TV REVIEW: Luther – Season 1

This is another highly acclaimed BBC drama where I am a bit late to the party. I have heard of Luther before but never got around to watching it until loads of my friends started raving about the new season. I decided I had better catch up and see what all the fuss was about.

John Luther (Idris Elba) is a policeman on the edge. After a high profile paedophile case ended with the suspect in a coma, his explosive moods and unorthodox methods have reached new levels. With his marriage to, Zoe (Indira Varma) on the rocks, a series of disturbing crimes that come ever closer to home will push him to the edge.

There is no question that Luther is Idris Elba’s show. Luther is a very complex character who makes a lot of questionable decisions and Elba does a good job to really give him heart. His focus is always on the end goal and he has no problem with doing whatever it takes to reach it. If that means, breaking and entering, planting evidence, borrowing evidence or even consorting with criminals, in the form of sociopath, Alice (Ruth Wilson), it’s all on the table. Of course this puts his long suffering co-workers in constant peril, none more so than his boss (Saskia Reed) and partner (Warren Brown).

It’s easy to get hooked because you are constantly left wondering just how far Luther will go, especially when he finds himself playing cat and mouse with his fellow DCI, Ian Reed (Steven Macintosh). It also leaves you asking the question of how many times a good man can do a bad thing for good reasons before he becomes a bad man? Paired with dark and disturbing criminal cases and Luther and Alice’s strange fascination with each other it’s a great mix.

I would highly recommend Luther for anyone who likes a bit of edgy cop drama… or who thinks Idris Elba is sex on legs. I will be diving straight into the second season since the first ends on a major cliffhanger. Yay for Netflix binges.

4/5