10 Smartest TV Detectives
4. Rust Cohle (True Detective)
A Texas-born detective of incredible skill, Rust Cohle might be the most damaged TV detective of all time. His backstory contains a litany of tragedy, from the breakdown of his marriage following the loss of his child to a crippling drug addiction caused by years of undercover work. But does he get results? Well, they don’t call the show True Detective for nothing.
In a staggering, haunted performance by Matthew McConaughey, Rust Cohle is brought to life over the excellent first season of the anthology show. Cohle is an obsessive investigator - his life is empty aside from his work, and indeed his work has taken much of his life away from him.
The mystery Cohle investigates, alongside partner Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson, also brilliant though less mercurial) is a sordid affair, one which eats up 17 years of his life and sends him spiralling into somehow even deeper despair.
Cohle is a broken man, but he can’t help himself - a sniff of a clue and he launches himself right back into the investigation, risking his freedom and even his life in order to tie off those loose ends.