Luther | |
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Luther's opening title screen |
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Genre | Psychological crime drama |
Created by | Neil Cross |
Starring | Idris Elba Ruth Wilson Steven Mackintosh Indira Varma Paul McGann Saskia Reeves Warren Brown Dermot Crowley |
Opening theme | "Paradise Circus" by Massive Attack |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 10 (List of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Katie Swinden |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company(s) | BBC Drama Productions |
Broadcast | |
Original channel | BBC One, BBC HD |
Picture format | HDTV (1080i) |
Original run | 4 May 2010 | – present
External links | |
Website |
Luther is a British psychological crime drama television series starring Idris Elba as the title character Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. A first series of six episodes was broadcast on BBC One from 4 May to 8 June 2010. The second series of four episodes was shown on BBC One in summer 2011. During the Edinburgh TV Festival, BBC One controller Danny Cohen announced there will be a third series as well.[1]
Contents |
John Luther is a Detective Chief Inspector working for the Serious Crime Unit in season one, and the new Serious and Serial Crime Unit in season two.[2] A dedicated police officer, Luther is also a genius. He is obsessive, possessed, and sometimes dangerous in the violence of his fixations. But Luther has paid a heavy price for his dedication; he has never been able to prevent himself from being consumed by the darkness of the crimes with which he deals. For Luther, the job always comes first. His dedication is a curse and a blessing, both for him and those close to him.
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD release date | |||
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Series premiere | Series finale | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
1 | 6 | 4 May 2010 | 8 June 2010 | 23 November 2010 | 21 June 2010 | Unknown |
2 | 4 | 14 June 2011 | 5 July 2011 | 25 October 2011 | 11 July 2011 | N/A |
Creator Neil Cross has said that Luther is influenced by both Sherlock Holmes and Columbo: the nature of Luther's intellect and its application to solving crimes is comparable to Holmes', whereas the show's use of the inverted detective format (wherein the audience is aware of the identity of the criminals but not of how they will be caught, as opposed to the conventional format of the audience discovering the criminal as the characters do) was inspired by Columbo.[11]
The first series was filmed in and around London, England and produced by BBC Drama Productions. Brian Kirk, Sam Miller and Stefan Schwartz each directed two episodes. Series creator Neil Cross wrote all six of the episodes. Leila Kirkpatrick was the line producer for the entire series and Katie Swinden was the producer for a number of episodes. Tim Fleming provided series cinematography for two episodes. Katie Weiland and Victoria Boydell were involved in the series' film editing, with Weiland editing two episodes. Andy Morgan was responsible for the entire series' casting, Paul Cross provided production design and Adam A. Makin was behind the series' art direction.
The BBC announced on 28 August 2010 it had recommissioned Luther for a second series for 2011 and filming started in late September/early October 2010. Originally planned to be broadcast as two two-hour long episodes,[12] it is shown as four episodes. The first episode of series two was shown on BBC One on Tuesday 14 June.[13]
Idris Elba, when asked about whether a third series is likely, had said, "We’ll have to see what the appetite is like for it at the end of this series. If it’s a good, healthy appetite then we’ll figure out how we’re going to do some more."[14] BBC One controller announced in August 2011 that a third series had been commissioned.[15][16]
The Guardian's Stuart Heritage was initially critical of the show,[17] comparing it to the American series FlashForward in that both series arrived with a large amount of hype but delivered an anticlimactic end product. However, by the fifth episode Heritage updated his views, calling it a "slightly sillier Silence of the Lambs" and calling it Idris Elba's best work since The Wire.[18]
Serena Davies in The Daily Telegraph called it "formulaic"[19] and Tom Sutcliffe in The Independent thought "Luther is more a loose constellation of cop-show clichés than a fully formed character, but Elba brings the clichés to life..."[20]
Ratings steadily decreased over the course of the series. The fifth episode drew the lowest of the series thus far. However, fellow BBC programmes Holby City and EastEnders also suffered on the night as they were up against ITV's Britain's Got Talent and Coronation Street.[21]
Critical praise greeted Luther's second series broadcast in the United States. Reviews in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and on National Public Radio, for example, highlighted the brooding tone and Mr. Elba's performance, "Strong writing and a fine cast, especially "The Wire's" Idris Elba as the title character, make this grim export from Britain a compelling, intelligent cop show."[22] In the 3rd quarter of 2011, the top rated shows on BBC America were Doctor Who, Top Gear, and Luther which together gained the network its highest quarterly ratings ever.[23]
The first series of the show premiered in Australia on ABC1 on 15 October 2010 and in the United States on BBC America two days later.[24] It is also broadcast in Germany where it is dubbed and cut, and in Poland on Ale Kino Plus channel. The second series debuted in the United States on BBC America on 29 September 2011.