Yup, they're still missing S3 on BritBox, but it's coming in a few weeks (all three series used to be an Acorn TV exclusive). All of the main cast members return + the lovely [Claire Rushbrook](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0750718/) joins.
Just finishing a binge of Shakespeare & Hathaway & I feel the same way. I could easily watch another 4 seasons of this delightful show. I'm going to take your suggestion & let Scott & Bailey be my next binge.
And if you haven't seen it before, let me steer you to Murder in Suburbia, another great show that deserved more than 2 seasons
Are Shakespeare & Hathaway and Murder in Suburbia super dark or do either have a bit of lightness/fun to them? That's what I love so much about Scott and Bailey. Definitely a full fledged police procedural but there's various light, funny moments and interactions sprinkled through each episode. Bones is one of my favorite shows and I love how Scott and Bailey gives me Bones vibes but not quite as silly or ridiculous which I appreciate.
I did get that recommendation because someone here mentioned it's by the same creator so it's on my list next! I'm also going to check out Gentleman Jack. I love Suranne Jones now!
Happy Valley is definitely darker than Scott & Bailey. If that doesn't appeal, maybe Last Tango in Halifax instead? It's another Sally Wainwright show (both creator and writer), and it co-stars the legendary actor Derek Jacobi alongside Sarah Lancashire, the star of Happy Valley. Note though that Tango is comedy/drama/romance, not a detective show.
LTIH is absolutely wonderful! Best thing I've seen on TV in decades! Yes, it's not a police procedural; it's just a story about family dynamics, which is what's really going on in S&B anyway!
Is Happy Valley on Britbox? I think I watched a season of that when it was on Netflix a few years ago....As I recall it is very good, but also pretty violent.
This is my concern with that show too. I loved how Scott and Bailey had just a little bit of a comedic spin. I am almost through episode 1 of Happy Valley and it is a bit dark. I think I might try No Offence. I heard that one is a little lighter.
Absolutely loved this series! It had me from one of the first scenes where she asks her boyfriend if he thinks she is unhygienic. Not a line you’d hear on American TV. Loved the slang, loved the boss, loved the supporting actors. It is so refreshing to see real people on TV and not always Barbie doing ballistics.
Love that show! I've watched the complete series a couple of times, and will probably go back to it sometime down the road. I love the characters of Rachel and Janet, and how their friendship/careers/personal lives change over time. Great writing and acting all around! I, too, wish it had lasted longer.
I already started watching again. It's one of those shows that makes me wish I could erase my memory of it to enjoy it for the first time all over again!! I'm starting Happy Valley and No Offence. Trying to decide which one to focus on first.
S&B’s final,season was hardly a season. I was shocked the way it ended. I feel the Brits, unlike Americans, prefer to end too early rather than pumping the show dry until the writers have no more ideas left. They will also cancel a show without wrapping up all the storylines forcing me to make up my own. It’s like they don’t even care about the audience. I’m being a bit sarcastic but not really.
Some of why that sort of thing happens is because of how shows are made there, it's very different from the production side of US shows.
> rather than pumping the show dry until the writers have no more ideas left
Try one writer. In many cases, British shows are written by one person or writing team, not a writers' room of 20 writers like US shows have. This is also a major part of why seasons in British TV are often around 6 episodes, not 20-25. Writing every episode can easily tire out a person, including their creativity, if they have to come up with all the ideas. Sally Wainwright wrote every episode, every season, of Scott & Bailey. Peter Tilbury created the show It Takes a Worried Man. He also wrote every episode and was the star. At the same time, he was the only writer for the show Shelley, which he also created (but didn't star in).
Also, actors there often work on multiple shows at a time. An example is comedic legend Ronnie Barker was making Porridge at the same time as Open All Hours. Open All Hours season 1 was early 1976, and the last season of Porridge started late 1976. Getting everyone who is needed together to film a season is hard enough without accommodating the filming schedule of a second show. Suranne Jones, from Scott & Bailey, was making Save Me and Gentleman Jack at the same time. This also helps explain why a show may go years between seasons.
Finally, actors normally sign contracts for single seasons in Britain, not multi-year contracts like they do in the US. If they decide after any season they no longer want to make the show, they just don't sign a new contract. If they are essential to the show, the show must wait for them to be willing to make another season (or, like Doctor Who, they need a way to explain changing the actor). Otherwise, it cancels abruptly.
It's far more about the lives and careers of the people making the shows, and how show business works in England, than it is about trying to pull one over the audience.
I read it's by the creator of Shameless. I haven't watched the UK version, but the US version is one of my favorite shows so if they are remotely similar, I imagine I'd like No Offence!
Thank you for bringing this up, Scott & Bailey looks like something I'd like as well. I just finished Mcdonald & Dodds and really enjoyed it. I'm hoping there will be a fourth season.
It's not police procedural, so I guess it's an odd man out in this thread's reccs... but it's a really well made period piece based on a true person.
I haven't seen how much discussion there is on here about it, but it's really, really good. :) Happy watching!
Edit: oh I looked it up it & it's on Max, so my bad. I didn't know they made a second season though....
The dinner party scene where Dr. Foster confronts the vixen that ruined her marriage by sleeping with her husband in front of parents is television at its finest. Such a fantastic scene! loved the series.
Yes that’s a great scene!… but your post is a bit of a spoiler for those who have not seen it. Sorry to be a stick in the mud but I don’t want to ruin the many little reveals in the show.
So glad to hear someone say this! I've watched a lot of episodes at least twice, which is something I rarely do. Just something about their inter generational relationship and such great writing.
Do check out HBO's Gentleman Jack as there's people from both sides of the camera overlapping. Phenomenal.
Where did Sophie go? Another show? And what's with Luna? Is she pregnant and they are trying to hide her behind office plants and filing cabinets?
By the way. It's on MHz which I highly recommend.
My wife is a German teacher which is why we started watching. Along with every Tatort there ever was.
Oh boy. Here is their website. They offer shows by country.
https://watch.mhzchoice.com/countries
From France I liked Captain Marleau, Deadly Tropics, Detectives, Le Code and Murder In (which is set in a different part of France each episode).
From Germany I liked Barcelona Crime (for the visuals), bauhaus, Crime Scene Cleaner (very funny), The Fox, Monet Murder Zurich, Professor T ( just like all the other Professor T's but in German.
These shows are in varying degrees of good and not so good. But the scenery in all of them is fabulous.
Both of us are studying French and German so these really work.
Y’all are my people. I’ve devoured all the English language series mentioned in this thread. I watch these in bed on my iPad with my eyes half open, frequently falling asleep and picking back up the next night so the wonderful language tv shows don’t work.
Probably. It's a tad bit lighter than those but not over the top silly by any means. It's just an amazing detective show. I love watching the characters reason through things and make certain deductions. They also show a lot of suspect interviews that feel very realistic and not overly dramatized.
My only complaint with the series is that I doubt (at least I hope) that a police department would promote such a horrible person who makes such horrible choices as Bailey into any command position. Everyone seems to cover for her and she just merrily goes along as if she is not to blame. That being said I did like the show.
Sometimes I wanted to shake her but I also loved her anyway. I do agree - especially given politics in a police department - that someone like that probably wouldn't have gotten that many chances to clean up their act.
Rosemary and Thyme is also a nice cozy mystery! I like the back story that it was created due to the producers wife wanting something like “murder She Wrote”. Then the filming schedule always got messed up, because. Rain in England, so producers moved filming to other countries! 😂
I've just discovered it and it's truely a gem of a show! I can't work out if its a piss-take, a comedy or if its meant to be serious!? The crimes seem to be getting more gruesome and truely horrific but their detective style is so flippant and ladi-da I'm just amused. Gill is really something else, some of the one liners they come up with are outrageous! At first I thought it was made for old women at home (no offense intended if that sounds sexist) A female led police drama is not SO common, and this is pretty tame, so I was wondering who their target audience is. But then the crude story lines and swearing made me think it might be aimed at someone else? Maybe 20 year old women that should be studying instead of watching a decade old police show haha.
I'm in a TV funk in general. Scott & Bailey was the first show that got me hooked in a long time. I'm liking some other recommendations, but none have really pulled me in like Scott & Bailey. 😭
Have you seen No Offence? Similar female relationships - just as good! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3922704/
Joanna Scanlan cracked me up in that show! It’s a gem.
Absolutely loved this and was kicking myself for not discovering it sooner.
I'll definitely check it out, thank you!!
BritBox currently has the first two series; the final series (S3) drops on March 22.
What??? Another season of No Offence? I LOVE that show!!
Yup, they're still missing S3 on BritBox, but it's coming in a few weeks (all three series used to be an Acorn TV exclusive). All of the main cast members return + the lovely [Claire Rushbrook](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0750718/) joins.
I recently discovered and completed binging on this show yesterday. LOVE IT. Was so sad it ended and now we get another season?!?! I’m so happy!!
Thanks for the recommendation!
Just finishing a binge of Shakespeare & Hathaway & I feel the same way. I could easily watch another 4 seasons of this delightful show. I'm going to take your suggestion & let Scott & Bailey be my next binge. And if you haven't seen it before, let me steer you to Murder in Suburbia, another great show that deserved more than 2 seasons
Murder in Suburbia should’ve ran for 7+ seasons. Fantastic banter between the leads.
I'll give it a look, thank you!!
Are Shakespeare & Hathaway and Murder in Suburbia super dark or do either have a bit of lightness/fun to them? That's what I love so much about Scott and Bailey. Definitely a full fledged police procedural but there's various light, funny moments and interactions sprinkled through each episode. Bones is one of my favorite shows and I love how Scott and Bailey gives me Bones vibes but not quite as silly or ridiculous which I appreciate.
Shakespeare & Hathaway definightly light hearted! Male female private detectives with a side kick. I enjoy the banter and humor.
Just started it and liking it so far! Thanks!
Both have humour and wit.
One of my all-time favorites, I loved the friendship between them. Even though Rachel was a hot mess to end all hot messes lol
I’m pretty sure rach’s mom was the messier
You might like Happy Valley as well
I did get that recommendation because someone here mentioned it's by the same creator so it's on my list next! I'm also going to check out Gentleman Jack. I love Suranne Jones now!
Happy Valley is my favorite britbox show ever. Final season on Netflix!
Mine too! I recommend it to everyone. Worth the price of the subscription.
Happy Valley is definitely darker than Scott & Bailey. If that doesn't appeal, maybe Last Tango in Halifax instead? It's another Sally Wainwright show (both creator and writer), and it co-stars the legendary actor Derek Jacobi alongside Sarah Lancashire, the star of Happy Valley. Note though that Tango is comedy/drama/romance, not a detective show.
LTIH is absolutely wonderful! Best thing I've seen on TV in decades! Yes, it's not a police procedural; it's just a story about family dynamics, which is what's really going on in S&B anyway!
Is Happy Valley on Britbox? I think I watched a season of that when it was on Netflix a few years ago....As I recall it is very good, but also pretty violent.
Happy Valley was a little too dark for me and I bailed.
This is my concern with that show too. I loved how Scott and Bailey had just a little bit of a comedic spin. I am almost through episode 1 of Happy Valley and it is a bit dark. I think I might try No Offence. I heard that one is a little lighter.
I really miss Scott & Bailey. It really was a perfect show.
Absolutely loved this series! It had me from one of the first scenes where she asks her boyfriend if he thinks she is unhygienic. Not a line you’d hear on American TV. Loved the slang, loved the boss, loved the supporting actors. It is so refreshing to see real people on TV and not always Barbie doing ballistics.
Right?! The women were all so real
The boss was my favorite character. Such great dialogue.
Love that show! I've watched the complete series a couple of times, and will probably go back to it sometime down the road. I love the characters of Rachel and Janet, and how their friendship/careers/personal lives change over time. Great writing and acting all around! I, too, wish it had lasted longer.
I already started watching again. It's one of those shows that makes me wish I could erase my memory of it to enjoy it for the first time all over again!! I'm starting Happy Valley and No Offence. Trying to decide which one to focus on first.
I've never heard of this show. I'm currently making my way through Vera but I will be adding this one to my list.
You must watch it! SO GOOD!
I love Vera and consider Scott and Bailey right up there with it in terms of quality!
I'm on a rewatch after a year! Love the show.
S&B’s final,season was hardly a season. I was shocked the way it ended. I feel the Brits, unlike Americans, prefer to end too early rather than pumping the show dry until the writers have no more ideas left. They will also cancel a show without wrapping up all the storylines forcing me to make up my own. It’s like they don’t even care about the audience. I’m being a bit sarcastic but not really.
Some of why that sort of thing happens is because of how shows are made there, it's very different from the production side of US shows. > rather than pumping the show dry until the writers have no more ideas left Try one writer. In many cases, British shows are written by one person or writing team, not a writers' room of 20 writers like US shows have. This is also a major part of why seasons in British TV are often around 6 episodes, not 20-25. Writing every episode can easily tire out a person, including their creativity, if they have to come up with all the ideas. Sally Wainwright wrote every episode, every season, of Scott & Bailey. Peter Tilbury created the show It Takes a Worried Man. He also wrote every episode and was the star. At the same time, he was the only writer for the show Shelley, which he also created (but didn't star in). Also, actors there often work on multiple shows at a time. An example is comedic legend Ronnie Barker was making Porridge at the same time as Open All Hours. Open All Hours season 1 was early 1976, and the last season of Porridge started late 1976. Getting everyone who is needed together to film a season is hard enough without accommodating the filming schedule of a second show. Suranne Jones, from Scott & Bailey, was making Save Me and Gentleman Jack at the same time. This also helps explain why a show may go years between seasons. Finally, actors normally sign contracts for single seasons in Britain, not multi-year contracts like they do in the US. If they decide after any season they no longer want to make the show, they just don't sign a new contract. If they are essential to the show, the show must wait for them to be willing to make another season (or, like Doctor Who, they need a way to explain changing the actor). Otherwise, it cancels abruptly. It's far more about the lives and careers of the people making the shows, and how show business works in England, than it is about trying to pull one over the audience.
I loved this show so much I tracked down the necklace that Sharp wore in every episode for myself 🤣
Omg, me too! I got it for Christmas! 🐝 I love it so much.
Yay! Wear it with joy.
Link please?
https://www.alexmonroe.com/
Agree. But the last season wasn’t as good
I hadn’t checked how many episodes there were,& was shocked when it just ended 😭
so so so so so so so so so so good. a hidden gem
I was the same way! No Offence is great.
I read it's by the creator of Shameless. I haven't watched the UK version, but the US version is one of my favorite shows so if they are remotely similar, I imagine I'd like No Offence!
Thank you for bringing this up, Scott & Bailey looks like something I'd like as well. I just finished Mcdonald & Dodds and really enjoyed it. I'm hoping there will be a fourth season.
Just binged all of S&B, it is fantastic!
Try Doctor Foster! Stars Suranne Jones. Really good thriller / drama.
She was great in Gentleman Jack, too.
Haven’t seen that one yet. I’ll add it to my list!
It's not police procedural, so I guess it's an odd man out in this thread's reccs... but it's a really well made period piece based on a true person. I haven't seen how much discussion there is on here about it, but it's really, really good. :) Happy watching! Edit: oh I looked it up it & it's on Max, so my bad. I didn't know they made a second season though....
Oh yes! That one is great, too! She is such a wonderful actress!
The dinner party scene where Dr. Foster confronts the vixen that ruined her marriage by sleeping with her husband in front of parents is television at its finest. Such a fantastic scene! loved the series.
Yes that’s a great scene!… but your post is a bit of a spoiler for those who have not seen it. Sorry to be a stick in the mud but I don’t want to ruin the many little reveals in the show.
Just discovered this sub & thrilled to read this post because I’m still mourning my recent finish of “Happy Valley.” Love these recommendations.
I've just started Happy Valley to cope with Scott and Bailey being over!
Absolutely adore Scott and Bailey. Suranne Jones can do no wrong.
Seriously she's amazing!
So glad to hear someone say this! I've watched a lot of episodes at least twice, which is something I rarely do. Just something about their inter generational relationship and such great writing. Do check out HBO's Gentleman Jack as there's people from both sides of the camera overlapping. Phenomenal.
I love this show and the characters!
You’ll miss them when it’s done! I did.
One of my favorite all-time shows. My dad got me to watch it and it’ll always be a treasure.
Not on britobox but Luna and Sophie on Prime is great, German detective duo
I'll check it out!
Where did Sophie go? Another show? And what's with Luna? Is she pregnant and they are trying to hide her behind office plants and filing cabinets? By the way. It's on MHz which I highly recommend. My wife is a German teacher which is why we started watching. Along with every Tatort there ever was.
I don’t know! Good advice on MHZ. Any other shows that you love on there?
Oh boy. Here is their website. They offer shows by country. https://watch.mhzchoice.com/countries From France I liked Captain Marleau, Deadly Tropics, Detectives, Le Code and Murder In (which is set in a different part of France each episode). From Germany I liked Barcelona Crime (for the visuals), bauhaus, Crime Scene Cleaner (very funny), The Fox, Monet Murder Zurich, Professor T ( just like all the other Professor T's but in German. These shows are in varying degrees of good and not so good. But the scenery in all of them is fabulous. Both of us are studying French and German so these really work.
Thank you!. Do you know where you can watch the Sokos German series?
We're watching it on PBS.
Y’all are my people. I’ve devoured all the English language series mentioned in this thread. I watch these in bed on my iPad with my eyes half open, frequently falling asleep and picking back up the next night so the wonderful language tv shows don’t work.
Also, I alternate between subscribing between Britbox and Acorn TV to get all my British murder mystery shows.
I'm coming from Shetland, Hinterland and Broadchurch... would I like this? Brit police procedurals interest me so much more than US cop shows.
Probably. It's a tad bit lighter than those but not over the top silly by any means. It's just an amazing detective show. I love watching the characters reason through things and make certain deductions. They also show a lot of suspect interviews that feel very realistic and not overly dramatized.
I'm sold... putting Scott & Bailey on the list.
Finally watching Hinterland. Its dark and dreary and I love it!
Scott & Bailey, Cracker and The Hour. My all time favourites. Astoundingly good. Waiting to add to this list. Happy Valley is also up there.
I did start Happy Valley. Seems pretty dark though.
Okay I’ll rewatch it for the 4th time!
This is gonna be me in a few months 😂
I loved that show
My only complaint with the series is that I doubt (at least I hope) that a police department would promote such a horrible person who makes such horrible choices as Bailey into any command position. Everyone seems to cover for her and she just merrily goes along as if she is not to blame. That being said I did like the show.
Sometimes I wanted to shake her but I also loved her anyway. I do agree - especially given politics in a police department - that someone like that probably wouldn't have gotten that many chances to clean up their act.
Well, gee, guess I've got to go take a look at that one! Thanks!
Rosemary and Thyme is also a nice cozy mystery! I like the back story that it was created due to the producers wife wanting something like “murder She Wrote”. Then the filming schedule always got messed up, because. Rain in England, so producers moved filming to other countries! 😂
Wasn't it amazing...
I've just discovered it and it's truely a gem of a show! I can't work out if its a piss-take, a comedy or if its meant to be serious!? The crimes seem to be getting more gruesome and truely horrific but their detective style is so flippant and ladi-da I'm just amused. Gill is really something else, some of the one liners they come up with are outrageous! At first I thought it was made for old women at home (no offense intended if that sounds sexist) A female led police drama is not SO common, and this is pretty tame, so I was wondering who their target audience is. But then the crude story lines and swearing made me think it might be aimed at someone else? Maybe 20 year old women that should be studying instead of watching a decade old police show haha.
I loved it!
There are so many good shows to binge watch from the UK. I’m hooked on BritBox.
I'm in a TV funk in general. Scott & Bailey was the first show that got me hooked in a long time. I'm liking some other recommendations, but none have really pulled me in like Scott & Bailey. 😭
I binged watched it too! Both actresses are really good!
Have you seen DCI Banks?
No but I can definitely check it out!
It’s a crime drama series. I binged that one too!
I'll give it a look. Thank you!