Television series

Traces

Name: Traces
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2019
Cast: Laura Fraser, Jennifer Spence, Michael Nardone, Molly Windsor, Martin Compston

Traces is a Scottish forensic crime drama that treats detective work as serious intellectual labour. Three women—a professor, a technician, and a student—re-examine a cold case through meticulous scientific analysis. It's precise, atmospheric, and genuinely absorbing; made for people who want procedure and character in equal measure, not jump-scares or moral simplicity.

TVMaze rating

3.1

If you liked this

Line of Duty2012

A masterclass in procedural tension that shares Traces' obsession with evidence, protocol, and the incremental logic of investigation. Watching detectives actually think—really think—is exhilarating.

But Six seasons of increasingly baroque plot twists occasionally abandon plausibility for shock value. The final revelations divide viewers harshly.

MINDHUNTER2017

Two seasons of forensic profiling in the 1970s FBI. Methodical, intelligent, and suffused with period detail. It moves at Traces' pace and respects your intelligence as a viewer.

But It's deliberately slow and introspective—no action to speak of. Season two ends on an unresolved note that Netflix never resolved.

The Fall2013

A Belfast crime thriller with the forensic precision Traces values, built around a cat-and-mouse game between detective and killer. Stella Gibson is unforgettable, and the writing is tight.

But The central relationship can feel exploitative of its female detective. Some viewers find the pacing uneven across three seasons.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Traces

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Broadchurch2013

Both centre women in forensic work—not as sidekicks but as the actual architects of truth. Both understand that solving a case and healing a community are entirely different things.

A village murder investigation where nothing is coincidence and everyone is a suspect. It's procedurally brilliant and emotionally devastating—the science of detection wrapped in genuine human wreckage.

But The final explanation, while perfectly foreshadowed, feels almost secondary to the damage investigation itself causes. Some find that morally unsettling.

Shetland2013

Another Scottish crime series with atmospheric landscapes and genuine emotional weight. Character-driven, grounded in place, and never condescending to its audience.

But Five seasons in, the novelty of setting alone can't carry weaker plotlines. Occasional tonal lurches from procedural to soap.

Flesh and Blood2020

A three-part ITV thriller about family secrets and a decades-old mystery. Taut, perfectly cast, and it actually respects the intelligence of its premise throughout.

But Being only three episodes means it can feel slightly thin compared to longer investigations. The final resolution is neat in a way some find unsatisfying.

The Killing2011

A Danish series about two detectives investigating a teenage girl's murder. Obsessively methodical; watching them follow dead ends and false leads is genuinely gripping television.

But It's deliberately bleak and has a pace that requires patience. Dubbed subtitled versions can feel distancing, and the third season goes off the rails.

Conviction

Set in a UK innocence project, it examines cases where convictions may have been wrongful. Sharp, purposeful, with real stakes beyond the usual crime procedural.

But Only two seasons before cancellation—it ends abruptly. Some cases resolve more satisfyingly than others.

Unforgotten2015

Each season reopens a cold case. Nicola Walker is excellent, and the show understands that old crimes have echoes across decades in ways current cases don't.

But The show's quality varies noticeably between seasons. Later seasons sometimes sacrifice character depth for plot machinery.

River2015

A two-part BBC drama about a detective haunted by an unsolved case—literally haunted. Stylish, emotional, and utterly committed to its strange premise.

But Its supernatural elements may feel too fanciful if you're seeking grounded procedural realism. The length is mercifully brief, which some find frustratingly short.

Ghostland2018

Like Traces, it's obsessed with how we construct truth from fragmented, unreliable sources—but it's about memory and psychology rather than physical evidence. Same intellectual work, different crime scene.

A French-Canadian psychological horror about childhood trauma and false memory. It looks like genre trash but functions as a precise forensic examination of how trauma rewrites narrative and evidence in our minds.

But It's visually brutal and the ending is genuinely bleak. The horror elements will alienate anyone seeking conventional crime drama, and it's in French.