Cagney & Lacey was a detective series made in the United States. Mary Beth Lacey and Christine Cagney are detectives and partners working for the New York police department. Lacey is the tough one and Cagney is the sensitive one, despite their names. Their boss, Lt. Al Waxman, not only had to run heard on them but his two male detectives, partners Vic Isbecki and Mark Petrie.

The series was groundbreaking in a number of ways: it rarely resorted to car chases and shootouts, or violence of any sort. And the plots focused as much on the two women's personal lives as the cases. The characters matured and developed as the years went on, and as they dealt with alcoholism, pregnancy, job burnout, and the problems of married life.