Introduction to 2025’s Crime Dramas
2025 has proven to be a remarkable year for crime dramas, with several new shows redefining the genre and delivering captivating television. Crime drama shows have been a staple of popular TV for many years, with iconic series like The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad standing tall at the top of the category.
Beyond these classics, there are numerous compelling shows that have taken crime drama in new and exciting directions. From light-hearted comedy procedurals like The Rookie to superhero-adjacent shows like The Penguin, the term “crime drama” has become increasingly broad in recent years. This shift is reflected in the best new shows in the category, as almost all of them have blended crime drama with various other elements to create something more dynamic and complex than what has come before.
Top Crime Dramas of 2025
This year has seen the release of several exceptional crime dramas, each offering a unique perspective on the genre. Here are some of the most notable ones:
MobLand
MobLand is a British crime drama with an all-star cast led by the incredible Tom Hardy. Hardy plays a fixer employed by one of the leading crime families in London, the Harrigans, with Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren playing the patriarch and matriarch of the family, respectively.
The show’s stacked cast hints at its potential, but combined with the incredible direction from people like Guy Ritchie, MobLand has elevated crime drama to the point of once again being prestige TV. Although it sits at the bottom of this ranking due to some division among critics, the show’s strength in production is undeniable.
Helen Mirren as Maeve Harrigan and Pierce Brosnan as Conrad Harrigan quietly talking together in MobLand
Dept. Q
The next show on the slate has left audiences and critics with a much smaller divide, as Dept. Q delivered a surprisingly compelling and emphatic crime drama series for Netflix in 2025. This thrilling series follows a newly established department in the Scottish police force tasked with solving cold cases.
Matthew Goode leads the cast as the anti-social and arrogant inspector Morck, and when they start to find a thread that leads them into a much bigger case, things get exciting quickly.
DCI Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) looking mysterious in Dept. Q Season 1
Image via Netflix
Task
Mark Ruffalo stars alongside Tom Pelphrey in this underrated new crime drama from HBO. Task boasts an incredible 96% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the second-highest on this list. However, it hasn’t landed quite as well with audiences, with a 75% score.
The show sees Ruffalo’s character lead a task force assigned to investigate violent robberies thought to be committed by a motorcycle gang. While the premise may not give much away, the show thrives on the simplicity and strength of the concept.
Mark Ruffalo in Task wearing an FBI jacket.
Adolescence
Netflix had an incredible year for crime drama, with potentially the most viral and talked-about show of this kind being their original series, Adolescence. Beyond the gimmick of making a show that had several episodes all filmed in a single take, the story and performances in this series were absolutely incredible.
When a young girl is murdered, one of her school peers is arrested and interrogated for the crime, and the show explores the series of conversations the young man has as the case is built against him, and the truth begins to become clearer with each new episode.
Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in Adolescence
Adolescence is a stunning piece of art that excels at telling a profound and heartbreaking story, and the fact that each episode was captured in one take only adds to the marvel that this show is.
Dexter: Resurrection
However, critics’ scores are not the only thing that matters when it comes to selecting the best crime drama series of 2025. Unsurprisingly, in a landscape where TV and film are being flooded with sequels, prequels, and expansions to existing IPs, the most compelling and worthwhile crime drama series of 2025 is Dexter: Resurrection, a revival of a beloved crime thriller series that has struggled to recapture its spark since the original season finale.
There is a certain weariness to get on board with studios’ tendency to constantly recycle popular IPs, but Dexter: Resurrection did an incredible job at recapturing the excitement of the original and effectively moving the story forward.
Harry (James Remar), Dexter (Michael C. Hall), and Harrison Morgan (Jack Alcott) standing in front of one another in Dexter: Resurrection season 1, episode 7
Zach Dilgard / Paramount+ with Showtime / Courtesy Everett Collection
Dexter: Resurrection stands out as one of the most innovative and brilliant crime dramas of the year, and tops the 2025 charts for the genre.
Comparison of Top Crime Dramas
The following table provides a comparison of the top crime dramas of 2025, including their IMDb scores, Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores, and Rotten Tomatoes audience scores.
Image Credit: screenrant.com
| TV Show | IMDb Score | RT Critics Score | RT Audience Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| MobLand | 8.4 | 76% | 69% |
| Dept. Q | 8.2 | 88% | 90% |
| Task | 8.0 | 96% | 75% |
