A couple of my favourites...

[kiltie]

Did you watch "The Wire"?

Several decent British actors in that too...And a bloody great story....Kind of connects to detection...Kind of, but then spirals off into so many different threads I don't really know what you'd call it..Except "genius"...Well worth the time to watch..

I'll second this and highlight the detective angle.
I know you're more for the 'period' angle on detective stories. While I like my adventurers from the late 1800's up through the 1950's, I like a good police store from the seventies through the nineties. David Simon used to write for the Baltimore Sun. He spent a year riding out with Baltimore, MD homicide detectives and the book that came from that experience is called Homicide. It's my favorite true crime book and I HIGHLY recommend it. From that book, Simon went on to create and produce Homicide: Life on the Streets for network television. The first two seasons are excellent, then it spins out of control into an AWFUL soap. Many of the characters are virtual transcriptions of actual detectives from the book.
The Wire is sort of the R-rated version of that network series. Far and away the most realistic portrayals of police and villains in the modern era ever committed to television.
But definitely, if nothing else, give Simon's Homicide a read. It's weird, funny, tragic, exciting... Good stuff.

[Leamas]

BBC America is releasing it's first produced TV show called Copper this August. It's about an Irish immigrant cop in the Five Points section of NYC at the end of the Civil War. Sounds like an interesting take on a cop show.

http://www.bbcamerica.com/copper/

[djd]

I've never seen much of the Wire. I don't really watch any modern day law enforcement stuff. Maybe it's because that's been my job for 25 odd years? The closest I've come are shows like Castle and Life but they're more quirky fantasy than reality which maybe explains it. I do like escapism in my entertainment!

[kiltie]

I've never seen much of the Wire. I don't really watch any modern day law enforcement stuff. Maybe it's because that's been my job for 25 odd years? .... I do like escapism in my entertainment!

Ha! I love buffing my job. Unfortunately, there's not as much for mass consumption as there is police stuff.
But my job IS where I go to escape...