Brief History of TV Crime Drama

You do not need to know the full history of TV Crime Drama but it is useful to look at a variety of texts and look at how the genre has developed.

Below is a time-line of key texts. If you are not aware of any of these look them up. It may be useful to watch a few clips on you-tube but obviously be careful at what you look at.

1950


Dixon of Dock Green (1955-UK)


1960


Z Cars (1962-UK)
Hawaii 50 (1968 - UK)


1970


Columbo (1971 - USA)
The Sweeny (1971 - UK) (Life on Mars is based on this)
Starsky and Hutch (1975 - USA)


1980


Hill Street Blues (1980 - USA)
The Bill (1984 - UK)


1990


Prime Suspect (1991 - UK)
Cracker 


2000


Life On Mars
Wire In The Blood (2004 - UK)
The Sheild (2002 -USA)


2010+


Hawaii 5.0 (2011 - USA) 
Dexter