Curated and verified by British TV Hub · Streaming availability checked September 2026
Acorn TV's library is smaller than BritBox's, but it's more tightly focused on mystery and crime drama — plus a run of genuine Acorn TV Originals you won't find anywhere else. This guide sorts the best of it by what kind of mystery you're after, not just what's newest.
The gentlest entry points into Acorn TV's British catalogue.
A brilliant London surgeon develops a sudden phobia of blood and retreats to a sleepy Cornish village as the local GP — gorgeous Port Isaac scenery, gentle humour, and ten series of pure escapism.
Kerry Godliman's Pearl Nolan runs a seafood restaurant and a private detective agency out of the same coastal Kent town, often beating the local police to the answer.
Gentle whodunits with more warmth than menace.
Ashley Jensen's PR-executive-turned-amateur-sleuth swaps London stilettos for Cotswolds wellies, solving murders with equal parts nosiness and charm.
Meera Syal as a Berkshire caterer with a knack for solving crimes — four feature-length episodes of warm, funny, gently cozy mystery that never got a second series.
Emilia Fox stars as a disillusioned former MI6 operative who settles into a quiet new life in the Umbrian countryside, only to keep stumbling into local mysteries.
Slower, more literary mysteries built around a single distinctive lead.
A quietly principled detective investigates crime on the English home front during WWII, in thoughtful mysteries that reward a slow, attentive watch.
P.D. James' poet-detective solves cases with slow-burning, literary mysteries and some of the most beautiful cinematography in the genre.
Richard Griffiths plays DI Henry Crabbe, a detective trying to retire and run his own restaurant, only for his boss to keep pulling him back onto delicate cases.
For when you want more tension than cozy.
Welsh crime drama set against the landscape of North Wales, from the same team behind Hinterland, with Sian Reese-Williams as a detective drawn into disappearances in Snowdonia.
Martin Clunes in a restrained, true-crime police procedural — a real change of pace from Doc Martin, as DCI Colin Sutton hunts a serial killer using nothing but painstaking, unglamorous police work.
James Nesbitt's tense Belfast thriller follows DCI Tom Brannick as an old, buried secret threatens to catch up with him — the show wrapped for good after two series.
Complete stories you can finish in a weekend.
Keeley Hawes stars as a retired assassin drawn back into her old life when her estranged son turns up looking for answers about his father, in a tense six-episode thriller.
London mysteries with an unusual detective and a lovely setting — Adrian Scarborough's DI Max Arnold works Chelsea's glossiest streets from a modest houseboat.
Mackenzie Crook's gentle comedy-drama about metal detectorists in rural Essex is one of the most quietly beautiful British shows around — two series of pure television treasure.
Stephen Fry as a small-town Norfolk solicitor quietly holding his community — and his own grief — together. Gentle, warm, and quietly wonderful.
DI Mick Palmer (Stephen Moyer) and DC Shazia Malik solve murders connected to the world of art and antiques, from Old Master paintings to Banksy street art.
Want to know what's arriving on Acorn TV right now, rather than the evergreen best-of list above?
Doc Martin and Whitstable Pearl are great starting points. For something more literary, Dalgliesh and Foyle's War are excellent. Art Detectives, Signora Volpe, and The Chelsea Detective are recent Acorn TV Originals worth seeking out.
This page is an evergreen, curated list of Acorn TV's best British mysteries across the whole catalogue. The monthly Acorn TV Guide covers what's new arriving each month.
Yes. Foyle's War, Manhunt, Bloodlands, Mrs Sidhu Investigates, Pie in the Sky, Kingdom, and The Detectorists have all concluded, so you can watch the whole story without waiting for renewals.
Mrs Sidhu Investigates, Signora Volpe, The Chelsea Detective, Dalgliesh, and Art Detectives were all made specifically for Acorn TV.
Affiliate disclosure: British TV Hub is a participant in the Amazon Associates program and earns from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page may be affiliate links to Acorn TV. This never affects the recommendations — these are genuine editorial favourites.
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