The first series of this critically acclaimed show was set in the South Island, and starred Elisabeth Moss as a detective investigating the disappearance of a pregnant 12-year-old girl. (My definition of “cop show” here is that it had to have a police officer or detective at the centre of the story, and could not be a docu-series – so no Police 10-7 or Motorway Patrol.) Top of the Lake That’s to say nothing of the individual quality of these shows – many of which have won a lot of awards, and are remembered fondly – but we do make a lot of them, don’t we? Here’s as many of them as I could find, and you may see a common theme emerging. The promo images for The Gone, The Gulf, One Lane Bridge and The Brokenwood Mysteries. Every year we get some variation of the same poster – two impeccably made-up actors wearing suits and showcasing their best glower, the bottom halves of their body showing off the landscape of wherever their show is set, the title illuminated somewhere around them. We must produce more cop dramas per capita than any other country in the world. New Zealand television makers have been taking this formula to the bank for decades now. Also, all the main characters seem to shame the same unfortunate first name: “Detective”. The genre pretty much guarantees all the main things you want from a TV drama – namely some drama, enough intrigue to keep you wondering what’s going on for at least some amount of time (unless you’re one of those people like my mother who could predict the ending to every script within the first five minutes) and some kind of satisfying resolution at the end.
It’s hard to go past a cop show for entertainment.
Sam Brooks attempts to round up all of them. If there’s one genre of TV drama we love to make – and watch – more than any other, it’s cop shows.
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