7. Luther
I came late to Luther, only having watched it because of the endless hectoring of almost everyone I knew. Series three was the first series I watched live as it was broadcast in the UK, and is another show I covered for this beautiful site. It was broadcast in the US slightly later, but it received positive notices from websites and publications on both sides of the Atlantic ocean due to its grittiness, realism, and charismatic lead star Idris Elba.
It makes sense that Luther would be shown in the US due to the high stateside profile of Elba, given his casting as Stringer Bell in The World’s Greatest TV Show, The Wire. Before Luther, he was probably more famous in the US than the UK – a strange reversal to the norm. It’s also a very American style of cop show, unafraid to confront the creepier and more violent side of criminality. While cop shows in the UK cover similar themes, they’re rarely as dramatic or tense as those in Luther – you couldn’t imagine Morse investigating a cross-dressing revenge killer, or Midsomer Murders delving into the murky world of internet trolling.Recent hit Broadchurch did cover Luther-style themes in a similarly scary way, but that was in this show’s wake.
Elba’s now a star in his home country as well as abroad, and rightly so. His most recent role could be one of his finest – as Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom. It remains to be seen how successful that will be, but given Mandela’s recent death and Elba’s star profile, it’s bound to draw a big audience. The fourth season of Luther will also hit in 2014, and there’s rumours of a film approaching on the horizon, which are yet to be confirmed or denied. Whatever happens, there’s a whole heap of Luther heading right for us, so open wide.
