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The Very Best Noir TV Shows and Miniseries

Updated January 6, 2021 1.3k votes 383 voters 34.2k views45 items

List RulesVote up your favorite TV shows that have those classic elements of film noir.

These are the very best film noir shows on television, ranked from best to worst. The noir genre features "black" as night grimy-crimey dramas that follow grizzled hard-boiled detectives solving mysterious and perplexing murders. Popular film noir TV shows have been a staple of television for years, made popular by black-and-white series Dragnet and The Fugitive in the 1960s.

Recent years have shown a revival in the genre—perhaps in the wake of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series—with so-called "Nordic noir" series such as The Killing (originally a Danish series that was later adapted in English), Sweden's Wallander, and The Bridge. Likewise, noir is popular in Britain, where Broadchuch and Happy Valley are among the most-watched programs. On this side of the pond, Veronica Mars was a noir mystery masquerading as a teen show in the early 2000s, and True Detective and Fargo all incorporate elements of the genre into their gritty anthologies.

This list answers the questions, "What is the best film noir show of all time?" and "What are the greatest film noir shows?" Vote up the best classically crimey shows that carry on the classic noir tradition.

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Peter Gunn

Wallander

Gang Busters

Serangoon Road