A British series from 1963-1966, set in about 1890 Victorian London. Sergeant Cork and DC Marriott are the sum total of a new class of policeman called “detectives” in the new CID department at Scotland Yard. I highly recommend it.
What I like most about it is the character of Sgt. Cork as written. He is routinely upright and incorruptible. In his view, strongly expressed at times, the poor and the working classes are just as entitled to their lives as the middle and upper classes, and his job is not to judge moralities but to gather facts about crimes, usually murder. The stories don’t flinch about the ugliness of poverty and criminality, but Cork is always fair. He is in favor of modern methods but can’t always use them, photos of crime scenes are “too expensive” and they haven’t quite figured out fingerprints yet.
The stories are also quite good; there are probably some minor factual errors and anachronisms, but they haven’t gotten in the way of my enjoyment so far. There were 66 episodes made, so far around 15 have been posted. The channel has said they will try to post all of them over time. I hope they succeed, or I will soon run out. I am rationing myself to one per day.