kyle maclachlan as dale cooper in twin peaksImage via ABC
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Safwan Azeem
Published Mar 11, 2026, 7:26 PM EDT
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Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapWho doesn't love a good mystery? The kind that makes one overanalyze every little clue and wait with bated breath for the final reveal. Unlike most genres, mysteries invite the audience to actively participate in the story and piece the narrative together alongside its characters. This ensures that every revelation feels personal to the viewers and fills them with an urgent desire to get to the bottom of things.
Now, the best mystery TV shows understand that this engagement is what keeps people hooked. They pace their stories carefully so the narrative never loses momentum and there's no filler to dilute the suspense. Here are the mystery shows that follow this formula to a T and deliver stories where every episode feels like an essential piece of the puzzle.
'The Fall' (2013–2016)
Gillian Anderson as Stella Gibson in an office hallway looking to the left in The Fall.Image via BBC
The Fall instantly subverts any expectations the audience might have from a crime mystery by introducing its killer right at the start. The series, created and written by Allan Cubitt, follows Gillian Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson and Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector. The story kicks off when Gibson arrives in Belfast to review a stalled murder investigation. Soon enough, she realizes that the city is dealing with a serial predator who targets young professional women. Now, the catch is that the viewers already know Spector is responsible for all this, but watching him navigate his disturbingly normal life as a husband, father, and bereavement counselor is what keeps them hooked.
The Fall doesn't play out like a traditional whodunit. Instead, the show is a tense psychological battle between a meticulous detective and a criminal who is constantly trying to stay one step ahead of her. This dual perspective is the highlight of The Fall, with each episode allowing the viewers to follow Gibson's process along with Spector's increasingly manic attempts to maintain control of his double life. Dornan delivers an unsettling performance and almost manages to convince the audience that he actually is just a normal family man. This idea of evil almost always hiding in plain sight is The Fall's central message. The show drives its point home by refusing to rush its narrative and delivering a genuinely immersive experience that never falters in its momentum.
'Dark' (2017–2020)
Louis Hofmann in a yellow raincoat standing on a deserted road in Dark.Image via Netflix
Dark is Netflix's first German-language original series and one of the most ambitious stories the streamer has ever brought to TV. The show, created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, opens with the strange disappearance of a young boy in the small town of Winden. The soon exposes a decades-old conspiracy tied to a wormhole hidden beneath the town's nuclear power plant. What's even more interesting is how these secrets link back to four interconnected families whose histories stretch across generations. As characters begin traveling between years, the central mystery expands beyond just a missing-person case and evolves into a fascinating exploration of time itself. Jonas Kahnwald (Louis Hofmann) is at the center of the story as a teenager struggling with his father's death, who slowly realizes that his life is deeply entangled with the town's mysterious past and future.
There's no denying that Dark is a complex show, but it rewards the audience for their patience. The series doesn't treat time travel as a flashy gimmick, but uses it as the foundation for an emotionally layered narrative. It's definitely tough to keep track of all the characters and timelines in the beginning, but the way everything connects eventually becomes one of the show's most satisfying qualities. Dark treats every episode as an important piece of an intricate puzzle, and this meticulous storytelling makes the show unforgettable.
'Broadchurch' (2013–2017)
DS Ellie Miller played by Olivia Coleman and DI Alec Hardy played by David Tennant in Broadchurch.Image via ITV
Broadchurch, created by Chris Chibnall, is a British mystery drama that begins with a tragedy that shatters an entire community. The story follows Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) as they investigate the murder of 11-year-old Danny Latimer in the small coastal town of Broadchurch. However, the investigation spirals into something much more unsettling as suspicion spreads through the town's tight-knit residents. Friends, neighbors, and even family members become potential suspects in the case, and that gives the show its emotional weight.
Instead of reducing the central crime to forensic or procedural details, Broadchurch also investigates the human cost of such a tragedy. It examines how grief and paranoia transform people's everyday lives by exposing the fragile relationships within the town. The most interesting thing about Broadchurch is that every character feels layered enough for the audience to feel sympathetic and suspicious of them at the same time. The show thrives on its deliberate pacing as it slowly peels back the layers of the mystery and builds tension with every episode. When the case is finally solved, the journey feels just as important as the answer itself.
'Sherlock' (2010–2017)
Sherlock is a must-watch for anyone who enjoys a mystery that features classic detective storytelling with a modern twist. The series, created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, reimagines Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective stories in modern-day London. The story follows consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his friend Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) as they solve impossible crimes together. The show's biggest recurring threat comes in the form of Holmes' arch nemesis Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott), and their rivalry remains one of television's most memorable dynamics to this day. Sherlock stands out in how it stays faithful to its source material while breathing new life into it.
In this world, Holmes solves cases using smartphones, GPS, and the internet, but that doesn't mean things are ever convenient for him. Each episode is roughly 90 minutes long and feels much more immersive than a standard TV procedural. The chemistry between Cumberbatch and Freeman is the heart of the show, and their banter makes even the more tense moments easy to follow. However, the most brilliant part of the show is how it visualizes Sherlock's thought process through on-screen text that allows the viewers to follow the logic behind his impossible conclusions. Though what really keeps the audience hooked is that every case is part of a large overarching narrative that practically demands one to keep watching till the very end.
'Bad Sisters' (2022–Present)
The cast of Bad Sisters in Season 2 Episode 7Image via Apple TV
Bad Sisters is a show that embraces the playful side of the mystery genre. The black comedy thriller follows the Garvey sisters — Eva (Sharon Horgan), Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Bibi (Sarah Greene), and Becka (Eve Hewson) — whose lives become entangled in a murder investigation after Grace's controlling husband, John Paul (Claes Bang), suddenly dies. The series switches between two timelines. One shows the sisters repeatedly plotting to kill their vile brother-in-law, while the other follows insurance agents Tom (Brian Gleeson) and Matt Claffin (Daryl McCormack) as they attempt to prove that the Garveys were involved in his death. The premise is engaging right off the bat, and the audience is practically compelled to follow the mystery through. Now, what complicates the story is that the brother-in-law in question is written to be so abusive and manipulative that the audience quickly understands why the Garveys might want him gone.
Bad Sisters balances its dark premise with sharp humor and genuine emotional depth. The sisters' bond feels authentic, which makes the viewer sympathize with their ridiculous schemes because they are just trying to protect each other at the end of the day. The storytelling structure here is also what keeps the series entertaining, as each episode reveals another disastrous attempt the sisters make to get rid of John Paul, while the present-day investigation keeps coming close to the truth. This push-and-pull between the past and present gives the show its tension, even in its most comedic moments. This clever mix of suspense, humor, and heart makes Bad Sisters a delightfully twisted watch from start to finish.
'Lost' (2004–2010)
Charlie and Sawyer on the beach with other survivors in 'Lost'Image via ABC
There's no denying that Lost changed network television forever. The sci-fi series, created by Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams, and Damon Lindelof, begins with the survivors of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 stranded on a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific after their plane crashes. However, the survival story quickly takes a turn when the group, led by spinal surgeon Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), begins encountering bizarre phenomena across the island, which include polar bears in the jungle, a terrifying entity known as the Smoke Monster, and a mysterious group of inhabitants referred to as "The Others." From there, things only get crazier as the show adds even more layers to its mythology. The story uses flashbacks, flash-forwards, and even alternate timelines to show how the survivors' pasts are connected in ways they never could have imagined.
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'Twin Peaks' (1990–2017)
Kyle McLaughlin and Sherilyn Fenn in 'Twin Peaks'Image via ABC
Twin Peaks is and will always be one of the most revolutionary TV shows to have ever been made. The series begins with a gripping mystery that immediately pulls the viewers into its strange world. The story follows Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) as he investigates the murder of high school student Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). However, what begins as a standard murder mystery soon reveals something far more unsettling in the quiet logging town of Twin Peaks, Washington. As Cooper begins questioning the residents, he discovers that everyone, including Laura's best friend Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) and her troubled boyfriend Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook), is hiding secrets of their own.
What made Twin Peaks so fascinating back in the day was how it went from soap-opera melodrama to surreal supernatural horror, and that too, within the same episode. The show has this dreamlike quality to it that makes the audience and Cooper question just about everything. Eventually, the story introduces one of TV's most terrifying figures, BOB (Frank Silva), whose connection to Laura deepens the show's central mystery and expands it far beyond a simple whodunit. The deeper the show dives into this eerie mythology, the more fascinating its mystery becomes. All of this makes Twin Peaks a hypnotic, once-in-a-lifetime experience that is impossible to forget.
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Twin Peaks
Mystery
Drama
Crime
Release Date
1990 - 1991-00-00
Network
Showtime, ABC
Showrunner
Mark Frost
Directors
Mark Frost
Cast
See All-
Russ Tamblyn
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Sheryl Lee
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Twin Peaks
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