Television series
The Suspect
Other titles called The Suspect: the 1945 film, the 1957 film, the 2013 film.
A neuroscientist with Parkinson's disease becomes entangled in a murder investigation when he volunteers his expertise to police. ITV's taut psychological thriller toys with unreliable perception—is he helping solve a crime or inadvertently revealing something darker about himself? Gripping and twisty, designed for people who enjoy watching smart people unravel.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like a thriller that builds suspicion quietly, where the question is whether the man you're watching can be trusted, and you enjoy a lead who is charming on the surface and uneasy underneath.
Skip it if you want a fast, twisty procedural with a clear case-of-the-week rhythm, since this is more interested in a man's private unease than in crime-solving detail.
What it asks of you: Five episodes of about an hour each that let quiet, uncomfortable domestic detail build, so it rewards steady attention rather than a second screen.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Line of Duty2012
British procedural excellence with relentless tension. Each episode peels back layers of corruption and deception among detectives themselves. It has that same appetite for moral ambiguity and the addictive 'what's really happening here?' energy.
But Six seasons is a commitment. The final reveal disappointed vocal fans, though the journey there is what matters.
Broadchurch2013
A young woman's murder in a small town spirals into obsession and paranoia. David Tennant's performance is hypnotic, the mystery is genuinely unguessable, and it nails that suffocating small-community dread where no one can be trusted.
But Relentlessly bleak and occasionally exploitative of its victim. Not comfort viewing.
The Fall2013
Stella Gibson hunts a serial killer across Northern Ireland with surgical intelligence. Like The Suspect, it's preoccupied with the psychology of obsession—both hunter and hunted—and Gillian Anderson is mesmerising in every scene.
But Slower burn than its premise suggests. Some find it overwrought; others find that intentional.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Suspect
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Good Liar2019
Both are about brilliant people whose expertise and certainty become instruments of their own blindness. The investigator and the investigated are closer than either realises.
Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren play strangers whose relationship becomes a cat-and-mouse game of deception and revelation. Like The Suspect, it's obsessed with what we can actually know about another person, and whether perception is truth. Deliberately disorienting.
But Twist-dependent thriller where the pleasure is in the con; rewatching spoils it. Some find the morality of the ending unsettling.
More like this (8)
MINDHUNTER2017
FBI behavioural analysts interview serial killers to build the first criminal profiles. Methodical, unsettling, and genuinely clever about how profiling works—the intellectual puzzle is as gripping as the horror.
But Netflix cancelled it before proper closure. Heavy subject matter throughout.
Sherlock2010
Modern-day Holmes uses neuroscience-adjacent deduction to solve crime. Fast-paced, visually inventive, and Benedict Cumberbatch plays a protagonist whose brilliance isolates him in exactly the way that fascinates The Suspect.
But Quality drops significantly after season two. Later episodes feel more concerned with spectacle than mystery.
Bodyguard2018
One taut season about a soldier assigned to protect a controversial politician. The paranoia spirals outward with real momentum, and it understands how professional expertise can become a liability when personal stakes intrude.
But Only six episodes, so brevity means some threads feel undercooked. Ending is divisive.
The Rook2019
A woman wakes with amnesia to find she's a government agent for a secret organisation. High-concept thriller with style and wit, built around the same question: how well do we know the person we think we are?
But Cancelled after one season on Peacock. Some plotlines deliberately go unresolved.
Gomorra: La Serie2014
Italian crime series that treats criminal enterprise with the narrative weight usually reserved for prestige drama. Morally unflinching, stylish, and genuinely dangerous-feeling. The professionalism of lawlessness.
But Subtitled. Extremely violent. Heavy tone; no respite.
River2015
A detective haunted by unsolved cases investigates fresh murders while grief fractures his perception of reality. Surreal, sad, and architecturally ambitious. Abi Morgan writes something genuinely unique about loss and obsession.
But Only six episodes before cancellation. Emotionally exhausting; the strangeness will frustrate those wanting conventional procedural clarity.
Red Lights2012
An expert's knowledge becomes a liability when it blinds them to what's actually in front of them. The investigation consumes the investigator.
Two paranormal debunkers investigate a famous psychic, their conviction hardening into obsession. Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver anchor a thriller about the danger of being absolutely sure you're right. Genuinely unsettling final thirty minutes.
But Slow, methodical pacing. The twist is dependent on you accepting one enormous contrivance without question.
The Killing2011
A professional's conviction that they know what happened—and their refusal to accept they might be wrong—becomes their actual tragedy. The case destroys not the guilty, but the seeker.
Danish noir. A detective obsesses over a seemingly solved murder, unravelling both the case and herself. Methodical, atmospheric, and genuinely devastating. Twenty episodes of mounting dread and the slow recognition that some truths corrode whoever pursues them.
But Deliberately bleak and glacially paced. The landscape is relentlessly grey; the mood never lifts. Requires serious patience.
People
Cast
Production
- Jake LushingtonExecutive Producer
- James StrongExecutive Producer
- Peter BerryExecutive Producer
- Roderick SeligmanExecutive Producer
- Emily ShaplandLine Producer
- Natasha RomaniukProducer