While the 2026 Winter Olympics will get started tonight, Friday, Feb. 6 with the Opening Ceremony, that doesn’t mean you really want to watch it. Sure, it’s something light on the TV, but you can use the Winter Olympic Games as a chance to catch up on crime dramas. It also gives you a chance to try out something new.
There are some great options out there, but you don’t necessarily have a lot of time to work through long binges, such as NCIS or Law & Order. You need to find shorter seasons, and we have five excellent suggestions.
The Gentlemen
Let’s start with the 2024 Guy Ritchie series, The Gentlemen. You’ll want to watch this now, because a second season is slated to arrive later this year. Plus, the series is just a lot of fun if you want something quirky when it comes to crime dramas.
Theo James stars as Eddie Halsting, who finds himself the new lord of his family’s estate after the death of his father. This is despite being the second-born, which certainly creates issues with his big brother, Freddy. However, there’s a much bigger problem. The land has been used by an unscrupulous family to sell weed, and that family isn’t looking to move.
The Gentlemen is available to stream on Netflix.
Adolescence
In 2025, Netflix brought us a series that wasn’t just well written, but it was also expertly filmed. Everything in an episode is all done in one take, and it makes Adolescence a stand out series just to see it done. The story itself is also one that will draw you in.
The series follows a boy, who is accused of a grievous crime. It all starts with the cops bashing down the door to arrest the boy, and that leads to questions about whether they have the right kid, and how far a father is willing to go to protect his son. It’s a limited series, as well, so you will get answers by the time you work through it in one night.
Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix.
Black Doves
Another series with a second season coming this year, Black Doves likely dropped off your radar. Maybe it wasn’t even on your radar to start with, but it’s one to watch while the Opening Ceremony takes place. Keira Knightly stars as a spy for a private organization, and she’s married to the Secretary of State of Defence.
When her secret lover is murdered, Helen need to figure out who did it. She has to do it without letting her own identity slip, but soon she realizes that there is a much bigger conspiracy going on. Is it possible that someone already figured out who she was?
Black Doves is available to stream on Netflix.
The Girlfriend
I promise not everything is on Netflix! The next show to check out is The Girlfriend, which stars Robing Wright and Olivia Cooke, as a mother and a girlfriend of the son fighting for power. Interestingly, some of the scenes are shown from their own points of view, which makes it harder to tell who is telling the truth.
There are plenty of passive-aggressive battles between the two. Who will Daniel believe when it comes to some of the stories, and how far are the two women in his life willing to go to get him on their side? The downside to this is that the show ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and it hasn’t been renewed yet.
The Girlfriend is available to stream on Prime Video.
Twin Peaks
Do you want a series that is a little longer that is going to get you through the whole of the Winter Olympics? Then you’ll want to turn to a now often-overlooked crime series, Twin Peaks. It was a blast in the ‘90s, and it’s one that everyone needs to watch at least once.
Kyle MacLachlan plays Special Agent Dale Cooper, who is pulled into a case when a teenage girl washes up on the shore of a small Pacific Northwest town. It’s your standard opening to a case, but the series pulls out all the twists needed to show that there’s often a darkness beneath the surface that tries to remain hidden.
Twin Peaks is available to stream on Paramount+.