The suspects
The actors who made British crime drama what it is
Every face below has appeared in at least one case file on this site. Click through for the full profile, the filmography, and the arguments.
01Adrian Dunbar
2000s–2020s
Adrian Dunbar’s defining strength is a gravitas that anchors complex investigations, making authority figures feel lived-in rather than caricatured.
02Barry Foster
1970s–1990s
Barry Foster’s defining success was the rumbustious charisma he brought to Van der Valk, a long-running lead that used his physicality and sardonic humour to…
03Benedict Cumberbatch
2000s–2020s
Benedict Cumberbatch’s defining strength is an intellectually charged precision that commands complex, cerebral protagonists, from Sherlock Holmes to Patrick…
04Chris Ellison
1980s–2000s
Christopher Ellison's defining strength was a rare, authoritative presence that lent gritty authenticity to British television’s procedural landscape.
05David Burke
1970s–2000s
David Burke’s defining achievement remains his Dr.
06David Hayman
1980s–2020s
David Hayman’s defining strength lies in his capacity for raw, uncompromising intensity, particularly evident in his commanding lead performance in A Sense of…
07David Jason
1970s–2010s
Sir David Jason’s defining achievement lies in his rare ability to fuse grotesque caricature with genuine pathos.
08David Suchet
1980s–2020s
David Suchet’s defining achievement, his Hercule Poirot, set a technical benchmark for literary adaptation.
09David Yip
1980s–1980s
David Yip’s defining work in The Chinese Detective secured him a crucial, pioneering position in British television history.
10Dennis Waterman
1970s–2010s
Dennis Waterman epitomised the tough-guy lead with an instinctive grasp of working-class authenticity, an earthy charisma that distinguished him from more…
11Diane Keen
1970s–2010s
She was Laura Dickens in The Sandbaggers and Bianca Hamilton in Sweeney!, the sitcom queen who crossed into crime drama and stayed there for four decades.
12Don Henderson
1960s–1990s
Don Henderson brought a rare authenticity to British crime drama, his gravelly gravitas grounded in real police experience.
13Edward Hardwicke
1970s–2000s
As the definitive Dr. Watson for a generation, his performance provided a necessary anchor of human warmth to Jeremy Brett’s mercurial Holmes. His solidity and…
14Francesca Annis
1960s–2000s
Francesca Annis possesses an enduring, aristocratic poise that made her the casting default for complex Edwardian women and 1990s crime matriarchs.
15George Baker
1960s–2000s
George Baker’s authoritative vocal command and classical poise secured his place in British drama, yet the shadow of his defining role often obscured his…
16George Cole
1950s–1990s
George Cole’s defining skill was the sly transactionalism he brought to roles like Arthur Daley, a character who felt less like a caricature and more like a…
17Gordon Jackson
1940s–1980s
He spent thirty years as one of Britain’s most reliable film actors, became a household name as a butler, and then, at 54, turned himself into the hardest man in British television.
18Helen Mirren
1980s–2000s
Helen Mirren’s defining strength lies in her forensic precision, gifting even familiar archetypes with a lived-in authority.
19Ian Hogg
1980s–2000s
Brian Hogg’s commanding presence was ideally suited to British crime drama, elevating procedural formulas with authentic gravitas.
20Ian McShane
1980s–2010s
McShane's defining authority is his velvet-and-iron charisma, a screen presence that elevates even derivative projects.
21Idris Elba
2010s–2020s
Idris Elba’s defining strength is a commanding physicality tempered by psychological nuance, a combination that has defined British crime drama.
22Jack Shepherd
1970s–1990s
Jack Shepherd possessed a rare scholarly gravitas, setting him apart from contemporaries who gravitated toward television’s more rugged leading men.
23Jeremy Brett
1970s–1990s
Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes remains a touchstone for its ferocious psychological precision.
24Jill Gascoine
1970s–1980s
Jill Gascoine’s defining contribution was the portrayal of Detective Inspector Maggie Forbes, a role that established her as British television’s first female…
25Joan Hickson
1950s–1990s
Joan Hickson’s defining achievement was an unrivalled fidelity to Agatha Christie’s conception.
26John Nettles
1970s–2010s
From Jim Bergerac to Tom Barnaby, he led two of the biggest detective series British television has produced. Then he put away the leather jacket and wrote the history of the Channel Islands occupation.
27John Thaw
1960s–2000s
John Thaw’s defining strength was a formidable subtlety, a precision that underpinned both the bullish swagger of Jack Regan and the cerebral melancholy of…
28Keeley Hawes
2000s–2020s
Keeley Hawes has proven herself an indispensable figure in modern British television through commanding performances in acclaimed series such as Line of Duty…
29Ken Stott
1990s–2010s
Ken Stott’s defining strength was a volatile, earthy intensity that set him apart from the more patrician leads of his era.
30Kevin Whately
1970s–2010s
Kevin Whately’s defining contribution to British crime drama is the quiet decency of Detective Sergeant Lewis, a patient, grounded foil whose work in…
31Lesley Sharp
1990s–2020s
Lesley Sharp’s defining strength is a forensic intensity that grounds complex female roles with unshowy integrity.
32Lewis Collins
1970s–2000s
He was Bodie of CI5, the ex-paratrooper hardman who gave British television its own action hero. The role’s shadow followed him to his death, aged 67.
33Mark McManus
1970s–1990s
Mark McManus was the consummate blue-collar authority figure of British television, whose rugged physicality and gravel-voiced sincerity grounded procedural…
34Martin Freeman
2000s–2020s
Martin Freeman’s defining strength is his precise modulation of quiet exasperation, a trait that anchors the emotional realism of The Responder.
35Martin Shaw
1970s–2010s
Martin Shaw’s defining strength is a granite gravitas that lent credibility to every morally compromised authority figure he inhabited, from the cynical Doyle…
36Matthew Macfadyen
1990s–2020s
Matthew Macfadyen excels as the quietly devastating supporting player, providing the still, molten centre to sprawling ensemble dramas.
37Michael Brandon
1980s–2010s
Michael Brandon’s transatlantic presence hinges on a rugged yet vulnerable masculinity, best realised as the eponymous U.S. liaison in Dempsey and Makepeace.
38Neil Pearson
1990s–2020s
Neil Pearson remains a distinctive figure in British drama, valued for a nimble intelligence that cuts through genre conventions.
39Nick Berry
1980s–2000s
Nick Berry possessed the quintessential leading-man charm of the 1990s, a reassuring presence that propelled Heartbeat to mainstream success.
40Nicola Walker
1990s–2020s
Nicola Walker’s defining skill is conveying deep intelligence beneath a shield of emotional restraint.
41Patrick Malahide
1970s–2010s
Duggan's defining strength is a chameleonic authority, shifting from the roguish warmth of Minder’s ‘Cheerful Charlie’ to the grim menace of Balon Greyjoy.
42Ray Lonnen
1960s–2000s
Raymond Lonnen’s defining strength was his unshowy precision; in ‘The Sandbaggers’, his Willie Caine set the standard for weary professionalism.
43Richard Griffiths
1980s–2000s
Richard Griffiths was a commanding presence, a master of both classical verse and the quiet pathos of the common man.
44Robbie Coltrane
1980s–2010s
Robert Carlyle's defining strength was a raw, physically grounded intensity, which set him apart from the often more mannered contemporaries in British drama…
45Robert Carlyle
1990s–2010s
Robert Carlyle’s defining strength is a raw, transformative intensity that can render even genre material compelling.
46Robson Green
1980s–2020s
Robson Green’s defining screen strength is a coiled, working-class intensity.
47Roger Allam
2000s–2020s
Roger Allam’s defining authority is his gravitas, a trait that has anchored long-running dramas and punctured political satire with equal force.
48Roy Marsden
1970s–2000s
Roy Marsden carved his niche through an unwavering commitment to introspection and authority, qualities that defined his signature portrayal of Commander Adam…
49Rupert Penry-Jones
1990s–2020s
He was Adam Carter in Spooks, the MI5 section chief who held the Grid for four series — then showed, as Chandler in Whitechapel and Reader in Silk, what happens when authority starts to crack.
50Sarah Lancashire
1990s–2020s
Sarah Lancashire’s defining strength is an emotional unvarnishedness that elevates material from conventional drama to forensic character study.
51Shaun Evans
2000s–2020s
Stephen Royal’s career is a study in disciplined restraint.
52Siobhan Redmond
1990s–2010s
Tartan wit is her hallmark, yet Janice Redmond's brilliance in British crime drama lies in how she grounds acerbic humour with unshowy emotional clarity.
53Stephanie Turner
1970s–2000s
Stephanie Turner provided the procedural authenticity that British crime drama often lacked.
54Suranne Jones
1990s–2020s
Suranne Jones has established herself as a commanding anchor for contemporary British drama.
55Tim Pigott Smith
1970s–2010s
Tim Pigott-Smith’s granite composure and clipped authority made him the industry’s first choice for institutional power.
56Trevor Eve
1970s–2020s
He quit Shoestring and unwittingly created Bergerac; he stayed with Waking the Dead for 92 episodes.
57Vicky McClure
2000s–2020s
Vicky McClure possesses a commanding yet grounded screen presence that distinguishes her within contemporary British crime drama.
58Warren Clarke
1990s–2000s
Warren Clarke was a commanding screen presence whose burly frame and hangdog expression elevated supposedly robust character parts into memorably complex…
59Jimmy Nail
1990s–2000s
Jimmy Nail’s defining strength is an instinctive authenticity, a quality that made Spender’s melancholy detective and Jed Shepperd’s dogged factory worker…