Idris Elba plays DCI John Luther, a London detective who hunts killers and may be as dangerous as the ones he chases. Neil Cross created Luther for BBC One, and Ruth Wilson plays Alice Morgan, a murderer Luther never manages to charge. The show ran five seasons and 20 episodes, from 4 May 2010 to 4 January 2019.
Trailer, via Hulu.
A Murderer He Never Charges
The first episode sets the shape of everything that follows. Luther investigates Alice Morgan, a brilliant psychopath, and cannot arrest her for lack of evidence. She does not leave the story. She becomes his nemesis and, over time, his unlikely companion.
That relationship is the engine. Alice pursues her infatuation with him, and he gradually relents because she gives him insight into the cunning criminals he pursues. A detective who needs a murderer to read other murderers is a good premise, and Luther commits to it.
The Price of the Job
Luther works the Serious Crime Unit in series one, then the “Serious and Serial” unit from series two. He is obsessive, possessed, sometimes violent. The job always comes first, and that dedication is both a curse and a blessing for him and for the people close to him.
The cost is real. After Alice helps Luther avenge the death of his estranged wife Zoe, he aids her escape from a secure facility and she flees the country. In her absence his police work dominates again, culminating in the murder of his partner and protege Justin Ripley in the third series.
Alice Returns, Then Fakes Her Death
Alice reappears after Ripley’s death and finally convinces Luther to leave London with her. Series four opens with him living a reclusive life on the English coast. He learns of Alice’s apparent death, returns to London, and resumes his role as a DCI.
It then transpires that Alice faked her own death after her life with Luther did not match their expectations. Two years later she returns to extort money from organised crime boss George Cornelius, who sabotaged her previous diamond exchange.
A dedicated police officer, Luther is obsessive, possessed, and sometimes violent.
What Elba Built
Elba won a Critics’ Choice Television Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role. The series collected eleven Primetime Emmy nominations across categories, including four for Elba as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
The supporting cast holds the edges: Dermot Crowley as Martin Schenk, Michael Smiley as Benny Silver, Hermione Norris as Vivien Lake, Patrick Malahide as George Cornelius, Wunmi Mosaku as Catherine Halliday and Enzo Cilenti as Jeremy Lake.
Twenty Episodes Across Nine Years
Twenty episodes across nine years is a small body of work, and Luther uses it well. The show is a psychological crime drama first and a procedural second. Cross writes Luther as a man consumed by the darkness of the crimes he deals with, and Elba plays the consumption rather than the case.
The fifth series of four episodes premiered on 1 January 2019. BBC Studios handled distribution.
The Fallen Sun and a Second Film
A feature film continuation, Luther: The Fallen Sun, was written by Cross and stars Elba, Andy Serkis and Cynthia Erivo. It opened in select cinemas on 24 February 2023 before streaming on Netflix on 10 March 2023. A second film is in development.
What the Show Gets Right
The Alice Morgan thread is what makes Luther worth its reputation, and the show knows it. When she is gone, the series leans on procedure and on Elba’s intensity, which is strong but thinner. Ripley’s murder lands because the show spent years earning it.
The weaker stretch is the reclusive-coast reset in series four, which spends its two episodes undoing a death the audience is asked to believe. It works, but it costs the show momentum.
What holds is Elba. He gives Luther a temper and a conscience that never quite agree, and the show never resolves them. Twenty episodes is enough to see the pattern and not enough to wear it out. That restraint is the reason Luther still reads as one of the better crime dramas of its decade.
KEY FACTS
– Created by: Neil Cross
– Network: BBC One
– Seasons: 5
– Episodes: 20
– First aired: 4 May 2010
– Last aired: 4 January 2019
– Metacritic: 82/100
– Score: 8.2/10
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