List of fictional police detectives

A

Detective Butch Ada — Saving Grace (played by Bailey Chase)

Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg — Fred Vargas

DCI Roderick Alleyn (later DCS) — Ngaio Marsh (played by Simon Williams and Patrick Malahide in The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries)

B

DS John Bacchus — Inspector George Gently

Kriminalhauptkommissar Balko — Balko (German, played by Jochen Horst and Bruno Eyron)

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks — Peter Robinson (played by Stephen Tompkinson in DCI Banks)

Detective Carolyn Barek — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Annabella Sciorra)

Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow — Troy Kennedy Martin and Allan Prior (played by Stratford Johns in Z-Cars and Softly, Softly)

DCI John Barnaby — Midsomer Murders

DCI Thomas "Tom" Barnaby — Caroline Graham (played by John Nettles in Midsomer Murders)

Detective Martin Beck — Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

Detective Kate Beckett — Castle, Andrew W. Marlowe (played by Stana Katic)

Detective Cal Beecher — Person of Interest (played by Sterling K. Brown)

Detective Mick Belker — Hill Street Blues (played by Bruce Weitz)

Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac — Robert Banks Stewart (played by John Nettles in Bergerac)

Detective G. Lynn Bishop — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Samantha Buck)

Blacksad from the comics series Blacksad.

Detective Sexton Blake

Detective Inspector Mike Bolt — Simon Kernick

Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte — Arthur Upfield (played by James Laurenson in Boney)

Detective Stella Bonasera — CSI: NY (played by Melina Kanakaredes)

DS Camille Bordey — Death in Paradise

Detective Harry Bosch — Michael Connelly(played by Titus Welliver

Detective Lennie Briscoe— Law & Order (played by Jerry Orbach)

Detective Commissario Guido Brunetti — Donna Leon

Inspector Bucket — Charles Dickens (played by Stephen Rea in Dickensian) (played by Alun Armstrong in Bleak House)

Detective Aiden Burn — CSI: NY (played by Vanessa Ferlito)

Detective Lieutenant Peter Byrnes — Ed McBain

C

Detective Jackie Curatola — Blue Bloods played by Jennifer Esposito

Detective Inspector Jack Caffery — Mo Hayder

Detective Christine Cagney — Cagney and Lacey (played by Sharon Gless)

Inspector Harry Callahan — Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink (played by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry film series)

Chen Cao — Qiu Xiaolong

Detective 2nd Grade Stephen Louis ("Steve") Carella — Ed McBain

Detective Sergeant Ray Carling — Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes (played by Dean Andrews)

Detective Sergeant George Carter — Ian Kennedy Martin (played by Dennis Waterman in The Sweeney)

Detective Jocelyn "Joss" Carter — Person of Interest (played by Taraji P. Henson)

Agent Margaret "Peggy" Carter — Agent Carter (played by Hayley Atwell)

Commissaire Henri Castang — Nicholas Freeling

Detective Phil Cerreta — Law & Order (played by Paul Sorvino)

Detective Inspector Hal Challis — Garry Disher

Detective Elizabeth Childs — Orphan Black (played by Tatiana Maslany)

Detective John Clark, Jr. — NYPD Blue (played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar)

Inspector Clouseau — Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther (played by Peter Sellers)

Detective Rustin Cohle — True Detective (played by Matthew McConaughey)

Lieutenant Columbo — William Link (played by Peter Falk in Columbo)

Sergeant Cork (played by John Barrie)

Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe — Pie in the Sky (played by Richard Griffiths)

DI Vincent Crane — Shaun Hutson

DI Crawford in Dixon — Dock Green

Sergeant Cribb — Peter Lovesey

Detective James "Sonny" Crockett — Anthony Yerkovich (played by Don Johnson and Colin Farrell in Miami Vice)

Sergeant Cuff — Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone

Detective Rey Curtis — Law & Order (played by Benjamin Bratt)

D

Commander Adam Dalgliesh — P. D. James (played by Roy Marsden)

Lieutenant Eve Dallas — J. D. Robb

Detective Chief Superintendent Andrew Dalziel — Reginald Hill (played by Warren Clarke in Dalziel and Pascoe)

Detective Jo Danville — CSI: NY (played by Sela Ward)

DI De Cock — A. C. Baantjer

Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond — Peter Lovesey

Detective Inspector Alex Drake — Ashes to Ashes (played by Keeley Hawes)

Lt. Frank Drebin — Police Squad! (played by Leslie Nielsen)

DCP Durai Singam — Singam (played by Suriya)

E

Detective Alexandra Eames (later Lieutenant) — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Kathryn Erbe)

Detective Javier Esposito — Andrew W. Marlowe (played by Jon Huertas in Castle)

F

Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón — Robert Wilson

Detective Nola Falacci — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Alicia Witt)

Detective Don Flack — CSI: NY (played by Eddie Cahill)

Detective Inspector Maggie Forbes — Terence Feely (played by Jill Gascoine in The Gentle Touch)

DCS Christopher Foyle — Anthony Horowitz (played by Michael Kitchen in Foyle's War)

DI Stuart Fraser — Taggart

Inspector Joseph French — Freeman Wills Crofts

Detective Sergeant Joe Friday — Jack Webb (played by Jack Webb in Dragnet)

Detective Inspector Jack Frost — R. D. Wingfield (played by David Jason in A Touch of Frost)

Detective Bobby Fulbright — Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

Detective Lionel Fusco — Person of Interest (played by Kevin Chapman)

G

Detective Harry Garibaldi — Hill Street Blues (played by Ken Olin)

Dirk Gently — Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Inspector George Gently — Inspector George Gently

Inspector Ganesh V. Ghote — H. R. F. Keating (played by Naseeruddin Shah in The Perfect Murder)

DSI Stella Gibson — The Fall (played by Gillian Anderson)

Commander George Gideon — John Creasey (played by John Gregson in Gideon's Way)

Detective James Gordon — Gotham (played by Benjamin McKenzie)

Detective Sergeant Rinus de Gier — Janwillem van de Wetering

DI Humphrey Goodman — Death in Paradise

Inspector Goole — J. B. Priestley (An Inspector Calls; first played onstage by Ralph Richardson)

Detective Robert Goren — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Vincent D'Onofrio)

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace — Peter James

Inspector Alan Grant — Josephine Tey

Detective Kima Greggs — The Wire (played by Sonja Sohn)

Detective Ed Green — Law & Order (played by Jesse L. Martin)

Adjutant Henk Grijpstra — Janwillem van de Wetering

Inspector Grim — The Thin Blue Line

Marshal Guarnaccia — Magdalen Nabb

Detective Dick Gumshoe — Ace Attorney

DI Gunnarstranda — Kjell Ola Dahl

H

Detective Grace Hanadarko — Saving Grace (played by Holly Hunter)

Inspector Hanaud — A. E. W. Mason

DI John Handford — Lesley Horton

DI Alec Hardy - Broadchurch (played by David Tennant)

Detective Martin Hart — True Detective (played by Woody Harrelson)

Detective Sergeant James Hathaway — (played by Laurence Fox in Lewis)

DS Barbara Havers — Elizabeth George (played by Sharon Small in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries)

Detective Cotton Hawes — Ed McBain

Harry Hole – Jo Nesbø

Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt — Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes (played by Philip Glenister)

Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson — William Blinn and Ryan Blinn (played by David Soul in Starsky and Hutch)

I

CBI Officer Sethurama Iyer — (played by Mammooty in the Indian CBI film series)

J

Inspector Jacobson — Iain McDowall

DCI James Japp (later Assistant Commissioner) — Agatha Christie (played by Philip Jackson in the British TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot)

Inspector Javert — Les Miserables

Detective Baldwin Jones — NYPD Blue (played by Henry Simmons)

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury (later Superintendent) — Martha Grimes

K

Detective Kane — Person of Interest (played by Anthony Mangano)

Detective John Kelly — NYPD Blue (played by David Caruso)

Detective Jill Kirkendall — NYPD Blue (played by Andrea Thompson)

Detective Bert Kling — Ed McBain

Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak — Abby Mann (played by Telly Savalas in Kojak)

L

Detective Mary Beth Lacey — Cagney and Lacey (played by Tyne Daly)

Detective Meyer Landsman — Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union

Detective Chief Inspector James Langton — Lynda La Plante (played by Ciarán Hinds in Above Suspicion)

Detective J.D. LaRue — Hill Street Blues (played by Kiel Martin)

Detective Carlton Lassiter — Psych (played by Timothy Omundson)

Commissaire Claude Lebel — Frederick Forsyth (played by Michael Lonsdale in The Day of the Jackal)

Inspector Lestrade — Arthur Conan Doyle (played by Dennis Hoey and Colin Jeavons in adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories)

Detective Inspector Mike Lewis — Lynda La Plante (played by Shaun Dingwall in Above Suspicion)

Detective Sergeant Lewis (later Inspector) — Colin Dexter (played by Kevin Whately in Inspector Morse and Lewis)

Detective Superintendent Tom Lockhart (later Detective Chief Superintendent) — (played by Raymond Francis in No Hiding Place)

Detective Mike Logan — Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Chris Noth)

Detective Inspector Sarah Lund — Søren Sveistrup (played by Sofie Gråbøl in The Killing)

DI Thomas Lynley — Elizabeth George (played by Nathaniel Parker in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries)

M

Detective Vic Mackey — Shawn Ryan (played by Michael Chiklis in The Shield)

Sergeant Ivor Maddox — Elizabeth Linington

Commissaire Jules Maigret — Georges Simenon (played by Jean Gabin, Gino Cervi and Rupert Davies)

Detective Patsy Mayo — Hill Street Blues (played by Mimi Kuzyk)

Detective Lieutenant John McClane — (played by Bruce Willis in the Die Hard film series)

Detective Connie McDowell — NYPD Blue (played by Charlotte Ross)

Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett — Leonard Freeman (played by Jack Lord in Hawaii Five-O)

Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty — The Wire (played by Dominic West)

Lieutenant Luis Mendoza — Elizabeth Linington writing as Dell Shannon

Detective Danny Messer — CSI: NY (played by Carmine Giovinazzo)

Detective Meyer Meyer — Ed McBain

Ellie Miller — Broadchurch

Detective Robert Monday — Premium Rush

Detective Lindsay Monroe — CSI: NY (played by Anna Belknap)

Comisario Salvo Montalbano — Andrea Camilleri (played by Luca Zingaretti in Inspector Montalbano)

Detective William "Bunk" Moreland — The Wire (played by Wendell Pierce)

Detective Inspector Morse — Colin Dexter (played by John Thaw in Inspector Morse)

Detective William Murdoch — Murdoch Mysteries (played by Yannick Bisson)

N

Detective Zack Nichols — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Jeff Goldblum)

Detective Inspector Saga Norén — Hans Rosenfeldt (played by Sofia Helin in The Bridge)

O

Detective Juliet O'Hara — Psych (played by Maggie Lawson)

Inspector Michael Ohayon — Batya Gur

Detective Rita Ortiz — NYPD Blue (played by Jacqueline Obradors)

Superintendent Otani — James Melville (pseudonym of Roy Peter Martin)

P

Detective Inspector Charles Parker — Dorothy L. Sayers

Detective Inspector Peter Pascoe — Reginald Hill (played by Colin Buchanan in Dalziel and Pascoe)

Detective Inspector Charlie Peace — Robert Barnard

Comisario Achille Peroni — Timothy Holme

Detective Lucky Piquel — Disney Television Animation production Bonkers

DI Richard Poole — Death in Paradise

Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman — Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell (played by Amanda Redman in New Tricks)

Detective Inspector Walter Purbright — Colin Watson

Assistant Commissioner of Police Pradyuman; Shivaji Satam

R

Detective Inspector John Rebus — Ian Rankin (played by John Hannah and Ken Stott in Rebus)

Detective Danny Reagan — Mitchell Burgess & Robin Green (played by Donnie Wahlberg in Blue Bloods)

Detective Inspector Jack Regan — Ian Kennedy Martin (played by John Thaw in The Sweeney)

Detective Jane Rizzoli — Tess Gerritsen (played by Angie Harmon in Rizzoli & Isles)

Commissioner Mihai Roman (played by Ilarion Ciobanu in five Romanian films)

Sub-inspector Max Romero — P.J. Brooke

Detective Lilly Rush — Meredith Stiehm (played by Kathryn Morris in Cold Case)

Detective Diane Russell – NYPD Blue (played by Kim Delaney)

Detective Kevin Ryan — Andrew W. Marlowe (played by Seamus Dever in Castle)

S

Detective Gloria Shepherd — The Protector (played by Ally Walker)

Private Detective Eddie Shoestring in Shoestring ; BBC One TV series; played by Trevor Eve

Detective Bobby Simone — NYPD Blue (played by Jimmy Smits)

Detective Andy Sipowicz (later Detective Sergeant) — NYPD Blue (played by Dennis Franz)

Detective Constable Chris Skelton — Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes (played by Marshall Lancaster)

Inspector Slack — Agatha Christie

Detective Danny Sorenson — NYPD Blue (played by Rick Schroder)

Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope — Ann Cleeves (played by Brenda Blethyn in Vera)

Detective David Starsky — William Blinn and Ryan Blinn (played by Paul Michael Glaser in Starsky and Hutch)

Detective Serena Stevens — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Saffron Burrows)

Police Chief Jesse Stone — Robert B. Parker (played by Tom Selleck)

Detective Milo Sturgis (later Lieutenant) — Jonathan Kellerman

Chief Inspector Ukyō Sugishita — Aibō (played by Yutaka Mizutani)

Detective Sunday — American Gigolo

Detective Bill Szymanski — Person of Interest (played by Mike McGlone)

T

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart - Taggart

Detective Mac Taylor — CSI: NY (played by Gary Sinise)

DCI Jane Tennison — Lynda La Plante (played by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect)

Detective Raymond Terney — Person of Interest (played by Al Sapienza)

Detective Inspectors Thomson and Thompson (original French: Dupont et Dupond) — Hergé (played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn)

Detective Inspector Tom Thorne — Mark Billingham (played by David Morrissey in the Sky One series Thorne)

DI Fred Thursday — Endeavour

Detective Inspector Anna Travis — Lynda La Plante (played by Kelly Reilly in Above Suspicion)

Inspector Frederick Troy — John Lawton

Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs — Anthony Yerkovich (played by Philip Michael Thomas and Jamie Foxx in Miami Vice)

Detective Inspector Sam Tyler — Life on Mars (played by John Simm)

V

Commissaris Piet van der Valk — Nicolas Freeling (played by Barry Foster in Van der Valk)

DCI Van Veeteren — Håkan Nesser

Detective Van Zwam from the comics series The Adventures of Nero.

Detective Vic Varallo — Elizabeth Linington writing as Leslie Egan

W

Kriminalkommissarie Kurt Wallander — Henning Mankell (played by Krister Henriksson and Kenneth Branagh)

Detective Neal Washington — Hill Street Blues (played by Taurean Blacque)

Detective Sergeant John Watt — Troy Kennedy Martin and Allan Prior (played by Frank Windsor in Z-Cars and Softly, Softly )

Detective Joe West — Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns (played by Jesse L. Martin in The Flash)

Inspector Roger West - John Creasey

Detective Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford — Ruth Rendell (played by George Baker in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries)

Detective Megan Wheeler — Law & Order: Criminal Intent (played by Julianne Nicholson)

Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe — W. J. Burley (played by Jack Shepherd in Wycliffe)

Z

Comisario Aurelio Zen — Michael Dibdin (played by Rufus Sewell in Zen)