# The Last Detective (2003)

> A decent, overlooked British detective takes on the cases nobody wants and quietly gets them solved.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/18358

## Facts

- Seasons: 4
- Episodes: 17
- Episode runtime: 90 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Leslie Thomas, Richard Harris
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Peter Davison, Sean Hughes, Rob Spendlove, Emma Amos, Charles De'Ath, Billy Geraghty, Vineeta Rishi, Peter Copley
- TMDB rating: 7.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312895/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: wry, warm, melancholic, unhurried

## Synopsis

The Last Detective (2003-2007) is a British crime drama series created by Leslie Thomas and Richard Harris for ITV1. Peter Davison stars as Detective Constable 'Dangerous' Davies, a supposedly unremarkable officer who is handed the cases no one else wants and whose eventual successes go largely unnoticed by his colleagues. Alongside him, Sean Hughes plays Mod Lewis, while Rob Spendlove appears as DI Aspinall and Emma Amos as Julie Davies, shaping the working world around the detective. Across four seasons and seventeen ninety-minute episodes, the engine is simple and satisfying: a stubborn, modest man grinding through difficult investigations with patience rather than flash. Each episode is largely self-contained, a case-of-the-week format with a steady, humane lead at its centre. The tone is warm and wry, with a quiet melancholy about institutions that overlook decent people. Fans of Inspector Morse, Cracker and Midsomer Murders will find resonance in its British procedural texture and its unhurried, character-led crime storytelling.

## Shows like The Last Detective

- [Cracker (1993)](https://ember.film/tv/28)
- [New Tricks (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/12440)
- [Vexed (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/30968)
- [McDonald & Dodds (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/84004)
- [Unforgotten (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55562)
- [The Chelsea Detective (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/118562)
- [Messiah (2001)](https://ember.film/tv/12329)
- [A Touch of Frost (1992)](https://ember.film/tv/2348)
- [The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2002)](https://ember.film/tv/1098)
- [Dalziel & Pascoe (1996)](https://ember.film/tv/3689)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt