# Kinder, gentler police/crime/detective shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098 "2014-03-19T17:45:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/61 "2014-03-25T20:56:36Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Meanwhile, I’ve started watching _Foyle’s War_ on my new fav Roku channel, [AcornTV](http://acorn.tv/#featured). Now THERE’S a classy guy. Quiet, intelligent, subtle, gentle–but can be hard as nails when need be. A man of integrity. The opposite of a bully–always in control. > > The setting is so interesting–Britain in 1940. The plots are complex, reflecting the complex times, and the production values are first class. In fact, it’s a first class series. Michael Kitchen is a dead ringer for that very classy John Mills. > > P.S. Not missing DirecTV one single bit. And not missing the $92/mo I used to pay. I’ve been watching _Foyle’s War_, too! Yes, Christopher Foyle is one classy guy. I’m in season 4 now and the characters of Sam and Paul Milner are developing nicely. I’ll be checking out the other series recommended here too. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/62 "2014-03-25T21:40:06Z")
Going back, what about Ian McShane in Lovejoy? > **[Lovejoy (TV Series 1986–1994) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090477/)** > > Lovejoy: Created by Ian La Frenais. With Ian McShane, Dudley Sutton, Chris Jury, Phyllis Logan. Lovejoy is an irresistible rogue with a keen eye for antiques. The part-time detective scours the murky salerooms, auction halls and stately homes of... ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/63 "2014-03-26T07:21:38Z")
I second the British show New Tricks, plus Hustle, which is about a band of con men with kind hearts and good intentions. Also The Mentalist, which has murders but very few car chases and other macho rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/64 "2014-03-26T08:26:22Z")
Another British show that is pretty tame (and mildly comical) is _Murder in Suburbia_. It is not as good as _Lewis_ or _Morse_, or even _Midsomer Murders_, but it is passable (and the lead detective characters are female, if you care). Another low-violence one you might like is _Wycliff_. Incidentally, although the bodies in _Midsomer Murders_ can be a bit gruesome, I don’t think you often see much violence as it happens, and the actual detecting and arresting is very sedate. (Much more so than _A Touch of Frost_, which can sometimes get a bit violent.) Incidentally, nearly all the British shows that have been mentioned are from our ITV (ad supported) network,\* not the BBC (although they may sometimes run on BBC America). ITV seems to specialize in this sort of show these days, and although some are now quite old, they are often re-run here. In Britain, you can watch via the [ITV Player](https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/) web site. For UK residents, episodes that have recently been broadcast (even as re-runs) are available for free (“catch up”), with ads, and ones that have not been broadcast recently are available (without ads) for a very reasonable fee (like, 99p for a two hour episode). You will probably not be able to access the free stuff from an IP address outside the UK, but possibly, you may be able to get the paid stuff. (And it may be possible to fool them into letting you view the free stuff by using a suitable proxy or VPN.) Not all the ITV detective shows are kind and gentle, however. For instance, _DCI Banks_ is quite gritty. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ \*Actually, it is not quite equivalent to an American network. ITV actually puts out (at least) four channels of TV now (as does the BBC, and some of the other, established “networks”, like _Channel Four_ also broadcast multiple channels). I say “at least” four, because ITV not only has four channels of different programming, but also channels named things such as ITV 1+1, which runs the same programs as ITV 1, but an hour later. Math notwithstanding, ITV 1+1 is not equivalent to ITV 2. _Channel Four_, does something similar, as do some of the lesser “networks” such as _Dave_ (yes, we have a TV “network” called _Dave_:rolleyes:). (The BBC does not do the +1 thing, however.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/65 "2014-03-26T08:49:27Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I second both _Murdoch Mysteries_ and _Midsomer Murders_. > I also recommend _[Father Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Brown_%282013_TV_series%29)_, and [Jonathan Creek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Creek). I thought _Father Brown_ had very clichéd scripts, and it utterly failed to capture the spirit of the Chesterton stories from which the character was derived (and whose plots were mostly very original, unlike those used in this TV version). _Jonathan Creek_ is nicely done, if you like puzzle-plots that are like Agatha Christie on steroids. A nice show I have just remembered, that recently had its its second series on the BBC, is _Death in Paradise_, set on a Caribbean island with a “fish out of water” English detective working with a crew of local detectives (one played by the guy who was the Cat in _Red Dwarf_). Very gentle, and played slightly for laughs (and sexual tension with the sergeant, who looks like a fashion model, but is a very down to earth character), with Agatha Christie style plots and denouements. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/66 "2014-03-26T10:04:05Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > …plus Hustle, which is about a band of con men with kind hearts and good intentions. Good call. _Leverage_, the US equivalent of _Hustle_, would probably fit into the OP’s purview too. > [@njtt](#): > > A nice show I have just remembered, that recently had its its second series on the BBC, is _Death in Paradise_… Third series, actually. And I second this suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/67 "2014-03-26T11:07:38Z")
I do like Leverage. Learned about it right here on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![h4ckys4ck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@h4ckys4ck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h4ckys4ck)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/68 "2014-03-26T12:28:01Z")
Hamish Macbeth is brilliant [Hamish Macbeth (TV Series 1995–1997) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111993/) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/69 "2014-03-26T19:54:09Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I have always liked NCIS, it is kind of like CSI but the workplace seems more real. The characters joke back and forth with each other and seem to have fun in bad situations. It is definitely more on the Law & Order side than Murder She Wrote but not as heavy as Criminal Minds or CSI. NCIS’ spinoff, NCIS: Los Angeles, is definitely more action-oriented than NCIS. You can always, ALWAYS count on the LA group getting into a gun battle about halfway through the episode, and again at the end. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/70 "2014-03-26T23:29:01Z")
I don’t know if they’ve been mentioned but the ‘kinder, gentler’ thing tends to point to Sunday night drama in the UK. Two I think you would like are Jonathan Creek and Doc Martin, both very popular with overseas markets: > **[Doc Martin (TV Series 2004–2022) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408381/)** > > Doc Martin: Created by Dominic Minghella, Mark Crowdy, Craig Ferguson. With Martin Clunes, Caroline Catz, Ian McNeice, Joe Absolom. The trials and tribulations of Martin Ellingham, a brilliant but socially challenged doctor who moves from London to... > **[Jonathan Creek (TV Series 1997–2016) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118363/)** > > Jonathan Creek: With Alan Davies, Caroline Quentin, Stuart Milligan, Julia Sawalha. Jonathan Creek, a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles, works from his home in a converted windmill. He uses his abilities to solve impossible crimes... fwiw, both rate 8.3 on IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098/71 "2014-03-29T00:49:58Z")
> [@BrokenBriton](#): > > Going back, what about Ian McShane in Lovejoy? > > [Lovejoy (TV Series 1986–1994) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090477/) I doubt that a person that finds Inspector Morse unsavory would warm to Lovejoy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinder-gentler-police-crime-detective-shows/684098.md?page=3)