Idris Elba Will Be On The Case Again For Luther’s Three-Hour December Special

Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed sleuth isn’t the only one getting a one-off special this holiday season – Benedict Cumberbatch returns for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride on New Year’s Day – now that BBC America has formally confirmed that a three-hour Luther special will air on Thursday, December 17 at 9 pm ET.

Regardless of the state of Fox’s languishing American remake, Idris Elba will don the trench coat and return to the role that bagged him a Golden Globe and critical adulation. This time around, the case involves an out-of-control serial cannibal killer, who sends London’s finest on high alert after a string of dead bodies begin to surface.

Bucking the traditional content rollout of one episode per week, the BBC has opted to lump all episodes together for the American audience, which ought to sate the palette of the binge viewer in all of us. It’s still unclear whether the same release schedule applies for the UK – currently only the premiere episode is on course for a December release – though we’ll keep you posted as we learn more. For now, you can feast your eyes on the official synopsis.

This time we find Luther on a leave of absence from the police force, laying low in a rundown cottage. A visit from colleagues, Detective Chief Inspector Theo Bloom (Darren Boyd, Veep, The World’s End) and Detective Sergeant Emma Lane (Rose Leslie, The Last Witch Hunter, Game of Thrones) brings a shocking piece of news that draws him back to London in search of the truth. At the same time, a gruesome cannibalistic serial killer has struck the city, eating body parts as he goes.

With a trail of clues leading from one crime scene to the next, Detective Superintendent Unit Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley, Babel, Bleak House) and his team must work out the twisted logic that connects each victim.

Sam Miller is behind the lens of the Luther special. Idris Elba returns for the show’s jet-black Season 4 alongside Game of Thrones starlet Rosie Leslie, Laura Haddock, John Heffernan, Patrick Malahide and Michael Smiley. It’s set to air on December 17.