For me the British are simply the best at crime dramas

What is it about the British that make their crime dramas so amazing. It is very hard to define.
 
I don't mean stiff like Midsummer Murders either. I mean the serious stuff. Like 'The Fall', 'The Five' (OMG!!!) and just watched 'London Spy'.  Seriously fantastic.  'Luther' comes to mind as well.  Also 'The Secret'  They are all just so tense.  There is so much tension in the air it is ridiculous.  Even the music scores are amazing and nothing like anything else as well.
 
I know some of you Americans might find this hard to believe.  The US crime stuff is just not doing it for me.  They all are so good looking, superhuman and it is just plain wrong, in my opinion only of course.  I know the Americans can make a decent movie occasionally.  Recently saw 'Captain Fantastic' and just loved it.  But most of the time it is all just about the animators and special effects.
 
I hope some of our British forum users will chime in here.  Interesting is that our Australian crime dramas are getting better all the time and glad to see we are following the British model.
 
I just love England and hope I get to see it before I die.  Mind you I would not mind visiting America either.  For me Nashville holds the most attraction maybe followed by New York.  I have a feeling Nashville might be the centre of the musical universe!  I am also into electronic music in a big way too and I have heard it is all happening in Hamburg.
 
Can any of you Brits recommend any other TV series like the ones mentioned above.  I just cant get enough!!! We have got them all here in Australia.

I still have not decided whether I am watching a biased sample of British fare, i. e. the stuff that PBS buys, or whether it is truly better. I expect it is the latter. U. S. television seems to eschew the concept that acting is to be cultivated in this genre. It also seems to find reasonably coherent writing to be superfluous as well, which may set the acting bar pretty low to begin with. On the other hand crashing expensive looking automobiles at high speeds with lots of pyrotechnics following needlessly extended car chases photographed from helicopters seems to be a strong hand for the U. S. industry. The few reasonably good US crime dramas seem to have come from pay per view channels. And of course staffing entire police forces with drop dead gorgeous spokesmodels of either sex is definitely where the US excels. 

Thanks Fog for your thoughts and yes I totally agree with the European model being very similar as well.  Love all that stuff too.  Recently watched 'Paris' and just loved it too.  Takes a little while to get going but soon draws you in bigtime.
 
I do like some US cop shows of course.  (NYPD Blue, SVU and even Blue Bloods at times too, much more real for me) I know this is not a cop show but just loved 'Suits' as well.  I cannot believe how good that was.  Somehow they managed to get that same tension into every episode.  It was almost exhausting for me.  But I loved it!

A vote for Montalbano from me, too.
My explanation of the British quality is the roots. For decades the British series were, and partly still are today,
based on very popular books. That means the characters, plots and sets are carefully built ready for the screenwriters to start adapting. Also, the book being originally created by one person during many years makes the fundamental structures fluent and solid compared to modern TV-writing which usually means a group of writers.
This has created a strong tradition which gives new writers good ground to bounce from.
 
Happy Valley is the one that has impressed me lately.
 
I do like Swedish and Danish stuff as well. The most successful Swedish ones (Wallander, Beck) are also all based
on books that have been very, very popular for decades.

Forgot 'Happy Valley', but I see Kalle mentioned it, brilliant stuff.

 
 
Pfft... I couldn't even work out who shot Mr Burns

I have found that the BBC programs seem to have more depth and texture. THe characters are not all great looking former models, they're very real people with flaws and depth of character. It's also great to see actors that have been in huge feature films show up in small TV roles. King of the elves shows up in Glasgow to clean out a public housing unit as a janitor. 
 
And don't get me started on the comedy. Since the Goons they've been leading the way.

There's always The Professionals. 
 
Which was basically The Dukes Of Hazard without the moonshine or hot pants. 

Just finished watching Bloodline Excellent US drama. Full marks 10/10 Great tension and atmosphere. Loved it. Sort of cop show but very good story.  Our Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn was excellent.

It's not a crime drama, but Black Mirror is the best television i've seen in years.  Basically a technology-based version of the Twilight Zone.  And British.

Good thread this is......will refer to this whenever the Mrs. & I get a chance to watch TV.....usually, crime dramas. We enjoyed the Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch....very good actor.

Slugbaby
It's not a crime drama, but Black Mirror is the best television i've seen in years.  Basically a technology-based version of the Twilight Zone.  And British.

Just finished watching the first 2 series. Wow. Brilliantly written stuff, very sharp indeed, and quite disturbing.