O Novato

This is a wonderfully warm hearted cop show from Japan. It concerns an ongoing murder inquiry by the excellent Hiroshima Abe playing the Shinzanmono(stranger)

What makes this different from every other cop show is that each week he centers on a suspect who is lying about their involvement in the murder. He pursues this ruthlessly but when he finds out they are lying because they are covering up a crisis in their lives he tries to help them and each episode ends positively. Eventually the murderer is caught at the end of the series but it's more the journey, the cat and mouse Abe plays with the suspects and the conclusion that satisfies. This all done with the typical Japanese politeness.

Playing both the hard edged cop who is also a warm hearted caring human being would be a it stretch for any actor but Hiroshi Abe does a wonderful job