11. Jonathan Creek (Jonathan Creek)
The ingenious ingnieur, Jonathan Creek (Alan Davies) is but the man behind the magician when first we meet David Renwicks amateur detective, playing second-fiddle to womanising illusionist Adam Klaus (Stuart Milligan). Devised to be all about the how? rather than biff-bang-pow, Creek unpicks impossible locked-room murders from the tiniest of details (few of which viewers could ever compute) by using his working knowledge of magic tricks. A rubber band at a crime scene? The victim was obviously killed by someone firing a gun using their feet. A random vagrants fingernail found in a judges tidy bedroom? Clearly an inside job... For real-world puzzlers, however, Creeks reliant on a string of capable, cocky sidekicks Maddy (Caroline Quentin), Carla (Julia Sawalha), Joey (Sheridan Smith), then wife Polly (Sarah Alexander). Recent series have, in some ways, been the most head-scratching of all for an audience incapable of fathoming why hes now working in advertising. This is one answer Creek and Renwick seem to be keeping to themselves.
10. Leroy Jethro Gibbs (NCIS)
The best marksman, calm in a confrontation, professional, firm but fair, Leroy Jethro Gibbs is the backbone of the NCIS team a born leader and the guy you wish was your boss. Mark Harmon has embodied the Special Agent and ex-U.S Marine Corps Scout Sniper in the series charting criminal undercurrents involving the US Navy for 12 season (theres about to be a 13th). Originally a spin-off of legal drama JAG it has now itself inspired franchises NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans. Gibbs is a powerhouse but Harman likes his humanity: I was attracted by [his] flaws. He has lousy taste in women.
9. Richard Castle (Castle)
Apparently, in an actual homicide, they dont know who did it until after the guy gets caught, deadpans Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) in an early episode of Castle and he should know. A bestselling crime author, hes used to coming up with crimes he can solve. Its not quite as easy in the real world, though, when he teams up with detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) to bring down baddies in New York City. Typical that the shows named after him Castles self-important, sleazy and quick to crack a joke at the wrong moment, but thats exactly why we love him.
8. Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks)
FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is partial to a slice of cherry pie and coffee black as midnight on a moonless night. Hes also a damn fine detective. When schoolgirl Laura Palmer is murdered, Coop is dispatched to Twin Peaks to investigate. Anyone else would have been in over their head dealing with body-hopping supernatural killers, but Coop takes it in his stride. Hes vigilant, moral and a people person, building vital relationships with the townsfolk. Hes a crucial reason why Twin Peaks continues to be a phenomenon, and in 2017 hell be back for the shows third season.
7. Jim Rockford (The Rockford files)
Actor James Garner and producer Roy Huggins had huge success with their wild west series Maverick, so in 1974 they teamed up with TV legend Stephen J. Cannell (The A-Team, 21 Jump Street) to create a modern city yarn in the same mould. Garner plays ex-con Rockford, a fast-talking Malibu private investigator specialising in missing persons cases gone cold, living out of a caravan and constantly bugging his contacts in the LAPD. Garner performs most of his own stunts, including a reverse handbrake J turn in his gold Pontiac Firebird Esprit. There were 122 episodes in total plus eight TV movies.
6. Rust Cohle and Marty Hart (True Detective)
Theres no better modern Odd Couple than nihilistic philosopher Rust Cohle and flawed family man Marty Hart. True Detective is a show as much about their tumultuous 10-year relationship as the hunt for The Yellow King. As Rust astutely puts it, Without me, buddy, there is no you. Rust is unquestionably the more gifted detective, but he cant switch off, a lesson he never quite learns from Marty. The less-than-enthusiastic response to season two says it all Rust and Marty will always be shows real icons.
5. Harry Bosch (Bosch)
He has a really good sense of humour, says Titus Welliver of his LA detective Harry Bosch, and hed have to, considering we meet Bosch on trial for shooting dead a suspected serial killer. Created by author Michael Connelly, but aged down for the TV series, Bosch is divorced and attempting to raise his teenage daughter when hes put on trial. Meanwhile, he attempts to solve a case involving the discovery of a body in the woods, and his reaction (retreating to a bathroom to splash water on his face) tells us he may be a detective, but hes also rocked by the things he sees.
4. Endeavour Morse (Inspector Morse)
Theres nothing more satisfying than seeing a murderous Oxford don realise theyve been outwitted by the irascible Morse (the creation of novelist Colin Dexter, who makes cameo appearances in almost all episodes of the ITV series). They dont often realise he too, is Oxford-educated, though he left for the Army before gaining his degree. Running from 1987-2000, Inspector Morse is 33 episodes of a grumpy, squeamish, classical music-, cryptic crossword- and real ale-loving police inspector who drives an aging Jaguar and wont reveal his first name until the penultimate episode. Played by John Thaw, hes assisted by Geordie sidekick Sergeant Robbie Lewis (Kevin Whately). In 2012-2014, nine episodes of a prequel called Endeavour portray Morse (Shaun Evans) as a young DC in the 60s. Hes almost too clever, arousing suspicion among superiors and peers with his brains-over-action approach, though he ultimately earns respect from fellow officers.
3. Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie's Poirot)
Although Ian Holm and Alfred Molina have also appeared as Agatha Christies little Belgian detective, David Suchet is the definitive TV Poirot, having made 70 episodes and gained the approval of Christies family. A comical, short figure, fussy about his appearance and his neat moustache, Poirot is an ex-Belgian policeman and WWI refugee. He loves herbal tea and exercises his little grey cells as a private detective, often working out of his fashionable London apartment. Christie confessed to deliberately writing Poirot in the Sherlock Holmes tradition although in later stories he would become less interested in logical clues and more concerned with the psychology of a case. Between 1989 and 2013, ITV aired adaptations of all the major Christie stories in which Poirot appeared, moving through light mysteries and Art Deco mansions into the darker tales of Poirots old age. Anthony Horowitz and Mark Gatiss have both written for the series.
2. Sherlock Holmes (multiple adaptations)
Nearly 130 years have passed since the legendary detective was first introduced to the public, and his popularity seems stronger than ever. Holmes is the most famous private investigator in the world and the archetypal intellectual sleuth, and his adventures with sidekick Watson beat a path followed by many other fictional crime solvers. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle conjured up the pair in A Study In Scarlet (first printed in Beetons Christmas Annual in 1887) but other writers working in other media have ensured their popularity throughout the 20th century and to this day.
The London consulting detective, with his aquiline nose and penetrating eyes, is renowned for his abilities of observation and deductive reasoning, which enable him to comprehend the specifics of a situation from the smallest of clues. Alas his self-confidence leads to arrogance, he is restless when not intellectually stimulated and he is given to drug abuse. Even people who have never browsed a Conan Doyle book can identify Sherlock Holmes from countless illustrations and adaptations he is a more famous Victorian than Queen Victoria, and the museum bearing his name on Londons Baker Street has a perpetual queue outside.
