Television series

Last Seen

Name: Last Seen
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery
Released: 2026
Cast: Patrick Brammall, Maxine Peake, Brendan Cowell, Daniel Henshall, Jessica Wren

Last Seen turns a missing-child case cold for over a decade, then cracks it open through a single desperate phone call. Ian Ridley, demoted to dispatcher, hears his daughter's voice in a stranger's emergency and refuses to let the moment pass. It's tense, slow-burn, more character study than procedural — for viewers who want grief and hope tangled together rather than tidy answers.

TVMaze rating

6.6

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The Missing2014

A father spends years chasing every false lead after his young son vanishes on holiday, and the show never lets you feel safe about where hope should end. Same devastating persistence as Ridley's.

But Two timelines, subtitled stretches, and an ending that refuses comfort — this asks patience most true-crime fans don't have.

Prisoners2013

Hugh Jackman plays a father who takes the search for his missing daughter into his own hands, and the film asks exactly how far love can curdle into something monstrous. Bleak, gripping, unforgettable.

But Grim and unrelenting, with a moral queasiness that lingers long after the credits — not a light watch.

Broadchurch2013

A small coastal town is torn apart when a boy is found dead, and the investigation exposes every secret the community was hiding. David Tennant and Olivia Colman anchor a masterclass in slow-burn grief.

But The later seasons dilute the magic of the first, so manage your expectations if you binge past season one.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Vanishing1988

Both hinge on a person who cannot stop searching for someone who vanished without explanation, and both ask what happens to a mind that refuses closure. This one got there almost forty years earlier, and its answer is far crueler.

A man spends years hunting for the truth about his girlfriend's disappearance at a rest stop, and the film builds toward one of the most quietly terrifying final scenes in cinema. Minimalist and merciless.

But Dutch and French dialogue, a slow build, and zero interest in giving you comfort at the end.

Mare of Easttown2021

Kate Winslet plays a detective solving a local murder while carrying her own unresolved family tragedy, and the show never separates the two. It's procedural with real weight behind every clue.

But The accents and small-town Pennsylvania rhythms take a minute to settle into, and the pace is deliberately unhurried.

Top of the Lake2013

Elisabeth Moss investigates the disappearance of a pregnant twelve-year-old in a remote New Zealand town, and the mystery becomes a reckoning with buried violence. Jane Campion directs with a strange, hypnotic dread.

But Its dreamlike pacing and unresolved menace can feel opaque if you want a straightforward whodunit.

Sharp Objects2018

Amy Adams returns to her hometown to cover the murder of two girls, unraveling her own fractured family history along the way. It's less about the case than the damage inherited long before it.

But Deliberately disorienting editing and a heavy dose of family cruelty make this a hard, not comforting, watch.

The Killing2011

The original Nordic noir follows a single murder investigation across an entire season, letting grief spread outward into politics, family, and the detective's own obsession. Patient, cold, quietly devastating.

But Subtitled, unhurried, and stretched across twenty episodes — a real commitment if you want quick answers.

Unforgotten2015

Every season cracks open a decades-old cold case and traces how it quietly ruined several ordinary lives in the meantime. Calm, humane, and devastating in a completely different register than most crime TV.

But It's gentler and more procedural than Last Seen's emotional intensity, so it might feel too composed by comparison.

Gone Baby Gone2007

A private investigator searches for a missing child in working-class Boston and discovers that the truth might be crueler than not knowing. Ben Affleck's directing debut is tough, morally messy, and quietly heartbreaking.

But The ending forces an ethical dilemma that some viewers find genuinely upsetting rather than satisfying.

Search Party2016

Same engine as Ridley's search — an ordinary person becomes consumed by the hunt for someone missing — but run through satire instead of grief. It shows how thin the line is between obsession and delusion, played for laughs instead of ache.

A group of aimless twentysomethings become obsessed with finding a barely-remembered acquaintance who's gone missing, and the show gets darker and stranger with every season. Sharp, weird, and surprisingly moving underneath the jokes.

But The tone shift from mumblecore comedy to genuine thriller across seasons might feel jarring if you came for straight drama.

The Keepers2017

This is the true version of Ridley's refusal to let go — real people who spent decades investigating an unsolved death and cover-up because the official channels failed them. It grounds the show's central ache in something that actually happened.

Former students turn amateur detectives to solve the decades-old murder of a beloved nun, uncovering an institutional cover-up along the way. Patient, rigorous, and driven by genuine grief rather than sensationalism.

But It's a true story involving real abuse allegations, which makes for heavier, more upsetting viewing than fiction.