Vik Mackey (The Shield, Michael Chiklis)

If it's dark you're after, they get no darker than pit-bull Mackey. Leader of LA anti-gang unit The Strike Team, Mackey doesn't bend the law in control of his district, he snaps it in two, sets fire to it and ties around a drug dealer's neck like a Colombian necktie. But Mackey, even while stealing from drug dealers, beating and torturing suspects and even killing his colleagues, is hard not to love. He sees his tactics as absolutely necessary to controlling his 'empire.' We'd want him on our side, any day.

Vic Mackey Rap Sheet

* Mackey's unit is based on the real-life exploits of LA's notorious CRASH anti-gang unit, which worked out of the Ramparts division in the 80s and 90s.

* Mackey carries a Smith and Wesson Model 4506-1 .45 ACP calibre semi-automatic pistol with adjustable 3-dot sights. The firearm can carry eight rounds in a magazine.

* Cathy Cahlin Ryan who plays Vic Mackie's wife is show's creator Shawn Ryan's real-life wife. She was pregnant throughout the filming of the first season.

Chief Wiggum (The Simpsons, voice of Hank Azaria)

In terms of longevity, Wiggum is the all-time TV Champion cop. For over twenty years he has kept the streets of Springfield if not crime-free, then certainly happy. Morbidly obese, addicted to donuts and 'Chintzy Pop' and with no concern at all for individual rights or public safety, Wiggum is Every Cop. Perhaps his most endearing personality trait is his total lack of information, on anything. Uselessly assisted by his two 'top cops' Eddie and Lou.

Chief Wiggum Rap Sheet

* Age is unclear, but put at somewhere between thirty and forty. His first name is Clancy.

* His father was Iggy Wiggum, a World War 2 veteran who died in a Parade float accident.

* Wiggum grew up in Springfield and was among the same class and age group as Homer Simpson, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson, Barney Gumble, and Marge Simpson.

Tosh Lines (The Bill, Kevin Lloyd)

For over ten years (1988-1998) Kevin Lloyd appeared in The Bill as amiable DC Alfred 'Tosh' Lines. And old school copper, instinctive and straight-up, he had the best clear-up rate in Sun Hill. Scruffy, fallible, prone to snacking and drinking on the job, Lines was the British equivalent of Sipowicz in NYPD Blue (see elsewhere). Accused of lacking ambition, Lines was deeper than that: he cared about his work, but he also cared about his family. Kevin Lloyd struggled with alcoholism, but left a great legacy. Tosh Lines. Kevin Lloyd struggled with alcoholism Legend. RIP.

Tosh Lines Rap Sheet

* Actor Kevin Lloyd previously played nightclub owner Don Watkins in Coronation Street.

* Lloyd's Welsh-born father, Ellis Aled Lloyd, was himself a police officer who was killed in an accident while answering an emergency call, aged 46, in 1970

* Lloyd was sacked from The Bill in 1998 for his lack of punctuality. Within days, he was admitted to a clinic in Burton upon Trent for detoxification. He retired to bed, fell asleep, then choked to death on his vomit. He died just one week after his dismissal from The Bill.

Detective Sipowicz (NYPD Blue, Dennis Franz)

Played with genius by Denis Franz over 12 seasons. We see Andy Sipowicz evolve from a drunken, racist thug into an outstanding cop and a decent human being. We are always aware that he has a heart of gold. The journey is painful: there is personal tragedy and professional disappointment; there are wagons to fall off and bullets to be taken. But, like any epic journey, the trip is well worthwhile and sticks in the mind long after the final mile. Along with The Wire and The Shield, we'd highly recommend all the NYPD Blue you can get on DVD, and that's mainly because of Sipowicz.

Sipowicz Rap Sheet

* Before becoming a policeman, Sipowicz served in the United States Army, serving an 18-month tour in Vietnam that he did not talk much about.

* In real life actor Dennis Franz served eleven months with the 82nd Airborne Division in Vietnam

* Sipowicz is a blue-collar conservative, saying of President Clinton, "A guy gets over like that on your daughter, you'd give him the beating of his life. Here we got him running the country!"

Detective Inspector Jack Regan (The Sweeney, John Thaw)

Regan is top boy with The Flying Squad. Tough, no-nonsense and blind to red tape, Regan like a whisky, is handy with his fists and smokes all the time. Like all good hard men, Regan is human: nothing is done for personal gain, everything is done according to Jack's sense of right and wrong. With cops like Regan and his partner George Carter around the streets of London were much safer, even if they were fictional. And the pair were named after two Presidents before they became Presidents!! You're nicked son!

Regan Rap Sheet

* Regan was driven around in a Ford Consul GT, which was one of the most recognisable sights on television during the 1970s.

* A pilot episode, Regan, was made as part of the Armchair Cinema series and shown in 1974.

* In the kaleidoscope opening titles of Series 4, Regan and Carter are each seen getting out of the car, with a still image of the character while his name is displayed as a caption. However, instead of using a true freeze-frame, the actors simply stopped in the middle of the action - they can be seen wobbling slightly.

Inspector Morse (Inspector Morse, John Thaw)

From the pages of Colin Dexter's detective novels sprang forth Oxford's melancholy DCI Morse, played to perfection by John Thaw, the only actor with two appearances in our Top Ten. With his thirst for good beer and his ear for Wagner, his often-wrong early prognosis and his intellectual snobbery, Morse is the anti-cop of the list.  A gentleman detective in a gallery of rogues.

Inspector Morse Rap Sheet

* As revealed in the final episode, Morse's first name is the odd Endeavour: his father was a fan of Captain Cook.

* In November 2005, the Jaguar Mark 2 car (with number plate 248 RPA) used in the television series sold for more than £100,000.

* Thaw's grandfather had a withered leg and walked with a limp; Thaw copied him and also walked with a limp all his life. A car accident in his early twenties exacerbated the problem, hence Thaw's odd walking style.

Jimmy McNulty (The Wire, Dominic West)

Irish-American McNulty: canny, tenacious, as smart as they come. But flawed as we like them: hates authority, likes to do things his own way (which can lead to over-stepping, well, human decency at times). Off the job he is a fuck up: often drunk, frequently found shagging drunks women he meets in bars, always missing alimony payments, Jimmy is a caution. He might also be the greatest TV cop ever. When he and partner Bunk are on the case TV crime clean-up simply gets no finer.

Jimmy McNulty Rap Sheet

* McNulty's favourite tipple is Jameson's Irish whiskey, and he is also partial to a beer. Any beer.

* Dominic West is English, born into an Irish Catholic family is Yorkshire. West went to Eton and Trinity College, Dublin.

* West had a bit part in 1999's Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace. No, we don't remember it either.

Theo Kojak (Kojak, Telly Savalas)

Lieutenant Kojak retired in 1978, but the bald, lollipop sucking tough guy from New York lives on in our hearts. Working out of New York's 13th Precinct, Kojak worked the Big Apple when it was rotten to the core. With his numerous trademarks quips - "Who Loves you baby?" "Crocker!" - and sardonic wit, Kojak is unforgettable. That's why even now bald people are called Kojak. Not Yul Brynner. Not Duncan Goodhew. Kojak. And what was even better was his real-life brother George got a part in the series as Stavros.

Kojak Rap Sheet

* The character first appeared in the movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders, as Kojack. The gritty character was so popular a full series was commissioned.

* In the early episodes Telly Savalas smoked heavily. The lollipop was to ease the pain of quitting, although he still enjoyed a wee cigarillo at the end of a case.

* Telly Savalas' full name was Aristotelis. He was nominated for an Oscar for his part in The Bird Man of Alcatraz.

Sonny Crockett (Miami Vice, Don Johnson)

It's often overlooked now, but Miami Vice was, for five years between 1984 and 1989, the most stylish cop drama on TV. And Sonny Crockett was the ace face that held the whole thing together. With his pastel suits and rolled up sleeves, his highlighted hair and home on a small boat, Crockett was 80's cool personified, a slick cop for the MTV generation. Philip Michael Thomas, as partner Tubbs, we also cool. But Crockett was The Man. And he kept a pet alligator.

Sonny Crocket Rap Sheet

* Nick Nolte was originally cast in the role of Crockett, but didn't think the venture into TV from film was 'lucrative' enough.

* Miami Vice was filmed in the South Beach, an area that, at the time, was blighted by poverty and crime. Some street corners of South Beach were so run down that the production crew actually repainted them before filming

* Crockett and Tubbs wore up to eight different outfits per show, appearing in shades of pink, blue, green, peach, fuchsia. And Crockett invented Designer Stubble.

Lieutenant Columbo (Columbo, Peter Falk)

We can't fault Lieutenant Columbo. If he is on the box a Sunday afternoon and we are at a loose end, we still watch him after all these years (the series first aired way, way back in 1968). Columbo is ace: he looks like a homeless man; his (real) glass eye gives him an odd wincing stare. His trademark cigar drips ash down his clothes where it is simply rubbed in . . . but don't underestimate him: just when you think you are Scott free there is "one more thing". He is actually a brilliant detective with a clinical eye for detail.

Columbo Rap Sheet

* Columbo drives a famously ramshackle old car: in fact, a 1959 Peugeot 403 Cabriolet. Columbo often boasts that the old wreck is a rarity - and it is: only 504 were produced!

* Actor Peter Falk chose and supplied Columbo's entire wardrobe himself, including the trademark trenchcoat.

* Columbo's first name is never revealed, although in one episode 'Dead Weight' his warrant card is shown in close-up and appears to reveal his name as Frank Columbo.