Everyone loves a good cop show. From the early days of television detective shows have been one of the most popular genres on the air. They have ranged everywhere from goofy slapstick in Police Squad to dark and gritty in the BBC's Luther. One thing that always remains consistent though is the brilliant detective at the heart of the show.
There has been no shortage of iconic TV detectives over the years, from Magnum P.I. to Scooby-Doo, and what each has in common is some level of intelligence - after all, it's needed for the job. However, some TV detectives prove their smarts more clearly than others.
Updated on December 3rd, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: Thanks to the rise of true crime podcasts and documentaries, even fictional takes on crime and mystery are more popular than ever. TV fans love to see the mind of a good detective at work. There is such a wide range of styles among the most famous of TV detectives, but one thing is for sure - they’re very good at puzzles. With the aid of streaming sites, there’s no shortage of TV detectives for fans to learn from. There’s the enduring legacy of the Law & Order franchise, a classic reinvented in the CW’s Nancy Drew, and even the revival of the long-running Criminal Minds for fans to solve mysteries alongside.
Frank Drebin (Police Squad)
Police Squad may have only run for six episodes, but those episodes, and the three movies based on them, have cemented Frank Drebin as one of the funniest detectives to ever appear on-screen. While his original show portrayed him as much more capable than the movies later would, Drebin is still a textbook case of the bumbling cop.
Frank Drebin is clumsy and has a knack for getting himself into ridiculous situations, but he always manages to catch the crook in the end. Drebin may not be the smartest cop on TV, but he still manages to be pretty good at his job.
Jake Peralta (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
With as much chaos as Jake Peralta causes on the best and worst detective in Brooklyn Nine-Nine at the same time.
Peralta's immaturity and habitual pop-culture references keep him from reaching the upper echelons of television's crime fighters, but his quick wit and dedication to the job mean he is still someone most criminals probably wouldn't want on their trail.
Velma Dinkley (Scooby-Doo)
When it comes to the of Mystery Inc., Velma Dinkley is clearly the most intelligent of the bunch. Fred might be the team leader, but it’s Velma’s plans and tendency to pick up on hidden clues that really help her friends solve the mysteries.
Of course, if Velma was a really great detective, she probably wouldn’t let Fred lead the way every time, and she would probably keep a better eye on Shaggy and Scooby-Doo every time the friends decided to split up to search for evidence. At least she always knows just which criminal is under the mask even if all of Velma's decisions in the series don't make sense.
Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)
For someone who is still in high school, Veronica Mars proved herself to be quite the intelligent sleuth in her self-titled show, Veronica Mars. Despite being significantly younger than the protagonists of most police procedurals detective shows, the show sees Mars deal with some incredibly heavy topics and dark themes that would be at home in a gritty police procedural.
Mars is clever enough to help her detective father out on his cases while also investigating her own at school or around town. Her age and inexperience hold her back a little, but Veronica Mars is still a force to be reckoned with and is one of pop culture's great female detectives.
Thomas Magnum (Magnum P.I.)
Magnum P.I. was a show that was occasionally more concerned with style than substance, but that hasn't stopped its lead Thomas Magnum from becoming an iconic detective in his own right. Magnum is a private investigator living a life of luxury in Hawaii who operates on his own .
Magnum isn't the brooding and dogged detective that most of his contemporaries are, but he is still more than capable of keeping order in his little corner of paradise. Magnum has the undeniable cool factor, but he also has the brains to figure out the occasionally absurd cases he takes, like stopping an assassin dressed as a nun for working on a Sunday.
Olivia Benson (Law & Order: SVU)
Olivia Benson is a fairly typical TV detective in a lot of ways. Her time is spent questioning suspects, but a lot of the actual solving of the mysteries is down to DNA evidence and crime scene technicians. Where Olivia excels, however, is working with survivors of violent crimes.
She’s one of the most empathetic TV detectives to ever exist. Olivia understands survivors and traumatized witnesses in a way that not many people do. That allows her to get them to open up to her when they might not want to relive the things that have happened to him, and that allows her access to more information than most TV detectives would have.
Shawn Spencer (Psych)
Psych's Shawn Spencer was quite literally raised to be a detective since he was a child. Coached by his father on the police force, Shawn has developed an incredible memory and an eye for detail most people could only dream of. Like Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Jake Peralta, Shawn has maintained a lovable level of immaturity that sometimes puts him at odds with the more serious police detectives.
Shawn may be one of the most unconventional detectives on TV, but that doesn't mean he isn't also one of the smartest. Shawn's unique way of investigating gets him into almost as much trouble as it does evidence, and his eccentricities are a lot to handle, but he is still an incredible detective. Shawn Spencer may not really be psychic, but he might as well be.
Crockett and Tubbs (Miami Vice)
the best cop shows of the '80s, it was an absolute cultural phenomenon that is still referenced and copied today. One of the main reasons for its popularity was its two leads, vice detectives James Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.
In addition to their iconic style, Crockett and Tubbs are also very interesting and complex characters who are willing to do just about anything to crack the case. Their frequent undercover work and endless street smarts make the pair one of the most capable police duos on TV, able to unravel even the most twisted criminal conspiracies.
Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew)
Nancy Drew is one of the most famous fictional detectives of all time. She’s had books, movies, and TV shows dedicated to her solving mysteries, and in most of those, she remains the perennial teenager. She might not have the experience of all the other TV detectives since she’s still a teen, but she’s certainly got the smarts.
In the CW’s adaptation of Nancy Drew, Nancy unravels the threads of more ghost stories than she does real-life crimes. She also rarely works alone as she has a strong system of friends with a variety of skills. Nancy is the one to form plans and ultimately put the pieces together to figure out the complete puzzle though, running circles around local law enforcement as she does.
John Luther (Luther)
John Luther is famous among the London Metropolitan Police Service for being one the best cops on the force, but unfortunately, his inner demons often get in the way of his police work. Phenomenally played by Idris Elba, Luther is unquestionably a genius when it comes to solving crimes, but the horrible things that he has seen and done in his years as a detective haunt him.
Luther is reckless, violent, and prone to breaking as many rules as he can in his pursuit of justice, which often gets him into some serious trouble. Despite his flaws, John Luther is still one of the smartest detectives on television and proves this when he comes up against the cunning Alice time and time again.
