A gritty French cop show to put you in a spin

One of France’s most successful TV exports, this terrific long-running crime show is set in the country’s capital, but it’s not the glamorous, sophisticated city of light that we so often see on screen in the likes of, say, Emily In Paris – Spiral typically plays out in the seedy suburbs, the gritty working-class banlieues. Detective Laure Berthaud (Caroline Proust) lives for her job (while Emily can get through several outfits in a single day, Laure often wears the same clothes for days) and she and her team, with her redoubtable deputy Gilou, investigate murderers, drug dealers and terrorists. Their work is often hampered by bureaucrats and the legal process, and there are run-ins with internal affairs bods too. Also bending the rules is sultry but dodgy lawyer Joséphine Karlsson (Audrey Fleurot, far left).Do these French do things by the book? Je ne pense pas. BBC iPlayer, available now