The Last Detective (2003-present)

Detective Constable (DC) Davies, a low-ranking CID officer in the London borough of Willesden, is the cguy who gets no respect. His younger, more jaded colleagues harass him with practical jokes and even the local criminals call him by his unwanted nickname, "Dangerous" Davies--which he is not. His superior, Detective Inspector (DI) Aspinall (Rob Spendlove) gives him nothing but scutwork, such as finding a minor criminal suspected of having sneaked back into the country for his mother's birthday. In reviewing the criminal's file, Dangerous discovers a related case, the missing daughter of one of the criminal's cohorts. The case remains unsolved after nineteen years, and Davies allows himself to get sidetracked by it, spending just a few perfunctory hours here and there on his assigned case, and spending the rest of the time investigating the missing girl.
Funny thing about Dangerous, though: everyone underestimates him. He's a determined, thorough cop, and his warm, genial nature gets criminals and victims alike to open up to him. More often than not, he manages to pull the disparate clues together and reveal the truth. As is par for the course with Dangerous, even that doesn't earn him any respect; more often than not, it only manages to piss off DI Aspinall. But Dangerous continues on, buoyed by the basic simplicity of doing a job and doing it well, even if no one else appreciates it. Now, if he can only patch things up with his ex-wife…
The Last Detective is technically a police procedural. While the procedural aspects are certainly there, they are overshadowed by the characters. In fact, the procedures are the characters. That's what Dangerous does; he takes the time to listen to the people involved, getting to know them, their lives, their desires. That understanding lets him make sense of the too-often misleading physical evidence. The other detectives in the squad, the younger Pimlott and Bramlett, are so wrapped up in themselves that they just want to look at the physical evidence and have done; they consider talking to suspects and victims somehow beneath them.
When he's not working a case, Dangerous hangs out with his best friend, Mod. Mod's a tad eccentric, sort of a pseudo-intellectual Kramer. They spend time in the pub or at the park, discussing the case or just sniping at each other. These scenes not only offer some light comic relief, but they underscore the simple fact that Dangerous is just a regular guy. There are the occasional interactions with his estranged wide, Julie, as well--these serve to reinforce the nice guy aura, along with the bewilderment of what is going on with his love life. I usually avoid speaking publically about my love of the BBC crime productions, and the murder mystery genre in general, but today i am making an exception.