Not-so-perfect: Ten “Murder Mavericks”

Who doesn’t love a bad boy (or girl)? On second thoughts, don’t answer that. But when it comes to crime on TV, it seems we have an inexhaustible appetite for rebel cops with chips on their shoulders, scores to settle, and calamitous home lives they escape from by spending all hours God sends in the office. I’m sure you have your own list, but here’s mine: ten of my favorite mavericks on the murder squad…  

Number one: John Luther, played by Idris Elba

In the dictionary under ‘don’t try this at home’, Luther has a genius for lie-detection, matched only by his talent for self-destruction and his weakness for hyper-intelligent female psychopaths. Not just a lone wolf but actively allergic to collaboration of any kind. ‘Back-up? What back-up?’

Number two: Rustin Cohle in True Detective I, played by Matthew McConaughey

A truly outstanding and award-winning performance from McConaughey, not least in the extraordinary transformation between the clean-cut Cohle of the flashbacks and the ruined alcoholic he later becomes. Notable for the drawings and notes he makes in his large ledger (which earns him the nickname ‘the taxman’), his insight into the psychopathic mind, his social aloofness, and his all-round inscrutability:

Rust:      I consider myself a realist, all right, but in philosophical terms, I’m what’s called a pessimist.

 

Marty:    Er, OK. What’s that mean?

 

Rust:       Means I’m bad at parties.

 

Marty:   Let me tell you. You ain’t great outside of parties, either.

Number three: Robert Goran in Law & Order Criminal Intent, played by Vincent d’Onofrio 

There have been many great detectives across the whole Law & Order franchise, from Olivia Benson in SVU to Joe Fontana and Ed Green (I’ve always had a soft spot for him) to the late great Lennie Briscoe, but when it comes to mavericks Robert Goran breaks the mold. Fiercely if bizarrely intelligent, and always able to come up with a new angle (literally—one of his techniques is to unsettle suspects by staring at them from odd positions).  Towards the end of his time in the series we discover his biological father is a serial killer on death row. And somehow that doesn’t come as a much of a surprise…

Number four: Peter Boyd in Waking the Dead, played by Trevor Eve

Waking the Dead is one of my all-time favourite British crime shows. It started the whole ‘cold case’ phenomenon and brought the role of the criminal profiler much more to the fore. But Eve’s character carried it: he goes through several junior team members, numerous different haircuts and an on/off beard in the course of nine seasons, as well as setting a trend for wearing long dark coats (later emulated by John Luther). Impulsive, impetuous and indeed imperious he’s never afraid of a fight, and always willing to stick his oar in. And he does a lot of shouting…

Number five: Mike Walker in Trial and Retribution, played by David Hayman

DI Róisín Connor is one of my favorite female TV detectives, and she and Walker make a cracking combination in this oldie-but-goodie series. In fact, they often struggle to even breathe the same air without causing a conflagration, especially when he starts calling her ‘sweetheart’. Mike Walker will stop at nothing to get the right result either for his case or himself—in the sixth series he ends up accused of murdering his ex-wife’s abusive partner. Definitely more a fighter than a lover, Detective Superintendent Michael Walker could pick a row with the sky just for being blue.

Number six: Tony Gates in Line Of Duty, played by Lennie James

Cops don’t get much more maverick than this. Outwardly irreproachable—high-flying, happily married and extremely successful—Tony Gates is the first high-ranking police officer investigated in the phenomenon that was Line of Duty. It’s all a façade, of course—Gates isn’t just bending the rules to further his own career, as AC-12 suspect, it goes a whole lot further than that. The scale of his eventual fall is almost Shakespearean in its magnitude as we gradually discover just how deep his misdemeanors go, and what he’s prepared to risk for the good of those he loves.

Number seven: Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley, played by Sarah Lancashire

One of the most successful recent British crime series, Happy Valley set a new standard for raw, authentic and unflinching police drama. Sarah Lancashire is the beating heart of the show, dealing with commotion on the streets and emotion at home, as she brings up her dead daughter’s son, and tries to protect him from his psychopathic rapist father (a terrifyingly convincing performance from James Norton). In All the Rage, I pay a small tribute to her when describing another ballsy Yorkshire sergeant: “They call her ‘Cawood’ at the nick, after the Sarah Lancashire character in Happy Valley. And there’s no question there’s a resemblance. It’s not just the blonde hair – though that definitely helps – it’s all of it; the resilience, the shrewdness, the stand-your-ground-and-speak-your-mind.”

Number eight: Harry Ambrose in The Sinner, played by Bill Pullman

Harry Ambrose is the poster boy for ‘maverick’—loner and lonely, haunted by the guilt of deeds both done and not done, yet despite all that, ever-ready with a dry quip and a wry smile. Maybe it’s the dark traumas of his past that draw him so irresistibly to the darkness in other people, but he never fails to find himself in way too deep with dangerous people and perilously close to becoming a sinner himself. Crumpled, sad-eyed, too easily manipulated, Harry always gets to the truth in the end, but the means take a terrible toll. 

Number nine: Holden Ford in Mindhunter, played by Jonathan Groff

Up there with True Detective I as one of my all-time favorite TV series, Mindhunter is a superb piece of drama based on the early years of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. Holden Ford is inspired by the real-life former FBI agent John E. Douglas, who—like Ford in the series—pioneered the idea of gaining greater insights into serial killers by the simple expedient of talking to them. Ferociously intelligent, driven, and coolly charismatic, you can’t help wondering whether Ford can spot the signs of psychopathy in others so easily because he has more than a trace of them himself (a tendency to grandiosity, detachment, superficial charm, to mention only a few), though he has his crippling anxieties too. It’s a crying shame that Mindhunter was cancelled after only two series, as an impressive story arc was only just getting going. If there’s a petition to bring it back, let me know where I sign.

Number ten: Elizabeth Danvers in True Detective: Night Country, played by Jodie Foster

Bringing this list right up to date with the new series of True Detective. As I write this, I’ve only seen half the episodes so I don’t know how it ends, but when it comes to Liz Danvers, what’s not to like? Short-tempered, selfish, opinionated and with a bit of an empathy by-pass, Danvers gets right up the noses of pretty much everyone around her, not least because she appears to have had sex with every adult male in the isolated Alaskan town, married or not. You could never accuse her of being a people person. Or a spirit person, for that matter, given her open disdain for the spookier side of local life. I love her don’t-give-a-damn doggedness and desperately-needing-a-good-cut hair. It’s hard to think of a sub-par Jodie Foster performance, but this has to be one of her best.

Get Cara’s latest book here!