10 top Netflix shows for Line of Duty fans

Behzat Ç

A brutal and uncompromising Turkish drama, Behzat Ç focuses on police corruption. Much like Line of Duty. But instead of a team of pretty clean-living officers, looking into the dirty deeds of bent coppers, here we’re presented with a much gruffer mob. Set in the Turkish capital of Ankara, our eponymous hero is something of an antihero, never far from a bottle of beer and a pack of cigarettes. We’re not too sure he’d passed the AC-12 interview.

A huge smash back home because of it’s realistic, slang-peppered dialogue and gritty nature, we’re pretty sure that Behzat Ç will be a hit in your living room too.

IMDb Rating: 8.8

Bodyguard

Line of Duty has a great script, an amazing cast and plenty of explosions and gunfights. But the real reason it’s one of Britain’s best-loved TV series is down to its writing. So when the show’s creator and lead scribesman Jed Mercurio is involved in another project, people tune in.

Line of Duty is huge. Bodyguard was, arguably, even bigger. When it went out on BBC One back in late 2018, it picked up the channel’s biggest viewing figures in over a decade. When 11 million Britons tune in to your finale, you know you’ve done something right. And Mercurio had. This hard-hitting and twisting political/police thriller is a real roller coaster.

You’ve probably seen it. See it again on Netflix. You won’t regret it.

IMDb Rating: 8.1

El Marginal

Part of the appeal and success of Line of Duty is down to never really knowing which side of the law the main characters are on. And the same can be said of this Argentinian prison drama. Pastor Peña is an ex-cop who gets sent to prison to locate the kidnapped daughter of a judge who ripped off some inmates to the tune of some $3 million. The girl is somewhere inside and it’s Peña’s job to formulate a plan to rescue and get her out. While trying to stay alive.

El Marginal is compelling, tense and often shockingly violent. If you’re drawn to high-octane crime dramas, we can’t recommend it highly enough.

IMDb Rating: 8.5

Undercover

From the BAFTA Award-winning writer Peter Moffat (Hawking, The Village, Cambridge Spies), this complex but rewarding six-part drama follows a successful QC as she battles to become the first black head of the CPS. But there’s much, much more to the story than just that…

Ably supported by a cast including the likes of Adrian Lester, Dennis Haysbert, Phil Davis and Mark Bonnar, Hotel Rwanda’s Sophie Okonedo shines in the lead role.

Although some five million viewers caught it on BBC One back in 2016, there wasn’t much fanfare at the time, which is a shame. If you weren’t one of those five million, catch up with Undercover on Netflix this weekend.

IMDb Rating: 7.9

Fauda

If you think that the rivalries between police departments are fierce and the political machinations in Line of Duty get complicated, they’re nothing compared to the real-life conflict between Israel and Palestine. The reality is dramatic enough. Fauda takes the baton and runs with it.

The series tells the increasingly complicated but enthralling story of an Israel Defense Forces team as they pursue a dangerous Hamas terrorist. The series was developed by lead actor Lior Raz and journalist Avi Issacharoff, both of whom were actually in the IDF.

The action may be all in Arabic and Hebrew, but that hasn’t stopped the three runs of Fauda being a global smash. Brutal, uncompromising and gripping, its strongest point is its evenhandedness in dealing with the tense and highly emotive subjects it deals with.

IMDb Rating: 8.3

Narcos

No doubt you’ll be familiar with this sweeping tale of how Pablo Escobar went from poor slum kid to the world’s richest criminal. A Netflix Original drama, Narcos is now into its third season and, having dispensed with the tale of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, now focuses on the dirty dealings of the infamous Cali cartel. It’s been a smash hit since its debut and the hype is more than justified.

Equal time and attention are spent showing how the DEA and Colombian police dealt with Escobar (clue: not all that well). And that makes for a nicely balanced view of how narco-trafficking really went down in 1980s South America.

IMDb Rating: 8.9

Intelligence

Chris Haddock’s rich, compulsive and realistic cop drama ran on Canadian TV some ten years ago now. It’s considered by Canucks as one of their greatest ever TV shows, making CBC’s decision to can it after just two seasons all the more bizarre. Set in Vancouver, Intelligence follows a gang of drug smugglers and an equally gang-like rabble of police officers and follows how both sides clash mercilessly with each other.

Watch out for a particularly captivating performance from Ian Tracey as Jimmy Reardon, the crime kingpin. He shines in what might just be the best TV show you’ve never heard of (until now).

IMDb Rating: 8.3

The Inmate

Line of Duty concerns itself with bent coppers and crime, of course. But once AC-12 nab their bad guy, that’s it – we hear no more from them. They’re locked up and it’s on to the next ‘caddy’ to hunt down. The Inmate takes us inside.

This tough prison drama is an American/Mexican remake of the Argentinian series El Marginal, a popular show that has 3 seasons on Netflix that are also worth checking out.

The plot’s nice and simple – an ex-Marine goes undercover as an inmate inside a rough Mexican prison to infiltrate a gang that are thought to have kidnapped a US judge’s kid. He has to survive chokey, get accepted by the cons and solve the case. All while dealing with an escalating gang war from the crims and untold corruption from the guards.

‘El Recluso’ doesn’t bring much new to the prison drama genre, but it’s darn good fun anyway.

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Unité 42

Few people associate the tiny nation of Belgium with premium grade TV. Mussels, waffles and 12% beer, sure. But high quality drama? Well, all that needs to change. The Break and Public Enemy are two crime crackers that the Belgians can rightly be proud of. Joining that list is Unité 42, a series that follows an anti-cyber-crime unit that’s dedicated to hunting down terrorists.

It’s a police procedural that cares as much about the development of its characters as it does about throwing new criminals at us each episode. So those of you that appreciate Line of Duty should be happy to unité for this 10-episode long 2017 crime feast.

IMDb Rating: 7.0

Silver Spoon

Known as Mazhor in its native Russia, Netflix changed the name of this drama to Silver Spoon to reflect the show’s plot. In it, a rich and cosseted young playboy called Igor is forced to join the Russian police by his oligarch dad, who cuts up his credit cards and wangles him a job. Understandably, he struggles to adapt to his rough n’ tumble new lifestyle. It’s meant as a slight dig at the lifestyles of some of the more pampered rich kids that Russia seems to have an abundance of – and hatred for – now.

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Have we missed any excellent Netflix cop shows like Line of Duty from our list? Let us know in the comments below!