crime drama

A writer friend of mine defines a gripping documentary as “great drama” telling “a compelling story with a character we can root for”. There’s no doubt that mass audiences are there for documentaries, but what are the storytelling techniques that keep them hooked?

We’re living in an age when documentaries are everywhere, shown across broadcasters and streamers. From science to survival, travel to true crime, the storytelling techniques are now more sophisticated than they have ever been.

Brenda Blethyn first pulled on the distinctive fishing hat, scarf and gabardine coat back in 2010, when episode one of Vera started filming in the North East for ITV. Now, after 14 years and more than 50 episodes, the award-winning actor has confirmed that she is stepping down from the role of DCI Vera Stanhope, after filming for her final two shows wrapped in May.

Between the Lines is British television’s forgotten classic cop series. Its contemporaries – Cracker, Prime Suspect and Inspector Morse – are better known but, arguably, not as good.

Two decades before Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty blew the lid off police corruption, Detective Superintendent Tony Clark (Neil Pearson), DI Harry Naylor (Tom Georgeson) and DS Maureen “Mo” Connell (Siobhan Redmond) from the Metropolitan Police’s Complaints Investigation Bureau were also hell-bent on nailing dodgy coppers.

James Nesbitt will return as DCI Tom Brannick in the upcoming six-part series, created and written by Chris Brandon. 

At the end of the last series the identity of legendary assassin Goliath was shockingly revealed to be Brannick.

So when the murder of a crooked accountant unravels a trail of greed that could expose Brannick’s hidden life as Goliath, he must become dangerously close to the accountant’s widow Olivia (Victoria Smurfit) to solve the riddle he left behind. 

If there’s one thing us Brits know how to do well – apart from make a mean cup of tea and queue politely – it’s how to make a compelling TV crime drama. In recent years, the likes of Killing Eve, Line of Duty, Informer, Bodyguard and The Responder have all been jewels in prime-time schedules and reliable exports. But this has consequences for developing a new series as producers needs to offer something a little different.

Written by Sarah Phelps, the four-part crime drama will star Timothy Spall, Anne Reid, Éanna Hardwicke, Annabel Scholey and Sheila Hancock. 

The series will explore the deaths of inspirational teacher Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall) and his religious neighbour Ann Moore-Martin (Anne Reid) in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire.

The trajectory of Farquhar’s life changed when he met younger charismatic student Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke), which led to one of the most confusing and intricate criminal cases in recent history.

The BBC One crime drama set on the fictional island of Saint Marie will deal with the fallout of the shock twist dropped on Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington) at the end of series 11.

In the feature length Christmas special, the gang will need to work together to handle a complex case.

Series 12 may see the addition of a mystery daughter for Commissioner Patterson, as well as the usual capers and whodunnits.

It is hard now to convey the shocking originality of Cracker, the 1990s ITV crime series that helped redefine the genre and bring some genuine unpredictability and real edge to Monday-­night, peak-time TV.

At a stroke, Cracker made a star of man mountain Robbie Coltrane, previously known for his work in lighter fare such as the BBC Two series Tutti Frutti, in which he plays the singer in a Scottish rock ’n’ roll band alongside Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson.

The six-part crime noir follows the police detective Millie-Jean Black, who is forced to quit Scotland Yard and move back to Jamaica.

Upon her return, she begins working missing persons cases for the Jamaican force. She soon picks up an investigation that works its way from downtown Kingston all the way up to the plantations of the post-colonial elite.

When the case goes global, it propels her back to the UK where soon everyone is out to get Millie Black.

Iuzzolino, who introduced an RTS London event in October, said: “It is one of the very few shows I’ve bought off-script.” In Witch Hunt, an accountant (Ida Waage, played by Westworld actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) blows the whistle on corruption, but finds herself subjected to harassment and false accusations.

Series creators and writers Anna Bache-Wiig and Siv Rajendram Eliassen were inspired by the true story of a whistleblower in Norway.