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With Zen axed because of the slew of male detectives cluttering up BBC1, it’s time for the ladies to step forward – in the footsteps of these classic female crime-fighters Fans of Inspector Zen, the Italian detective played by Rufus Sewell, will be disappointed: the BBC has axed the show , with controller Danny Cohen citing concerns that there are too many male detectives cluttering up BBC1. A slew of female-led detective shows are due to grace our screens this year, including The Body Farm, a spin-off from Waking the Dead . But these shows will be following in the footsteps of some iconic female investigators. Here is my top 10 list of female characters who broke boundaries and helped redefine the image of the investigator. Who would be on your list? 1. Nancy Drew The original, the iconic teenage detective, any list of female detectives inevitably starts with Nancy Drew , who has been solving mysteries for more than 80 years, with Hilary Clinton and Sonia Sotomayor among the high-profile women to cite her as an inspiration. The character may still be a teenager, but she has evolved over time – notably some of the early stories were rewritten to expunge the racism of the original versions. 2. George George (emphatically, not Georgina) from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books, is similarly essential. These books similarly show many signs of their age to a modern reader. But George, the brave, tousle-haired tomboy, was still an alternative and important role model for young readers. 3. Miss Marple Agatha Christie’s amateur detective Miss Marple conceals a sharp intelligence in a visage which our culture sees as the epitome of the unthreatening: an elderly “spinster” living in the English village of St Meade’s. She has been reimagined repeatedly in TV and film adaptations. Confoundingly, Disney is about to remake the character yet again, casting Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple in her younger days. 4. Precious Ramotswe It’s notable that the rest of the detectives in this list are white women, either American or European. Representations of black female investigators are still thin on the ground, but Precious Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith’s series, The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, has helped redefine the image of the detective. The adaptation by the BBC and HBO, starring Jill Scott as Precious, has also won praise for its positive representation of Botswana. 5. Jane Tennison DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) from the ITV series Prime Suspect set the mould for police procedurals and female cops struggling in the male-dominated workplace. She’s tough, she gets the job done. Tennison could be back on our screens again soon, in the form of a US remake , relocating the show from London to New York, and starring Maria Bello. 6. Veronica Mars In the mid-2000s, the teenage girl detective evolved into Veronica Mars (Kristin Bell), the hero of the eponymous American TV series. Mars is witty, tough and a brilliant investigator. But she’s not bulletproof: in the first episode, we learn Mars was roofied and sexually assaulted at a party. The case is dismissed by the police; she must go back to high school with the boys who assaulted her. 7. Lis Salander Much has been written about whether Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy is feminist or misogynist . Lis Salander is the strongest argument in the books’ favour: her extreme hacker skills are crucial to getting to the bottom of the crime and corruption in the books. She’s an unusual character in this genre: while most amateur detectives work in tandem with the police, or do their job for them, Salander has been a victim of state violence, she has her own agenda and she works to her own moral code. 8. Sarah Lund In the first episode of the winding Danish detective series The Killing, we’re introduced to Sarah Lund (Sofie Gråbøl). She’s meant to be moving to Sweden with her boyfriend and son, it’s her last day on the police force. But Lund quickly realises she can’t leave her less competent replacement to solve her last case, the murder of a teenage girl. The success of the show has led to it being remade in the US . 9. Temperance Brennan Temperance Brennan is the hero of a series of detective books by Kathy Reichs, then very loosely adapted for television in the US series Bones, where she puts her skills as a forensic anthropologist to use on current-day murder cases with FBI partner Seeley Booth. Spiky and socially awkward, Brennan is brilliant at everything except interacting with other humans. 10. Marge Gunderson In the Coen brothers’ film Fargo, Frances McDormand plays the chief of police, Marge Gunderson, who carefully unpicks the homicides that are occurring in the small American town. She comes into the film 31 minutes in, only to steal the show. Seven months pregnant, she defies the image of the lone and lonely hard-boiled detective, an oasis of common sense, competence and good humour. Crime drama Crime fiction Television Alexander McCall Smith Stieg Larsson The Killing Gender Jess McCabe guardian.co.uk