1. Edmund Reid - Ripper Street
Now last but not least we take a trip back in time to the late 19th century where we meet Inspector Edmund Reid, a man haunted by the death of his daughter in a steamer ship disaster whilst trying to maintain order on the streets of Whitechapel. Reid is also unique to this list in the fact that he was a real person in the real world. Spooky isn't it? However, some things have been changed to make good TV and that's the Reid we will focus on i.e. the character played by Matthew Macfadyen. Going back to the tragedy of his and his wife's only daughter, the damage it did him thankfully didn't affect his police work even when they separated thanks to a lead on the whereabouts their daughter wound up as a dead end. Indeed the desire to do right by those around him has lead to a warped moral compass, from hassling Joseph Merrick - the Elephant Man - to testing new Detective Constable Flight's competence. It does however, achieve results with or without Detective Sergeant Bennett Drake - a man who prefers violence as a form of diplomacy. That leads on to an interesting question: would any if these detectives be as successful if they didn't have the support they did? Sherlock has Dr Watson, Chief Wiggum has Eddie and Lou plus Elise Wassermann has become increasingly reliant on the support given by British counterpart Karl Roebuck. If you disagree with anything you've read please leave a comment and we'll debate for hours!