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Best Crime TV Series of the 1980s

375 Crime series that started in the 1980s, ranked by popularity

All Crime series All series from the 1980s
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Genres

Genres as assigned by IMDb. Selecting several means a show must match all of them.

Decades

By first-air year. Several selections widen the range; a specific year narrows within its decade.

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Rating patterns, computed from IMDb episode-rating trajectories. Deliberately strict: only shows with an unmistakable pattern carry one, so expect small numbers.

Rating patterns

Taste tags, judged by our AI taste model. They cover the 5,000 most-rated shows.

Tone & mood
Pacing & structure
Humor style
Themes & subject matter
Characters & perspective
Emotional payoff
Craft & style
Format & audience
Viewing-culture clusters
Intensity & content character
375 series

Super Gran

★ 6.4
650 27 1985–1987
Comedy · Crime · Family

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe

★ 7.5
634 14 1980–1980
Comedy · Crime · Drama

Röd snö

★ 7.6
630 6 1985–1985
Crime · Mystery · Thriller

Widows

★ 7.6
570 12 1983–1985
Crime · Drama

Philip Marlowe, Private Eye

★ 7.7
540 11 1983–1986
Action · Crime · Drama

The Agatha Christie Hour

★ 7.1
529 10 1982–1982
Crime · Drama · Mystery

The Atlanta Child Murders

★ 6.7
520 2 1985–1985
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Mathnet

★ 8.5
498 30 1987–1992
Comedy · Crime · Family

Linda

★ 6.9
484 22 1984–2002
Comedy · Crime

Nero Wolfe

★ 7.2
478 14 1981–1981
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House

★ 7.6
472 8 1985–1985
Crime · Drama

Protivostoyanie

★ 8.0
466 6 1985–1985
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Private Schulz

★ 8.0
466 6 1981–1981
Comedy · Crime · Drama

Sidekicks

★ 7.1
461 23 1986–1987
Crime · Drama · Family

Night Heat

★ 7.5
459 96 1985–1989
Crime · Drama

Death of an Expert Witness

★ 7.4
441 7 1983–1983
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Shroud for a Nightingale

★ 7.5
430 5 1984–1984
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Großstadtrevier

★ 6.2
424 527 1986–present
Comedy · Crime · Drama

Cover Her Face

★ 7.5
424 6 1985–1985
Crime · Drama · Mystery

Cuna de lobos

★ 8.7
421 169 1986–1987
Crime · Drama · Thriller

Dress Gray

★ 7.0
420 2 1986–1986
Crime · Drama · Mystery

The Black Tower

★ 7.4
418 6 1985–1985
Crime · Drama · Mystery

The Two Mrs. Grenvilles

★ 7.5
418 2 1987–1987
Crime · Drama

The Crime of Ovide Plouffe

★ 7.2
412 6 1984–present
Crime · Drama
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