The TV series "I'm a Criminal Police" takes the growth process of Qin Chuan, a grassroots policeman in the 1990s, as the main line, connecting the spiritual inheritance of three generations of Chinese criminal police. The drama premiered on November 27, 2024. As of now, the drama has reached more than 1.1 billion households on the big screen of TV, and the playback data on the online platform has also broken the annual record of the entire platform.

Recently, the "I am a Criminal Police" seminar was held in Beijing.

Seminar site

Gao Changli, director of the TV Drama Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television, said that in recent years, the number and quality of public security-themed TV dramas have improved, and a number of excellent works have been launched, including "Police Honor", "I'm a Criminal Police", "True Heroes", and "Station". "I'm a Criminal Police" has both "truth" and "emotion", and truly writes well about the characters, and writes about the deep feelings and professional responsibility between the people's police and the people.

Luo Yi, deputy director of the Shanghai Radio and Television Bureau, shared that the past year of 2024 was a year of innovation for Shanghai-produced TV series. At the beginning of the year, "Flower City" bloomed, reflecting the splendor of Shanghai. In the middle of the year, "City in the City", "The Story of Joy", "The New Voice", "Joy of Life 2" and other works shone on the screen. At the end of the year, "I am a Criminal Police" and "Dafeng Night Watchman" continued to be popular.

"As a criminal investigation drama, "I Am a Criminal Police" is unique among the many crime dramas and case-related dramas that are characterized and trended by strong plots, multiple twists and turns, and are brain-burning. It depicts the struggle stories of three generations of criminal police with the word "truth", and vividly outlines the development process of China's criminal investigation career." Luo Yi said.

Stills from "I'm a Detective"

Liang Hong, deputy director of CCTV's Film and Television Documentary Center, introduced the main features of "I Am a Criminal Policeman". First of all, the authenticity of the cases, the breadth of the regions involved, and the depth of the case-solving process all have their own unique temperament. "The whole drama is based on real cases. The cases in the drama are adapted from major cases that actually occurred in China in the past 35 years. It reproduces the geographical features spanning from the subarctic to the subtropical zone and the regional characteristics of some ethnic minorities. The depth of the case-solving process ranges from meticulous on-site investigations, fingerprints, hair, footprints, and various small details of clues to precise character portrayals and psychological analysis, from broadening ideas and innovative thinking in solving cases to repeated thinking and multi-angle analysis, all of which make the audience feel shocked in this self-evident depth."

Liang Hong believes that the drama not only creates the character image of "Qin Chuan", but also highly restores the work and life of many front-line criminal police in the development of China's criminal investigation career, and also has the same characteristics as the three generations of criminal police in the drama; "In addition, "I am a Criminal Police" also chose a narrative strategy of returning to nature. It did not deliberately create the image of a detective or design a dramatic criminal, but focused on the actual detection process, showing how the criminal police approached the truth step by step, in order to pay tribute to those front-line criminal police who have gone through countless cases and the industry's masters. The atmosphere of the 1990s in the drama, the coarse-grained image style, the handheld panning camera, the restoration of details such as art and makeup, and the real difficulties encountered in solving cases, such as tight funds, local protectionism, and obstacles to cooperation between departments, resonate with the audience."

Xu Yile, the chief producer of "I'm a Criminal Police", said that during the filming, the crew shot in temperatures from 40 degrees Celsius to minus 40 degrees Celsius, and traveled all over the country to shoot. The preparation period reached 9 months. "Teacher He Wei took the initiative to ask to go to the front line to collect materials and get close to many outstanding criminal police officers, get close to them and feel them. The story expression of "I'm a Criminal Police" is very real and credible, and the expression method is documentary and simple. The criminal police praised in the play are respectable and lovely Chinese heroes."

Director Hui Kaidong

Hui Kaidong, the director of "I Am a Criminal Police", introduced that this drama traces the 35-year development of China's criminal investigation career, restores the daily work of 160,000 front-line criminal police, and pays tribute to the fighting spirit of Chinese criminal police. Hui Kaidong recalled: "I was shocked when I first saw the script of "I Am a Criminal Police". The core of the script is heavy and profound. It uses the process of solving 15 classic cases to restore and show the development of technology, system, and concept of China's criminal investigation in the past 35 years, and integrates the images of three generations of criminal police. The wide range of social cases, the long time span, and the deep profile of criminal police have ignited my enthusiasm and determination for the creation of criminal investigation-themed content."

Yu Hewei

Yu Hewei, who plays Qin Chuan, said that the realistic tone determined at the beginning of the creation of the play means that the main characters in the play will not have a surreal heroic halo, "but this is exactly what all of us creators want to emphasize in the play." He believes that the creation of literary and artistic works should be as close to reality as possible, calling for reality from the content, and the audience will definitely be able to feel the sincerity of the creators. "What literary and artistic works must also clarify is what the core of the thought we want to express is. "I Am a Criminal Police" uses the story of Qin Chuan's rooting in the front line to handle cases as the basic clue, connecting the changes in my country's 30-year criminal investigation history. As the actor of Qin Chuan, I know that Qin Chuan is not just a role, but also a microcosm of thousands of front-line criminal police."

In Yu Hewei's view, how to convey values to the audience more intuitively and effectively is a lesson that creators need to think about. "We cannot only consider our expression and ignore the research on the market. The creative groups that film and television creators are facing are getting younger and younger. We must express the core of our works in a form that is familiar to the audience. We must constantly understand the audience's preferences and ways of thinking, and constantly update our storytelling methods at any time. Only in a way that is familiar to the audience can we resonate with the audience."

Stills from "I'm a Detective"