallander (2005)
Plot Summary:
Wallander is a Swedish television series adapted from Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels and starring Krister Henriksson in the title role. The 1st series of 13 films was produced in 2005 and 2006, with one taken directly from a novel and the remainder with new storylines suggested by Mankell. The 2nd series of 13 films was shown between 2009 and 2010. The stories are set in Ystad near the southern tip of Sweden. The three films Before the Frost, Mastermind, and The Secret were premiered in cinemas, with the rest first released as direct-to-DVD movies. The first episode of the second series, Hämnden, was released in Swedish cinemas in January 2009; the rest of the series was made for television. The BBC aired all 26 episodes of the Swedish television versions on BBC Four. A third and final season, containing six 90 minute episodes, will air in 2013 with Charlotta Jonsson as Linda Wallander. The first episode, adapted from the novel The Troubled Man, was released in cinemas in January 2013.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, detective, serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 85%
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 82%
Waking the Dead (2000)
Plot Summary:
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case unit composed of CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000, and there have been a total of nine series since. Each story is split into two hour-long episodes, shown on consecutive nights on BBC One. A third series episode won an International Emmy Award in 2004. The programme was also shown on BBC America in the United States, though these screenings are edited to allow for advertising breaks, as well as UKTV in Australia and New Zealand and ABC1 in Australia. The show aired its final episode on 11 April 2011. A spin-off from the series, titled The Body Farm, revolving around forensic scientist Eve Lockhart, was announced by the BBC in January 2011 and ran for just one series.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, realistic, detective, crime drama, rough, serious, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Rebus (2000)
Plot Summary:
Rebus is the title of the detective drama TV series based on the Inspector Rebus novels by the Scottish author Ian Rankin set in and around Edinburgh. The series was produced by STV Productions for the ITV network. Four seasons have been aired; series 1 starred John Hannah and was made for STV by his own production company, Clerkenwell Films. A new cast featuring Ken Stott as DI John Rebus was introduced for the second and subsequent series.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, crime drama, detective, suspense, clever
Similar in 90%
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 90%
100 Code (2015)
Plot Summary:
New York, USA. Stockholm, Sweden. Over the past twelve months young, blonde, blue-eyed women have been found dead in a meadow where Asphodel flowers grow. New York Detective Tommy Conley gets a special dispensation from the NYPD to go observe and act as an adviser to the Stockholm Police Department in order to help solve these crimes.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Germany
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, atmospheric, rough, psychological, detective, bleak, neo noir
Similar in 86%
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 88%
Chiefs (1983)
Plot Summary:
Three generations of police chiefs for a southern town go about their jobs while a serial murderer operates.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Vera (2011)
Plot Summary:
A sharp detective with a messy life, DCI Vera Stanhope patrols her “patch” of northeast England, pursuing the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail. Vera is obsessive about her work and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, detective, crime drama, captivating, costume drama, hardboiled detective, suspenseful, stylized, tense
Similar in 76%
Those Who Kill (2014)
Plot Summary:
Follows Catherine Jensen, a recently promoted homicide detective who enlists the help of Thomas Schaeffer, a forensic psychologist, to track down serial killers and relentlessly seeks the truth behind the disappearance of her brother.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspenseful, serious, captivating, detective, suspense, noir, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Thorne: Sleepyhead (2010)
Plot Summary:
Thorne Sleepyhead: follows DI Tom Thornes investigation into a mysterious serial killer. His first three victims ended up dead. His fourth was not so fortunate. Alison Willetts is unlucky to be alive. She has survived a stroke, deliberately induced by manipulation of pressure points on the head and neck. She can see, hear and feel, she is aware of everything going on around her, but she is unable to move or communicate. In leaving Alison alive, the police believe the killer's made his first mistake.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Australia, Canada, USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, psychological, captivating, suspense, dark, detective, scary, realistic
Similar in 89%
DCI Banks (2010)
Plot Summary:
A thrilling drama based on the novels by Peter Robinson. Stephen Tompkinson and Andrea Lowe star as the tenacious and stubborn Chief Inspector Alan Banks and the feisty and headstrong Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: detective, realistic, crime drama, tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, dark, gloomy
Similar in 90%
The Killing (2007)
Plot Summary:
The Killing is a Danish police procedural set in the Copenhagen main police department and revolves around Detective Inspector Sarah Lund and her team, with each season series following a different murder case day-by-day and a one-hour episode covering twenty-four hours of the investigation. The series is noted for its plot twists, season-long storylines, dark tone and for giving equal emphasis to the story of the murdered victim's family alongside the police investigation. It has also been singled out for the photography of its Danish setting, and for the acting ability of its cast.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: psychological, gloomy, tense, detective, serious, suspenseful, crime drama, captivating, atmospheric, noir
Similar in 78%
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 83%
Midsomer Murders (1997)
Plot Summary:
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, detective, crime drama, realistic, serious, suspenseful, clever, dark, slasher, thrilling
Similar in 75%
Above Suspicion (2009)
Plot Summary:
Above Suspicion is a British TV series based on Lynda La Plante's novels Above Suspicion, The Red Dahlia, Deadly Intent and Silent Scream. It stars Kelly Reilly and Ciarán Hinds, and features the career of La Plante's latest heroine DC Anna Travis. The first series, Above Suspicion, was shown on the fourth and fifth of January 2009; the second series, Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia, was shown on the fourth, fifth and sixth of January 2010. The third series, Above Suspicion: Deadly Intent, was shown on the third, fourth and fifth of January 2011. The fourth series, Above Suspicion – Silent Scream was shown on the ninth, sixteenth and twenty-third of January 2012; in a break from the previous broadcasts, which were broadcast on consecutive days, this latest tale was serialised weekly. ITV cancelled Above Suspicion on May 28, 2012.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: detective, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, crime drama, dark
Similar in 83%
Murdoch Mysteries (2008)
Plot Summary:
A Victorian-era Toronto detective uses then-cutting edge forensic techniques to solve crimes, with the assistance of a female coroner who is also struggling for recognition in the face of tradition, based on the books by Maureen Jennings.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, clever, stylized, detective, sad, costume drama, crime drama, historical drama, serious, mind bending
Similar in 90%
The Bridge (2013)
Plot Summary:
A murdered body on a bridge between El Paso and Juarez bring together El Paso detective Sonya Cross and Chihuahua State Police detective Marco Ruiz.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, detective, serious, suspenseful, psychological thriller, sexy, bleak, crime drama, captivating
Similar in 89%
Trapped (2015)
Plot Summary:
As a ferry carrying 300 passengers from Denmark pulls into an Icelandic town’s small port, heavy snow begins to fall. The ferry can’t leave until the storm passes and the main road into town is impassable. A mutilated and dismembered body washes on the shore, an unidentifiable man murdered only hours ago. The local police chief, Andri Olafssun, whose personal life is in shatters, realizes a killer has descended into his town. As word spreads, order disintegrates into chaos as the ferry’s passengers and the town’s residents realize they are all possible suspects and that a killer is trapped among them.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, detective, crime drama, scenic, enigmatic, bleak, noir, dark, crime thriller, neo noir
Similar in 76%
The Bridge (2011)
Plot Summary:
When a body is found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, right on the border, Danish inspector Martin Rohde and Swedish Saga Norén have to share jurisdiction and work together to find the killer.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 75000
Genere: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, captivating, tense, suspenseful, gloomy, serious, detective, realistic, crime drama, noir
Similar in 79%
Broadchurch (2013)
Plot Summary:
The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 124000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: emotional, tense, clever, realistic, serious, detective, crime drama, gloomy, dramatic, crime thriller
Similar in 85%
Top of the Lake (2013)
Plot Summary:
A woman haunted by her past, Detective Robin Griffin, investigates complex and unsettling cases.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, clever, bleak, captivating, detective, suspenseful, dark, crime drama, spooky, psychological thriller
Similar in 83%
Hinterland (2013)
Plot Summary:
Tom Mathias comes to Aberystwyth having abandoned his life in London. He's a brilliant but troubled man. Despite his faults he is an excellent detective, who knows that the key to solving the crime lies not in where you look for truth, but how you look. From the windswept sand dunes of the coastline to the badlands of the hinterland, Y Gwyll is a series of four two-hour stories that are original and local, yet timeless and universal.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, detective, serious, tense, bleak, crime drama, dark, suspense, noir, grindhouse
Similar in 85%
Cardinal (2017)
Plot Summary:
Detective John Cardinal attempts to uncover the mystery of what happened to the missing 13-year-old girl whose body is discovered in the shaft-head of an abandoned mine. At the same time, he comes under investigation by his new partner, Lise Delorme, a tough investigator in her own right.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: detective, suspense, disturbing, enigmatic, tense, dark, crime drama, hardboiled detective, detective series
Similar in 81%
The Killing (2011)
Plot Summary:
The Killing is an American crime drama television series based upon the Danish television series Forbrydelsen. Set in Seattle, Washington, the series follows the various murder investigations by homicide detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 120000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: psychological, gloomy, neo noir, tense, serious, detective, suspenseful, atmospheric, realistic, dark
Similar in 81%
True Detective (2014)
Plot Summary:
An American anthology police detective series utilizing multiple timelines in which investigations seem to unearth personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within or outside the law.
IMDB Rating: 8.9
IMDB Votes: 618000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, atmospheric, anthology, gloomy, realistic, southern gothic, clever, stylized, captivating