Police procedural

The police procedural is a sub-genre of the mystery story which tries to demonstrate accurately the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes.

Radio and TV series

Dragnet was a pioneering police procedural. Beginning on radio in 1949 and on television in 1952, Dragnet established the tone of many police dramas in subsequent decades.

Related Topics:
Dragnet - Radio

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In the 1990s, the police procedural was revitalized as a form by American (and sometimes British) television producers. This trend was perhaps begun by the success of an excellent and high-quality British series featuring Helen Mirren, whose half-dozen episodes in very long format are collectively known as Prime Suspect.

Related Topics:
Helen Mirren - Prime Suspect

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However, the strong and lasting success of an American series called Law & Order contributed profoundly to the current (2004) spate of such programs. The trend has also cross-pollinated with another sub-genre of the mystery genre, the forensic pathology novel, producing large numbers of police procedurals in which forensic pathology plays a large part: principal among these is the ' franchise and its spin-offs.

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