Television series

Dexter

Name: Dexter
Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery
Released: 2006
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, Lauren Vélez, James Remar

A blood-spatter analyst for Miami PD by day, a meticulous vigilante killer by night — Dexter runs on cognitive dissonance and warm, chatty voiceover. It's a slick procedural wearing a psychological thriller's skin, funny and grim in the same breath, anchored by Michael C. Hall's unnervingly likeable monster. Best for anyone who wants their crime drama with a genuine moral knot at its centre, not just a mystery to solve.

TVMaze rating

8.4

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Hannibal2013

Bryan Fuller reimagines the serial-killer procedural as gothic opera — Mads Mikkelsen's Lecter is even more seductive than Dexter, and the show trusts you to sit with genuine dread instead of dark comedy.

But It's slower, stranger and far more painterly than Dexter's breezy Miami sunshine; patience for mood over plot is required.

MINDHUNTER2017

The FBI profilers who invented the language Dexter's writers borrowed from — based on real interviews with real killers, cold, procedural, and quietly terrifying in a way no fictional killer can match.

But No serial-killer protagonist to root for here, and it moves at a patient, talky pace rather than Dexter's kill-of-the-week momentum.

You2018

Another charming narrator who murders anyone standing between him and what he wants, with the same trick of making you complicit through his voiceover before you can stop yourself.

But Trashier and more romance-plot driven than Dexter, with less interest in code or conscience — pure guilty pleasure.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Death Note2006

Both are about a brilliant, meticulous killer who invents a private code of justice and believes himself righteous for it — Light Yagami's notebook is just Dexter's kill room with better production values and a genius detective on his tail.

A teenager acquires a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it, and decides he's owed the job of purging the world's criminals — the same seductive self-justification as Dexter, played out as anime cat-and-mouse.

But It's animated and subtitled, and leans harder into philosophical debate and detective-genius theatrics than Dexter's grounded procedural realism.

Breaking Bad2008

The other great American show about a code slowly eroding under the weight of habit and rationalisation — watch a decent man's justifications curdle in real time.

But No serial-killer hook, and it's a slower burn; the pleasure is in accumulation, not immediate transgression.

Barry2018

A hitman trying to build an ordinary life around his murders, played for pitch-black comedy — same double-life tightrope as Dexter, but funnier and sadder in equal measure.

But Broader and weirder tonally, swinging into acting-class farce; if you wanted Dexter's straight-faced menace, this can feel too silly.

American Psycho2000

Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman is Dexter's uglier, funnier ancestor — a killer narrating his own perfection with a straight face while satirising the culture that produced him.

But No code, no restraint, and much less sympathy for its monster; the humour is savage rather than warm.

Nightcrawler2014

Jake Gyllenhaal's stringer photographer isn't a killer, but he has Dexter's hollow calm and total moral vacancy — a character study of someone perfectly adapted to a rotten system.

But No serial-killer plot or code of ethics, just one man's cold ascent; different genre entirely, closer to thriller than crime drama.

The Fall2013

Flips Dexter's perspective — you know exactly who the killer is from the start, and watch the detective hunting him instead, with the same uneasy intimacy with a murderer's routine.

But Slower and colder, with a controversial fascination with its killer's point of view that some viewers find indulgent.

True Detective2014

Swap the vigilante code for two burnt-out detectives chasing something genuinely evil through Louisiana swampland — same atmosphere of moral rot under a hot, indifferent sun.

But No killer protagonist to root for, and its mythic dread is a different pleasure than Dexter's darkly comic ride-along.

Shadow of a Doubt1943

Hitchcock got here first — a beloved, charming uncle hiding a murderous secret from the family who adore him, and the slow horror of someone realising the person closest to them is a killer, decades before Dexter's sister ever suspected a thing.

Hitchcock's own favourite of his films, and the blueprint for the charming-killer-hiding-in-plain-sight story — tense, elegant, and unnervingly modern for something made in 1943.

But Black and white, quiet by contemporary standards, and entirely without Dexter's gore or dark humour — it earns its dread through suggestion, not spectacle.

Santa Clarita Diet2017

Same engine, wildly different costume — an ordinary suburban household reorganising itself around one member's compulsion to kill and hiding the mess from neighbours, except here it's played as gleeful splatstick instead of brooding drama.

A realtor turns into a flesh-eating undead something and her family has to help her kill and dispose of victims to survive — Dexter's code-and-cover-up structure turned into a raunchy horror-comedy about marriage and reinvention.

But It's broad, silly, and gross in a way that trades Dexter's introspection for slapstick gore — no interest in moral weight at all.