10 Crime Shows That Are Almost As Good as ‘Breaking Bad’

Following high school science teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as his cancer diagnosis inspires him to cook methamphetamine as a way to provide for his family before he dies, thus leading him down a dangerous path of immorality and corruption, Breaking Bad is a true masterpiece of television drama. With every element of the series operating at a level of near-perfection, there are few series that can claim to be its equal (in fact, we’re regarding only The Wire and The Sopranos as being on par with Breaking Bad, thus exempt from this list).

However, there are a lot of crime shows that come awfully close. Ranging from some of the best police procedural series modern television has to offer to confronting depictions of gangland life that enthrall and excite with their style, and even to other drug-related dramas perfect for Breaking Bad fans craving something similar, these 10 titles are all impressive feats of crime television in their own right.

10

‘Better Call Saul’ (2014–2020)

Starting off with the series that spawned directly from Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul excels as an enlightening spin-off following the rise and fall of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), also known as Saul Goodman. Not dissimilar to its parent series, Better Call Saul starts off by showing McGill as a morally questionable though deeply understandable figure, presenting him as a shyster lawyer using his con artist past to his advantage as he represents defendants against more powerful and well-funded firms. As the series goes on, however, he starts to fall in with the cartel, embarking on a slippery path that steers his playful bending of the law to being an active accomplice in a major criminal organization.

With its intricate storytelling, fully-realized character arc, and outstanding acting from every member of the main cast, Better Call Saul thrives as a propulsive and punchy crime series that is able to indulge in the fun of the genre while still presenting profoundly powerful drama. Its six-season run came to a brilliant conclusion in 2020, making for one of the defining series of its era as well as a worthy successor to Breaking Bad.

9

‘The Gentlemen’ (2024–)

In 2019, Guy Ritchie made an instant splash with The Gentlemen, a sly and smooth-talking crime comedy following an American marijuana dealer in England looking to protect his empire from a hostile takeover. Such was the popularity of the film, a Netflix spin-off has been created and, with Ritchie still in control as the creator and co-writer, it flaunts many of the same wild eccentricities as the movie.

Theo James stars as Eddie Horniman, who, upon inheriting his family’s dilapidated estate, learns that much of the money involved in the land comes from an underground drug business that has no intention of leaving. Seeing the aristocratic Eddie navigate criminal society while relying primarily on his wits offers a decadent treat of inviting crime suspense, one that perfectly fits into the world of the original movie while expanding beyond it. It’s chaotic, comedic, and often callously violent, culminating in an unpredictable and exciting crime voyage that is confirmed to be coming back in The Gentlemen Season 2.

8

‘Ozark’ (2017–2022)

Flaunting a very similar premise to Breaking Bad while changing up enough key ideas to remain fresh, Ozark struck many audiences with its comparisons to Vince Gilligan’s acclaimed series, as it follows an ordinary guy who is sucked into the world of drug-related crime and forced to survive on his wits. In the case of Ozark, it is Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), a successful financial advisor who is forced to move to the Lake of the Ozarks region in Missouri to oversee a revolutionary drug smuggling operation at the behest of a Mexican cartel.

While the series perhaps doesn’t quite land as emphatically as what Breaking Bad did, it still thrives with its intricate plotting, compelling lens on criminal organization, and its litany of engrossing characters, all of which are backed up by astute performances from the ensemble cast. Furthermore, Ozark builds beautifully across its four-season run, finding its feet quickly before evolving boldly, incorporating everything from poignant romances to violent twists to keep viewers captivated.

7

‘Sons of Anarchy’ (2008-2014)

Meshing gritty and often confronting realism with a sense of Shakespearean tragedy, Sons of Anarchy stands as one of the hit series of the early 2010s, with its analysis of the inner workings of fictional motorcycle gang Sons of Anarchy proving to be richly intriguing and endlessly entertaining. It stars Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller, the Vice President of the club, who is struggling to find the balance between his new life as a single father and being a central figure of the gang’s operations, while the surrounding characters also have their own complexities and challenges to overcome.

While the series does sometimes lose its edge by casting too generous and glamorous a shade on the gang’s dealings, at its best, it is an enrapturing saga of wild, energized violence, high-stakes tension, and surprisingly affective dramatic might. The hyper-critical may suggest the series tapers off in its final seasons, but Sons of Anarchy does scratch an itch for all crime drama lovers who love the genre best when it’s flaunting deeply human characters and unflinching violence.

6

‘Fargo’ (2014–2024)

An anthology series with a wonderful penchant for quirky and convoluted crime stories, Fargo takes inspiration from the Coen Brothers’ 1996 masterpiece of the same name, with its five seasons following different stories of corruption, crime, and ambition in and around the titular Minnesota town. While the narratives change dramatically, even being set decades apart from each other at times, all five seasons tend to revolve around honest and hard-working cops investigating sprawling cases of reckless opportunism and chaotic self-motivation between ordinary people dragged into violent situations and the criminal masterminds who take advantage of them.

Its ability to tell such expansive and complex stories while still exuding a sense of dark comedy is its strongest quality, one that gives Fargo a unique feeling of morbid fun and vivacious unpredictability. Having successfully carved out its own niche not only in the annals of crime television but in the medium at large over the last 10 years, Fargo is a joyously different spin on crime drama that arguably surpasses Breaking Bad’s talent for style, even if it doesn’t quite match it with the series in general.

5

‘How to Get Away with Murder’ (2014–2020)

Powered by a bold authority on story structure, a scintillating eye for courtroom drama, and a typically brilliant lead performance from Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder is a series defined by pulsating legal tension and its array of complex characters. Annalise Keating is a successful lawyer and criminal defense professor teaching at Middleton University, where she selects five of her brightest students to intern at her firm. All their lives change drastically when they become involved in a twisted murder plot.

While the story does get a little repetitive in the latter seasons, How to Get Away with Murder enthralls from the crime show’s very first twisty episode, immediately stamping itself as a series of addictive volatility and high drama that holds a keen thematic interest in issues of power, privilege, and diversity in the legal system. At its very best, it is prestige television drama that absorbs with its intrigue and power alike, a pulsating crime saga of ambition and scandal that makes for addictive television even with its cyclical nature.

4

‘Narcos’ (2015–2017)

With its compelling mixture of real-life crime and fictional drama, Narcos enthralls throughout the entirety of its three-season run as it immerses viewers in the brutality, political posturing, and impact of Pablo Escobar’s (Wagner Moura) drug empire in Colombia and the growing influence of the Cali Cartel in the wake of Escobar’s reign. Exploring both the inner machinations of the criminal organizations and the lives of the detectives investigating them, Narcos is a stirring drama of high stakes and ensnaring moral ambiguity.

This narrative scope and impact are complemented by strong performances, an authentic tone, and an involving tempo, all qualities that mix beautifully with the series’ impressive focus and effective use of language to create an immersive, intense viewing experience. It ran for three impressive seasons on Netflix, while the equally solid Narcos: Mexico ran for a further three seasons from 2018 to 2021, dramatizing the establishment of the Guadalajara Cartel in 1980s Mexico.

3

‘Weeds’ (2005–2012)

Breaking Bad’s first season exhibited a particular sense of dark comedy, one that gradually abated as the series wore on in favor of its character-driven drama and ever-rising narrative stakes. Weeds features a similar balance, but it leans on its use of humor more and more as it progresses through its eight-season tenure. Mary-Louise Parker stars as Nancy Botwin, a middle-aged woman living in suburban L.A. who takes to dealing marijuana to maintain the upper-middle-class lifestyle her and her two sons enjoy following the sudden death of her husband.

The series makes an immediate impression with its razor-sharp comedy, being targeted at consumerist culture in modern American suburbia and the sacrifices that must be made to attain such a lifestyle. Its first few seasons are exceptional in this regard, and while Weeds does falter in its later seasons as its comedic style becomes overwhelming and its story loses its grasp on reality, it remains an entertaining foray into crime-comedy television anchored by Parker’s wonderful performance. Interestingly, it also nearly caused Vince Gilligan to give up on Breaking Bad.

2

‘Peaky Blinders’ (2013–2022)

Never before has crime been so stylish, a fact that defines Peaky Blinders’ enormous cultural impact, but also underlines the key reason why it never ascended to be among the all-time great series in the genre. Transpiring in post-WWI England, it follows the Birmingham-based street gang the Peaky Blinders as, under the charge of the ruthlessly ambitious Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), they gradually grow from being low-level thugs to a key player in the country’s criminal underbelly.

The series has cemented itself as one of the most iconic titles in the history of crime television through its ability to take elements of period piece intrigue and imbue them with a decisively modern appetite for violent storytelling, moral ambiguity, and a heavily stylized aesthetic. When it doesn’t work, it comes off as a shallow glorification of gangland brutality that flaunts style over substance, but when it does work, Peaky Blinders excels as a hypnotically engaging character study of power and ambition set amid a fascinating era of modern history.

1

‘Justified’ (2010–2015)

Running as a peculiar combination of police procedural narrative, character-driven drama, and Old West-inspired action, Justified is a playful spin on common crime television ideas that serves as one of the most entertaining series the genre has seen in recent decades. It follows Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a roguish U.S. Marshall who is sent back to his hometown of Harlan County, Kentucky as punishment for his trigger-happy attitude in the field. He works with local law enforcement to apprehend dangerous criminals in the area, many of whom are people he knew in his youth.

A wonderful marriage of rich style and quirky character dynamics, Justified thrives off the back of its rogues gallery of vivacious villains as much as it does off the back of Givens’ gallivanting and gun-slinging sense of police work. While it is sometimes prone to suffering from weak seasonal antagonists or misguided subplots, the series as a whole is a treat of subversive police drama television defined by its many eccentricities.