Southland: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
Gritty LA police drama that should appeal to fans of NYPD Blue and The Shield
Year: 2009-2013
Certificate: 15
This impressively raw and understated US police drama ran for five series from 2009, and followed LA street cops at work on the fringes of the city.
The show is less concerned with the crimes and more interested in the personalities and home lives of the officers trying to solve them, but never to the extent that it turns into a soap - it's simply a strong, character-based drama with a big cast.
Southland has dated really well and boasts some fine performances, not least from Ben McKenzie (who found fame on The OC, then later played Jim Gordon in the Batman prequel Gotham) as rookie officer Ben Sherman. Sherman is one half of a partnership that looks like a cliche on the surface - he's a rich boy and his partner John Cooper looks like a rough cynic, but the former isn't the tourist he seems and the cynic turns out to have his own problems, as you'll learn later on.
In short if you're a fan of NYPD Blue and The Shield and other such similarly gritty US police shows, Southland should be worth your time. (Five series)
