One of the Best ’90s Crime Dramas is Finally Coming to Streaming

Peacock will bring the critically acclaimed police drama Homicide: Life on the Street, to streaming for the first time ever (via Deadline). All seven seasons of the groundbreaking series, along with its follow-up film, Homicide: The Movie, will be available on the platform starting August 19. The police procedural, which offers a vivid and honest look at the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit, has long been unavailable for streaming due to music rights challenges.

Homicide: Life on the Street, created by Paul Attanasio (Quiz Show) and based on David Simon’s non-fiction book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, premiered on NBC in January 1993. It quickly amassed acclaim for its gritty realism, as the series offered a fictionalized yet authentic portrayal of the Baltimore Police Department’s homicide unit, diving into the challenges and realities of investigating murders. Simon, who contributed as a writer and producer, would later create another groundbreaking crime drama, The Wire, where he served as executive producer, head writer, and showrunner.

Homicide: Life on the Street is a standout of ’90s television and was a significant influence on crime dramas that followed, encouraging a more authentic and thought-provoking approach. The show was heralded as groundbreaking for providing a realistic (and un-glamorized) version of police work. The series often delved into issues of race, poverty, and disadvantage, making it relevant even today.

Homicide: Life on the Street’s Legacy Revisited

​​​​​​​Homicide: A Life on the Street‘s ensemble cast garnered widespread acclaim for their portrayals of complex characters. Led by Andre Braugher’s unforgettable performance as Detective Frank Pembleton – often considered his career-defining role – the cast included Richard Belzer (whose character Detective John Munch later appeared in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Yaphet Kotto, Clark Johnson, Daniel Baldwin, Melissa Leo, and Ned Beatty. While the entire ensemble delivered powerful performances, Braugher’s portrayal of the troubled yet brilliant Pembleton stands out as particularly exceptional, earning him multiple awards. His character remains an iconic figure in television history. Following Braugher’s unexpected death in 2023, countless tributes highlighted his incredible portrayal of Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street.

To further understand Homicide: Life on the Street‘s greatness, it’s essential to understand the significance of its source material. To scribe Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, Simon spent a year with the Baltimore Police Department’s homicide unit, observing their work, the cases they investigated, and the challenges they faced. The book provides a realistic portrayal of the complexities of working in such a demanding environment. The book, considered a groundbreaking piece of investigative journalism, earned the 1992 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category.

Through its seven-season run, Homicide: Life on the Street earned four Emmy Awards and three George Foster Peabody Awards for Drama, among many other accolades. The series is listed second only to Law & Order in IMDb’s Top Cop/Detective Shows of the 1990s, and appears in many lists of top crime dramas of all time.