Crime is likely to remain a popular genre for TV shows, as there is so much room for variety and creativity, even though the genre can often seem formulaic at first glance. The best detective shows ever made combine a compelling story with well-written and flawed main characters. However, to make a truly unpredictable detective show, there must be twists.

A great whodunnit TV show will keep you guessing all the way through, but some of the best detective shows throw in some bizarre or unexpected moments that no viewer could have predicted. When the creators combine shocks with excellent writing and well-acted detective characters, they usually end up with a crime show that will become iconic in time.

Mindhunter

Mindhunter became a psychological thriller masterpiece by breaking virtually all the typical rules for a detective show. Rather than follow an episodic procedural format with an ending, Mindhunter took its characters to some very dark places without always offering a neat resolution. It has a well-deserved 97% positive critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its standout performances and cinematic style.

From its shocking opening scene in which a hostage situation ends in a tragedy, to its creeping sense of dread as the characters explore the minds of killers, viewers never know what to expect. As Mindhunter is about the birth of criminal psychology, we often learn along with the main characters, who are often closer to monsters than they realize.

Release Date

2017 – 2019

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Joe Penhall

Directors

David Fincher, Carl Franklin, Andrew Dominik, Andrew Douglas, Asif Kapadia, Tobias Lindholm

Writers

Joe Penhall, Jennifer Haley, Joshua Donen, Courtenay Miles, Carly Wray, Pamela Cederquist

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  Holt McCallany

  Bill Tench

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  Munro M. Bonnell

  CMF Doctor

True Detective

True Detective‘s anthology format makes the show unpredictable and a little uneven at times. However, the weaker seasons of True Detective are balanced by the show’s phenomenal first season, which is often viewed as HBO’s best first season of all time. This season introduces the iconic detective duo Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) through its eight episodes.

True Detective is heavily defined by its twists, especially during its first season. The show is haunting and does not over-explain itself, often trusting viewers to pick up on the smaller details that hint at the truth. These hints and moments of foreshadowing make True Detective a rewatchable show, as we can appreciate the writing even if we already know the answers.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an incredible achievement for the long-running crime drama franchise, which is still running today. While dealing with harrowing and disturbing subject matter, the show uses a procedural format, which could be a difficult combination to work with. However, the show’s regular cast provides familiarity, while the many twists keep it from growing stale.

Law & Order: SVU often appears as though the detectives have most of the answers and are chasing a few missing pieces. However, the show regularly throws viewers some shocking revelations, often changing the focus of the episode. One of the best twists is in the episode “Secrets Exhumed,” which stars Marcia Gay Harden and practically demands a rewatch.

The X-Files

The X-Files takes a police procedural format and applies it to paranormal investigation, giving us one of the best TV detective duos ever written in the form of Mulder and Scully. Even without the will-they-won’t-they romance plot and possibility of alien abduction, the combination of believer and skeptic meant that few moments in the show could be predicted.

The pilot episode’s initial twist, revealing that the government knows much more than they are letting on, forms one of the best twists in The X-Files and defines the rest of the show. That said, while Mulder is generally ready to believe anything, the moments that challenge Scully are often the more shocking, like “Beyond The Sea,” which keeps viewers guessing until the last minute.

Sherlock

Sherlock often appears to give its viewers the chance to solve the crime, providing notes onscreen that show Sherlock Holmes’ thought processes. However, a harsh reality of watching Sherlock is that these do not give us enough to go on, and it is better to watch the show in the moment and enjoy the many twists and turns.

Sherlock may have gone downhill after the first three seasons, which all earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of at least 91% positive, but the first seasons are all excellent, and are based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery stories. That said, the stories have been modernized, which allows Sherlock to surprise viewers who already know the stories.

Sherlock

7/10

Release Date

2010 – 2017-00-00

Twin Peaks

David Lynch’s Twin Peaks is a cult classic TV thriller that surpasses the movies through its masterful storytelling and growing sense of unease. The story begins with FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) investigating the central mystery surrounding who killed Laura Palmer, but broadens into a surrealist masterpiece that includes paranormal forces, bizarre behavior, and an interesting cast of characters.

While Twin Peaks is full of unpredictable twists, it is much more than a surprising show. The cinematography and set pieces make it into an artistic project that still inspires debate today, leaving several questions unanswered. While the show includes one of TV’s darkest twists, even this was designed to remain a mystery for as long as possible.

Dexter

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Michael C. Hall gave a standout performance as Dexter Morgan, TV’s best blood spatter analyst and serial killer, and his charm saved Dexter during its most far-fetched moments. The show follows Dexter as he kills other serial killers while attempting to stick to his moral code and going to great lengths to hide his secret pastime, which is at risk of discovery.

After such a fun series of twists and turns, the show’s subdued ending was wildly unpopular, but the many Dexter spinoffs have attempted to rewrite this. Most have brought back the original show’s occasionally cartoonish humor, some have used original Dexter lore to elaborate on past events, and all have introduced major twists, making the entire franchise well worth watching.

Dexter

8/10

Release Date

2006 – 2013-00-00

The Shield

The Shield gave us one of the greatest crime TV characters in the form of the antihero Vic Mackey, who leads his trusted Strike Team as it gets increasingly corrupt. The show begins as a typical police procedural, pitting Vic and the team against drug dealers and petty criminals, but ends with a major twist when Vic kills one of his own men.

As the Strike Team begins to fragment, nobody is to be trusted, and The Shield introduces some phenomenal twists, including a sting set-up, several murders, and an ending that few people could have predicted, yet was perfect for the show. The Shield is gritty, violent, and presents cops as the bad guys, which instantly sets it apart from other shows in the genre.

Line Of Duty

Credit: BBC

Some TV show detectives are written in an exaggerated and unrealistic way, which would likely make them useless when faced with a real-life crime. However, British crime dramas are often realistic slow-burns with TV detectives who could solve real crimes. Line of Duty is one of these, set in a London anti-corruption unit designed to investigate corrupt cops.

Creator Jed Mercurio tends to kill off established characters, giving Line of Duty an atmosphere in which nobody is safe, and the show’s trademark is its long interview scenes, which often reveal a twist that exposes an unlikely character to be corrupt. This tense atmosphere defines the show, which may not be as flashy as other detective series but is no less dramatic.

Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds might have a regularly repeated structure for most of its episodes, but this does not mean that the show is boring or predictable. Many Criminal Minds episodes are considered masterpieces for the way they explore the “why” as well as the “how” of investigating a crime, and for their well-structured stories, which still pack a punch.

While detective shows can often rely on the same twists, like a murderer’s identity being different from the person suspected, Criminal Minds often included darker twists that haunted the characters for seasons to come. The episode “Penelope” was a perfect example of this, as it put the fan-favorite character Penelope Garcia in harm’s way when viewers least expected it.