Arresting new crime drama series

We have an APB for the unusual suspects! In the lineup? Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito and South Africa’s Bonnie Mbuli in Parish, Sylvester Stallone and Frank Grillo in Taylor Sheridan’s light-hearted mob drama series Tulsa King, and Courtney B Vance fighting Chicago cops who behave like mobsters in 61st Street Season 2. And look out for Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan in the gangland drama series MobLand, and Michael C Hall in Dexter: Original Sin, both coming to DStv this July.

Book ’em now, because these crime dramas aren’t your by-the-book cop shows. Flip through our evidence board below to find out more. 

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Crime dramas on everyone’s most-wanted list

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Coming soon: MobLand

Created by The Day of the Jackal’s Ronan Bennett and co-directed by Guy Ritchie, this gangland drama follows London’s Harrigan crime family, led by Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and Maeve Harrigan (Helen Mirren). Their fixer, Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy), must navigate rising tensions with the rival Stevenson syndicate, led by Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell). As hostilities escalate, a full-blown street war looms – threatening to spill beyond London and drench even the Harrigans’ posh country estate in buckets of blood.

Stream Season 1 on Thursdays from 10 July at 21:00 on M-Net Channel 101.

Coming soon: Dexter: Original Sin

Crime drama prequel to the Dexter serial killer series. Long before Dexter Morgan was meticulously murdering criminals in his plastic-wrapped clean room, 20-year-old new medical school graduate Dexter Morgan (Patrick Gibson, with the original Dexter Michael C Hall acting as series narrator) joins the Miami Metro Police Department as a forensic intern while his adoptive dad, Detective Harry Morgan (Christian Slater), secretly trains him to cover his tracks and pick the “right” victims. There’s nothing like on-the-job training!

Stream Season 1 on Tuesdays from 29 July at 21:00 on M-Net Channel 101

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61st Street

Rage Against the Machine warned, "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses". And when the cops are the most dangerous gang on the street, Chicago needs a public defender like Franklin Roberts (Courtney B Vance) to protect innocent civilians from police misconduct. Season 2 centres on Franklin’s decision to represent Season 1’s bad cop, Officer Logan (Mark O’Brien) – to his wife Martha’s (Aunjanue Ellis) horror – when he realises that the Chicago PD are positioning Logan as a lone “bad apple”.

Stream on Thursdays from 19 June at 20:00 on Universal TV Channel 117

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Elsbeth

After terrorising the legal system in Chicago, The Good Wife’s Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston) has moved to New York to monitor an NYPD precinct that’s been accused of making sloppy, wrongful arrests. She’s revelling in playing tourist in the Big Apple, while using her talent for picking apart inconvenient details and inconsistencies. Will she overstep and meddle while dressed like a party clown? For sure. Will she be right? Yep. And her new NYPD officer bestie Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson) loves to see it.

Stream Season 2 on Sundays at 19:00 on M-Net Channel 101. All previous Season 2 episodes are available on DStv Stream.

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Parish

Former getaway driver Gray Parish (Giancarlo Esposito) returns to the world of crime after his son is murdered. But the job that his old friend Colin (Skeet Ulrich) wants help with brings Parish into the orbit of New Orleans’ most notorious human traffickers, the Tongais family – headed by The Horse (Zackary Momoh), his older brother Zenzo (Ivan Mbakop), and sister Shamiso (South Africa’s Bonnie Mbuli) – who have a volatile relationship with Parish’s former boss, Anton (Bradley Whitford).

Binge Parish S1 on DStv Stream now. (Previously on Universal Channel 117)

The Hunting Party

A top-secret prison facility in Wyoming keeps America’s most sinister serial killers in an underground facility known as the Pit. But when an explosion leaves some of the worst offenders unaccounted for, FBI Special Agent and criminal profiler Bex Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh) is called to join a task force to track down and recapture the missing prisoners before they strike again … and before the public finds out. But what (or who) caused the explosion, and why are some supposedly executed monsters still alive and kicking?

Stream The Hunting Party S1 on Mondays at 20:00 on M-Net Channel 101. All previous episodes are available on DStv Stream.

The Chelsea Detective

British crime drama series. Detective Inspector Max Arnold (Adrian Scarborough) and his new partner, Detective Sergeant Layla Walsh (Vanessa Emme), solve crimes in London’s posh Chelsea neighbourhood. South Africa gets a shout-out in episode 2 when socialite Celia Swanson (Sara Kestelman) is murdered at her luxury retirement home. The investigation rattles apartheid-era skeletons in one family’s closet, fingers are pointed at a restorative justice movement called Whitewash, and a secret family member surfaces with a claim on the fortune. Pass the tea and biscuits!

Stream on Tuesdays at 20:00 on BBC Brit Channel 121 until 24 June

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Tulsa King

After 20 years behind bars, Mafia capo Dwight "The General" Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) said goodbye to New York, and hello to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the Invernizzi crime family has assigned him to educate the locals about mob business. Frank built a crew of weirdos while getting up to speed with 20 years of pop culture and progress. And in Season 2 he is out on bail with a “green” energy plan that alarms lizard-eyed Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough) and mob boss Bill Bevilaqua (Frank Grillo).

Stream Season 2 on DStv Stream now (previously on M-Net). Binge Tulsa King Season 1-2 on Showmax. 

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The Cleaning Lady

Ex-surgeon Thony De La Rosa (Élodie Yung) starts her journey on the bottom rung of the Barsamian crime syndicate – as a literal crime scene cleaner. An undocumented immigrant desperate to stay in Las Vegas to ensure that her young son gets the best medical treatment, Thony exchanges her silence, cleaning skills, and her surgical expertise for mob boss Arman Morales’ (Adan Canto) protection. While her bleach-and-mop impresses the mob, only her ability to save lives stops them from killing her when she knows too much.

Binge The Cleaning Lady Season 1-4 on Showmax now

Gangs of London

Elliot Finch (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) starts Gangs of London as a mere footsoldier in the Wallace family gang. He’s so irrelevant that the Wallaces don’t even know his face when they pass him in the street. But this undercover cop has an arsenal of skills that he brings to bear on infiltrating to the heart of London’s criminal networks. And he’s able to start Season 4 occupying a seat at the table with the city’s most powerful underworld figures.

Binge Gangs of London Season 1-4 on Showmax now.