5 Must-See Crime Dramas
MobLand, plus four more edge-of-your-seat series …
Posted on Mar 30, 2025 | 12:00am
Love crime dramas? You know the ones we mean: shows where the characters don’t bother waiting around for a cop, sheriff, or judge to dispense justice because, well, why should they? These heroes and heroines have their own crews, their own disciplinary methods. And, to be honest, some of their enemies take a shank more seriously than a subpoena.
We've dug up five fantastic crime dramas – each one of them full of people you wouldn’t want to meet in a darkened alleyway, but will definitely want to watch in a darkened living room. Read on to get our full list. Plus, we promise you won’t have to do any shady dealings to get access to these shows: All our picks are streaming right now on Paramount+ (various plans).
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1. MobLand
The Skinny: From executive producer Guy Ritchie, MobLand is a new global organized crime show starring Academy Award® nominee Tom Hardy, Golden Globe® nominee Pierce Brosnan, and Academy Award® winner Helen Mirren. We could probably stop right there, so buzz-worthy are those four names – but keep reading. It gets even better.
The highly anticipated series centers on Conrad and Maeve Harrigan (Brosnan and Mirren, respectively) and the Stevensons, two power–hungry London crime families engaged in a kill-or-be-killed battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives. Caught in the crossfire is Harry Da Souza (Hardy), the street-smart ‘fixer’ as dangerous as he is handsome, and a fellow who knows all too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide. As kingdom fights against kingdom, lines will be crossed – and the only saving grace is a bet-your-life guarantee: family before everything else.
In addition to Hardy, Brosnan, and Mirren, the cast of MobLand includes Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillon, Jasmine Jobson, Geoff Bell, Daniel Betts, Lisa Dwan, and Emily Barber. Hardy also serves as an executive producer.
A Little Extra: Mirren is no stranger to the Paramount+ universe of must-watch shows. In addition to starring as Maeve Harrigan in MobLand, she plays Cara Dutton in the Yellowstone origin story 1923, from Academy Award® nominee Taylor Sheridan. For her steely performance in 1923, Mirren earned a 2024 Golden Globe® nomination.
How to Watch: New episodes of MobLand drop on Sundays, through the series finale, on Paramount+.
Watch MobLand
2. Ray Donovan
The Skinny: Ray Donovan is about the world of Los Angeles' rich and famous, and the man stuck cleaning up after its A-listers – one Ray Donovan, played by Liev Scheiber. At the beginning of the SHOWTIME® original series, Ray's father, Mickey (Academy Award® winner Jon Voight), is released from prison, setting off a chain of events that shakes the Donovan family to its core. As the series progresses, Ray strives to separate himself from his dad, as the FBI closes in on the still-degenerate Mickey and his cronies.
A Little Extra: Throughout its whopping seven-season run, from 2013-2020, Ray Donovan proved an awards favorite. Schreiber earned five straight Golden Globe® nominations, as well as three consecutive Emmy® nods.
If that weren’t impressive enough, Voight won the 2014 Golden Globe® for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for his work, and Hank Azaria claimed the 2016 Primetime Emmy® for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (and was nominated in the same category the following year) for his turn as FBI agent Ed Cochrane, Ray’s nemesis.
How to Watch: All episodes of Ray Donovan are streaming now on Paramount+.
Watch Ray Donovan
3. Tulsa King
The Skinny: Recently renewed for a third season, Tulsa King is a hit Paramount+ original from the prolific Taylor Sheridan, and starring Academy Award® nominee Sylvester Stallone. This fan-favorite drama series gives Stallone one more iconic role to add to his résumé: that of exiled New York mafia capo Dwight Manfredi, who’s forced to cobble together a crew, and recreate his criminal empire in his new environs. That place? Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A Little Extra: In an interview with Adriana Diaz of CBS Mornings, Stallone said that he “always wanted to play a gangster, but with a different spin on it,” and remarked that, while most gangsters are “very dour,” Dwight is “quirky and funny.” Don’t get the New York capo wrong, though. “When he’s up against a foe,” Stallone warned, “[he’ll] take ’em out with great flair.”
How to Watch: All episodes of Tulsa King are now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. Watch Tulsa King
4. Mayor of Kingstown
The Skinny: Mayor of Kingstown, renewed for a fourth season, is another Paramount+ original drama from Taylor Sheridan, and it stars, yup, another Academy Award® nominee: Jeremy Renner. Impressed yet? Wait till you hear the premise: Power broker Mike McLusky (Renner) spends his days struggling to bring order to Kingstown, a place where racism, corruption, and inequality run rampant. Can McLusky keep the peace in a town that’s only ever known disharmony?
A Little Extra: In his own interview on CBS Mornings, Renner said he saw McLusky as a unifying figure. “[H]e just has connections with any race, color, creed, doesn’t matter," the actor said. "He’s color-blind to that kind of stuff, and I think that’s a wonderful … perspective to have.”
How to Watch: All episodes of Mayor of Kingstown are now streaming on Paramount+.
Watch Mayor of Kingstown
5. Brotherhood
The Skinny: This three-season SHOWTIME® crime drama, which was produced from 2006-2008, centers on two Irish-American brothers living in Providence, Rhode Island: Tommy (Jason Clarke), a rising politician desperate for reelection, and Michael (Jason Isaacs), a hardened criminal ready to reclaim his turf after seven years on the run. Though they stand on opposite sides of the law, they share a thirst for power. The way they go about getting it – through lies, betrayal, and infidelity – threatens to tear them, their family, and their home city apart.
A Little Extra: Created and executive produced by Blake Masters, Brotherhood won a 2006 Peabody Award for “captur[ing] the weariness of old cities, and tell[ing] its stories within a remarkable sense of place.” Not-so incidentally, Brotherhood was shot entirely in Providence.
How to Watch: All episodes of Brotherhood are streaming now on Paramount+ with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME® plan
Watch Brotherhood
We've dug up five fantastic crime dramas – each one of them full of people you wouldn’t want to meet in a darkened alleyway, but will definitely want to watch in a darkened living room. Read on to get our full list. Plus, we promise you won’t have to do any shady dealings to get access to these shows: All our picks are streaming right now on Paramount+ (various plans).
1. MobLand
The Skinny: From executive producer Guy Ritchie, MobLand is a new global organized crime show starring Academy Award® nominee Tom Hardy, Golden Globe® nominee Pierce Brosnan, and Academy Award® winner Helen Mirren. We could probably stop right there, so buzz-worthy are those four names – but keep reading. It gets even better.
The highly anticipated series centers on Conrad and Maeve Harrigan (Brosnan and Mirren, respectively) and the Stevensons, two power–hungry London crime families engaged in a kill-or-be-killed battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives. Caught in the crossfire is Harry Da Souza (Hardy), the street-smart ‘fixer’ as dangerous as he is handsome, and a fellow who knows all too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide. As kingdom fights against kingdom, lines will be crossed – and the only saving grace is a bet-your-life guarantee: family before everything else.
In addition to Hardy, Brosnan, and Mirren, the cast of MobLand includes Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillon, Jasmine Jobson, Geoff Bell, Daniel Betts, Lisa Dwan, and Emily Barber. Hardy also serves as an executive producer.
A Little Extra: Mirren is no stranger to the Paramount+ universe of must-watch shows. In addition to starring as Maeve Harrigan in MobLand, she plays Cara Dutton in the Yellowstone origin story 1923, from Academy Award® nominee Taylor Sheridan. For her steely performance in 1923, Mirren earned a 2024 Golden Globe® nomination.
How to Watch: New episodes of MobLand drop on Sundays, through the series finale, on Paramount+.
2. Ray Donovan
The Skinny: Ray Donovan is about the world of Los Angeles' rich and famous, and the man stuck cleaning up after its A-listers – one Ray Donovan, played by Liev Scheiber. At the beginning of the SHOWTIME® original series, Ray's father, Mickey (Academy Award® winner Jon Voight), is released from prison, setting off a chain of events that shakes the Donovan family to its core. As the series progresses, Ray strives to separate himself from his dad, as the FBI closes in on the still-degenerate Mickey and his cronies.
A Little Extra: Throughout its whopping seven-season run, from 2013-2020, Ray Donovan proved an awards favorite. Schreiber earned five straight Golden Globe® nominations, as well as three consecutive Emmy® nods.
If that weren’t impressive enough, Voight won the 2014 Golden Globe® for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for his work, and Hank Azaria claimed the 2016 Primetime Emmy® for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (and was nominated in the same category the following year) for his turn as FBI agent Ed Cochrane, Ray’s nemesis.
How to Watch: All episodes of Ray Donovan are streaming now on Paramount+.
3. Tulsa King
The Skinny: Recently renewed for a third season, Tulsa King is a hit Paramount+ original from the prolific Taylor Sheridan, and starring Academy Award® nominee Sylvester Stallone. This fan-favorite drama series gives Stallone one more iconic role to add to his résumé: that of exiled New York mafia capo Dwight Manfredi, who’s forced to cobble together a crew, and recreate his criminal empire in his new environs. That place? Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A Little Extra: In an interview with Adriana Diaz of CBS Mornings, Stallone said that he “always wanted to play a gangster, but with a different spin on it,” and remarked that, while most gangsters are “very dour,” Dwight is “quirky and funny.” Don’t get the New York capo wrong, though. “When he’s up against a foe,” Stallone warned, “[he’ll] take ’em out with great flair.”
How to Watch: All episodes of Tulsa King are now streaming exclusively on Paramount+.
4. Mayor of Kingstown
The Skinny: Mayor of Kingstown, renewed for a fourth season, is another Paramount+ original drama from Taylor Sheridan, and it stars, yup, another Academy Award® nominee: Jeremy Renner. Impressed yet? Wait till you hear the premise: Power broker Mike McLusky (Renner) spends his days struggling to bring order to Kingstown, a place where racism, corruption, and inequality run rampant. Can McLusky keep the peace in a town that’s only ever known disharmony?
A Little Extra: In his own interview on CBS Mornings, Renner said he saw McLusky as a unifying figure. “[H]e just has connections with any race, color, creed, doesn’t matter," the actor said. "He’s color-blind to that kind of stuff, and I think that’s a wonderful … perspective to have.”
How to Watch: All episodes of Mayor of Kingstown are now streaming on Paramount+.
5. Brotherhood
The Skinny: This three-season SHOWTIME® crime drama, which was produced from 2006-2008, centers on two Irish-American brothers living in Providence, Rhode Island: Tommy (Jason Clarke), a rising politician desperate for reelection, and Michael (Jason Isaacs), a hardened criminal ready to reclaim his turf after seven years on the run. Though they stand on opposite sides of the law, they share a thirst for power. The way they go about getting it – through lies, betrayal, and infidelity – threatens to tear them, their family, and their home city apart.
A Little Extra: Created and executive produced by Blake Masters, Brotherhood won a 2006 Peabody Award for “captur[ing] the weariness of old cities, and tell[ing] its stories within a remarkable sense of place.” Not-so incidentally, Brotherhood was shot entirely in Providence.
How to Watch: All episodes of Brotherhood are streaming now on Paramount+ with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME® plan