Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British-themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, Heather shared photos of Bath (making me want to go back there — right away!) and read The English Spy, Sim shared photos and stories of her parents’ lives in England and many other places in the world, and Becky reviewed The Armstrong Girl and An Impartial Witness.

British detective show

Thanks to Sim’s recommendation, I spent many hours of the summer watching Scott & Bailey. What a terrific show about two female detectives in Manchester. The first three seasons are available on Hulu Plus and other outlets. Season 4 was shown on the BBC last fall, so I’m looking forward to more shows in the future.

Of course, Scott & Bailey reminded me of a favorite show from the 1980s, Cagney & Lacey, but updated and set in a place that indulges my Anglophile side. I watched an episode or two of Cagney & Lacey in the last year and I’m pleased to say that it seems dated — expectations and experience of women at work have improved.

After Scott & Bailey, Hulu thought I would enjoy Vera and it was right! Vera Stanhope is another fictional British detective, a frumpy, middle-aged woman working in Northumberland. It’s more rural than Scott & Bailey but shares the trait that Sim liked — portraying authentic characters in all their amazing uniqueness, rather than glitzy Hollywood types, all carefully made-up and manicured.

What are your favorite British detective shows?