Favorites for fans of Brit crime dramas

Agatha Christie's birthplace is killing it with stories that make sense of the senseless.

- MARY MCNAMARA CULTURE CRITIC

BritBox

BRENDA Blethyn is on the case in northeast England in "Vera."

I am addicted to British crime drama. When the world is too much with me, I lock into the genre I know will not disappoint. Whether with an old-fashioned one-case per episode or a more sprawling multistrand story, quaint or violent, historic or modern, the birthplace of Agatha Christie understands that we all need stories that make sense of seemingly senseless acts and (usually) insist that justice be done, from city streets to windswept cliffs.

There is no better time to do this than over the holidays, when everyone needs a break from being forced to feel festive. What follows is by no means a complete list (and I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you know about “Prime Suspect,” “Inspector Morse” and “Broadchurch”) but a random sample from my own personal most often rewatched collection.

'Blue Lights' (BritBox)

A group of rookie response officers in the Northern Ireland police service learn and grow as they face street crimes that, more often than not, have roots in the not-so-distant Troubles. It has been called Belfast's answer to "The Wire," but it reminds me more of "Hill Street Blues." And that's as big a compliment as I can pay to any cop show. Season 3 just dropped.

'Happy Valley' (BritBox)

The always-terrific Sarah Lancashire stars as Catherine Cawood, a witty, kindhearted but extremely nononsense Yorkshire police sergeant who attempts to keep order in an area overrun with drugs. Still mourning the devastating death of her daughter years earlier, she is also raising her young grandson while trying to keep him well away from his biological father, convicted criminal Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), whom Catherine blames for her daughter's death.