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Shows Like Lovejoy

Fans of Lovejoy, should consider this hand-picked list which questions the purpose and weight of our choices all while offering targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a deeper look into what makes these stories stick.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

Wild Cards
7.1

Wild Cards

2024

A spirited con woman and a demoted by-the-book detective are given the chance to redeem themselves. The catch? They have to find a way to work together each using their unique skills to solve crimes.

Harry Wild
6.8

Harry Wild

2022

A recently retired English professor discovers a real knack for investigation and cannot help but interfere with the cases assigned to her police detective son.

Steal
7.4

Steal

2026

A typical day at Lochmill Capital is upended when armed thieves burst in and force Zara and her best friend Luke to execute their demands. In the aftermath, conflicted detective Rhys races against time to find out who stole £4 billion pounds of people's pensions and why.

Barnaby Jones
6.9

Barnaby Jones

1973

Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. The show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement. William Conrad guest starred as Frank Cannon of Cannon on the first episode of Barnaby Jones, "Requiem for a Son" and the two series had a two-part crossover episode in 1975, "The Deadly Conspiracy".

Agatha Raisin
6.1

Agatha Raisin

2016

Burnt out on office politics, Agatha Raisin retires early to a picturesque village in the Cotswolds and soon finds a second career as an amateur detective investigating mischief, mayhem, and murder in her deceptively quaint town.

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
8.0

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?

2019

The Mystery Inc. gang solve bigger mysteries while also encountering many memorable celebrities.

77 Sunset Strip
7.0

77 Sunset Strip

1958

Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer are the wisecracking, womanizing private-detective heroes of this Warner Brothers drama. They work out of an office located at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California, right next door to a snazzy restaurant where Kookie works as a valet. The finger-snapping, slang-talking Kookie occasionally helps Stu and Jeff with their cases, and eventually becomes a full-fledged member of the detective agency. Rex Randolph and J.R. Hale also join the firm, and Suzanne is their leggy secretary.

Annika
7.1

Annika

2021

The sharp, witty and enigmatic DI Annika Strandhed, as she heads up a new specialist Marine Homicide Unit (MHU) that is tasked with investigating the unexplained, brutal, and seemingly unfathomable murders.

More Shows Like Lovejoy

Baretta
6.4

Baretta

1975

Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. While popular, Toma received intense criticism at the time for its realistic and frequent depiction of police and criminal violence. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.

Jonathan Creek
7.5

Jonathan Creek

1997

Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek is a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles. He soon puts this ability to the use of solving impossible crimes and mysterious murders.

Bookish
6.8

Bookish

2025

Gabriel Book, proprietor of an antiquarian bookshop, relies on his vast collection to unravel baffling cases. He nurtures a group of lovable yet troubled individuals, providing informal protection and guidance.

Return to Paradise
6.9

Return to Paradise

2024

DI Mackenzie Clarke is forced to leave London under a cloud of suspicion and return to the last place she ever wanted to be, her hometown of Dolphin Cove, Australia where her tenacity and work ethic helps her solve murder mysteries.

Remington Steele
7.1

Remington Steele

1982

Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.

A Nero Wolfe Mystery
7.8

A Nero Wolfe Mystery

2001

Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.

The Saint
7.4

The Saint

1962

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.

Jack Irish
6.9

Jack Irish

2016

Jack Irish is a man getting his life back together again. A former criminal lawyer whose world imploded, he now spends his days as a part-time investigator, debt collector, apprentice cabinet maker, punter and sometime lover – the complete man really. An expert in finding those who don’t want to be found – dead or alive, Jack helps out his mates while avoiding the past. That is until the past finds him.

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
7.8

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

1962

A continuation of the anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, hosted by the master of suspense and featuring thrillers and mysteries.

McDonald & Dodds
7.6

McDonald & Dodds

2020

Two detectives, DCI McDonald and DS Dodds, who seemingly have nothing in common, are thrown together and forge a rumbustious friendship and entertaining partnership.

Veronica Mars
7.8

Veronica Mars

2004

In the fictional town of Neptune, California, student Veronica Mars progresses from high school to college while moonlighting as a private investigator under the tutelage of her detective father.

Father Brown
7.6

Father Brown

2013

Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.

Why These Shows Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Lovejoy (1986): Comedy and Drama themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Lovejoy.

See full details for Lovejoy (1986)

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