10 Crime Procedurals Better Than Law & Order

Published Jul 26, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT After joining Screen Rant in January 2025, Guy became a Senior Features Writer in March of the same year, and now specializes in features about classic TV shows. With several years' experience writing for and editing TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include a wide range of genres, from comedies, animated series, and crime dramas, to Westerns and political thrillers. Arguably the definitive network TV crime show of the 1990s and early 2000s, Law & Order brought the police procedural into a new age by combining it with the courtroom. At the same time, the show brought a new sense of authenticity to crime drama on the small screen by basing its storylines on real events reported in the press. Yet, there are crime shows that changed the genre far beyond what Law & Order has pioneered across its 25 seasons and various spinoffs. This Dick Wolf creation is ultimately a conventional procedural drama, which sticks closely to tradition in each half of its split between police and legal casework. While the Law & Order universe boasts more characters than any other TV franchise, other crime procedurals feature more compelling characterizations of law enforcers and criminals alike. For anyone who’s a fan of the classic NBC show, it’s worth exploring what else is out there in the same genre that does things a little differently. For the sake of clarity, this list will exclude the best legal dramas on television, focusing solely on crime series which compare directly to the police-procedural elements of Law & Order. What’s more, the basis for these comparisons will be the franchise’s original flagship release, rather than any of its various spinoffs. 10 Mare of Easttown 2021 As a hard-hitting tale of personal resilience, Mare of Easttown is the most bingeable crime miniseries on HBO. It stars Kate Winslet as title character Mare Sheehan, a police detective battling against a family crisis as well as professional odds to solve a homicide case that’s left Easttown, Pennsylvania in a state of shock. Winslet’s indomitable performance is a major highlight in her stellar career, and is a big reason why there’s every chance Mare will be back for another murder investigation in the coming years. Regardless of any prospective second season, though, Mare of Easttown continues to stand out as a crime procedural of rare sensitivity and emotional resonance. 9 Line Of Duty 2012–Present Credit: BBC Line of Duty is an underrated masterpiece among British crime procedurals, which serves up a level of grit and intensity few other shows in the genre could come close to matching. If Law & Order emphasizes the finer points of police detective work, then this long-running series dives deep into the heart of the action. It features some of the best interrogation scenes in the history of crime television, and has made stunning plot twists during police investigations something worthy of prestige drama. Starring acting royalty like Lennie James, Kelly Macdonald, Stephen Graham, and Keeley Hawes, it’s no wonder Line of Duty continues to be the UK’s most popular crime series. 8 The Bridge 2011–2018 The Bridge has perhaps been forgotten as a TV crime thriller over the past decade and a decade, as other Nordic noir shows have taken its place in public consciousness. Yet, the significance of its arrival on the small screen can’t be overstated. Apart from its pioneering role in making Scandinavian crime procedurals a permanent fixture in global television lineups, the series furnished its genre with a cinematic quality invoked by dark color palettes, brooding backdrops, and smoldering investigative realism. More than any other show of the 2010s, The Bridge placed police detectives at the cutting edge of serial drama. 7 Bosch 2014–2022 MovieStillsDB Prime Video’s Bosch universe is an unstoppable streaming juggernaut, spearheaded by Titus Welliver’s eponymous antihero. Harry Bosch has now surpassed the likes of Lenny Briscoe as surely the most iconic hard-boiled TV detective in recent memory. His maverick, no-nonsense approach to solving crimes is complemented by plot threads chock-full of twists as cleverly executed as they are unexpected. Based on the novels of Michael Connelly, Bosch scarcely leaves us time to catch our breath across seven seasons of frenetic, fast-paced action thrills. At the same time, it ultimately rests on the strength of its title character as an inimitable force of nature. 6 Broadchurch 2013–2017 Fronted by two of the finest British actors of their generation in David Tennant and Olivia Colman, Broadchurch is the quintessential crime procedural of its kind. Set in a remote coastal location in southern England, its murky storylines are matched by suitably imposing panoramic visuals. However, it’s an intensely relatable, grounded approach to storytelling that truly separates the show from its peers, in addition to Tennant and Colman’s endearing odd-couple chemistry. All three of Broadchurch’s seasons are virtually flawless, and the biggest shortcoming of the series is that there aren’t more of them. 5 Homicide: Life On The Street 1993–1999 Now that Homicide: Life on the Street is streaming on Peacock, a whole new generation gets to discover one of the most important crime procedurals ever to air on the small screen. Although the show crossed over into the Law & Order universe multiple times, it’s much darker and grittier than its NBC partner in crime. Homicide is to the nineties what Hill Street Blues is to the 1980s. The series is an undisputed great of its era, which pointed the way forward to the next decade of TV crime drama. It might not have achieved the enduring popularity of Dick Wolf’s TV shows, but its game-changing impact on police procedurals is beyond doubt. 4 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 1999–Present Image for NBC via MovieStillsDB Consistently ranked the best Law & Order series out there, Special Victims Unit has turned Olivia Benson into an icon of the crime genre. Benson goes far beyond her part in the franchise’s original flagship series to redefine what it means to be a TV police detective. Law & Order: SVU is less about the perpetrators of crimes than about their victims and what Benson and her colleagues can do for them, not only as law enforcers, but as frontline support in the face of devastating trauma. This show plays to its strengths more than the original Law & Order, and continues to reap the rewards in superior ratings. 3 The Wire 2002–2008 While there are some harsh realities to rewatching The Wire two decades on, they take nothing away from David Simon’s work of genius. This landmark series is far more than just procedural drama, which is all that prevents it from taking the number one spot on this list. Spanning several departments of municipal government and various criminal gangs, The Wire brings an entire city to life like no other TV show before or since its golden run on HBO in the noughties. Its highly unorthodox approach to procedural drama makes unlikely heroes out of those on the wrong side of the law, and villains out of their law-enforcing adversaries. 2 Hill Street Blues 1981–1987 Arguably the most influential network police procedural of all time, Hill Street Blues gave rise to everything from Twin Peaks to Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire. The prototype for prestige crime dramas set inside a police station, it tells the story of a broad ensemble of characters with impressive depth and sensitivity. Those working at Hill Street Station are possibly the first police officers on the small screen for whom the personal stakes are just as high as the professional, and these two things are intrinsically interlinked. Hill Street Blues is the only eighties cop show that holds up to scrutiny today, which is testament to its genre innovations. 1 Columbo 1968–1978, 1989–2003 Probably the most iconic crime procedural in TV history, Columbo dwarfs Law & Order’s legacy in terms of its overall impact on popular culture. One of the first shows to revamp the classic “whodunit” format of episodic detective stories, it remains an immensely compelling watch today. Indeed, Columbo’s best episodes are all-time greats of the genre. Law & Order might have finally broken its record for the longest-running police franchise on television in calendar years, but the legendary series starring Peter Falk continues to be deeply ingrained in the TV lore of viewers around the world. Even now, Columbo is still the benchmark for every police detective premise Dick Wolf comes up with. Release Date September 13, 1990 Network NBC Showrunner Rick Eid Cast S. Epatha Merkerson Lieutenant Anita Van Buren The beginning of the long-running franchise Law & Order is a crime-drama series created by Dick Wolf and launched on NBC in 1990. The series follows the day-to-day lives of detectives and legal professionals in New York who are involved in apprehending and prosecuting dangerous criminals.