5 TV crime shows to watch this week (December 11-17, 2023)

As we move to the end of 2023 and the long-awaited start of a new network TV season, there are still a few crime shows to check out on streaming and cable. Some might be bigger than others, but worth checking out still as the holidays mean less regular series for a bit.

This week’s offerings of crime shows include the return of one of last year’s biggest hits and some fun streaming series with unique spins on crime tales. There are some that you may not have heard of as promotion has been limited.

Here are five TV shows to watch for the week of Dec. 11-17, 2023 to enjoy the holidays.

5 crime shows you need to watch this week

Reacher

TV’s biggest (literally) action hero is back in the second season of the adaptation of the Lee Child novels. Alan Ritchson’s Reacher is still living his drifter lifestyle when he gets word some members of his former special forces team are being killed. Reacher teams up with some old buddies to figure out who’s hunting them and why.

Expect more wild action with Reacher’s inhuman strength and sharp investigative skills on display. New cast members include Serinda Swan and Robert Patrick as Reacher looks to up the ante in carnage in its sophomore season.

Reacher Season 2 premieres on Friday, Dec. 15 on Prime Video.

The Artful Dodger

It’s a show that may surprise you as this Hulu series is a direct sequel to Charles Dickens’s classic, Oliver Twist. Fifteen years after the novel, the one-time child pickpocket (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) has remade himself into Jack Dawkins, a Navy officer turned surgeon in 1850s Australia, who still has a love of gambling. But things get wild with the return of his mentor, Fagin (David Thewlis).

Now, Dawkins has to live up to his old name to dodge Fagin, gangsters, his own gambling, and someone finding out the truth about his past. With a modern soundtrack and some wilder antics, this puts a crazy spin on a classic novel for a wild old-school crime saga with a compelling lead.

The Artful Dodger Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.

Blood Coast

Action lovers will enjoy this new French series streaming on Netflix. When a ruthless crime lord uses his son’s funeral to escape, a squad of cops is on his trail. They have to welcome a new member who has a personal stake in taking the crime lord down. Before long, the cops realize a gang war is ready to tear Marseilles apart unless they stop both sides.

The show packs in scores of action to go with the drama and the touch that the supposedly straight-laced new cop is a bigger maverick than anyone on this team. For those who enjoy foreign police dramas with some edge, this show is a good French treat.

Blood Coast Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Obliterated

This Netflix comedy boasts a great hook in an action movie version of The Hangover. A special forces team stops a terrorist plot in Las Vegas and then celebrates. The wild party is interrupted by news that a nuke is still out there and they have only a few hours to save Vegas…while completely drunk, high, tripping, and (in the case of the key bomb expert) unconscious.

The eight-episode series may extend the concept a bit too much, but the cast is still fun leading the antics of them breaking slews of laws while in no condition to carry on such a vital mission. If you need some laughs with the action antics, this is a good binge to check out.

Obliterated Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Sister Boniface Christmas Special

As a preview for its third season, the Father Brown spin-off gets a big Christmas-themed episode. Lorna Waston’s titular motorcycle-riding nun is stuck in a train station during 1963’s “The Big Freeze,” England’s worst recorded winter. When a passenger is murdered and a priceless gem goes missing, Boniface has to figure out who did it.

It’s a fun take on an Agatha Christie classic with Boniface’s usual charm and humor as she has to outwit a killer and battle the freezing elements to boot. It once more shows the series’ lovely feel, which should make Season 3 a fun one.

Sister Boniface Christmas Special airs on Tuesday, Dec. 12 on BritBox.

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