We’ve all waited patiently for almost four years for Idris Elba’s troubled and brooding DCI John ‘Luther’ to return to our screens. The wait is almost over with season 5 airing on New Year’s Day and in good old Luther fashion, we are in for one dark ride that may just put you off from ever riding the night bus home ever again.
Emmy-nominated writer Neil Cross has yet again delivered the grimier side of London with a sharp and seriously horrific story that will see the re-emergence of Alice (Ruth Wilson) as Luther’s thorn but this time it’s Alice who needs his help. On returning to her role as Alice after last being seen in the finale of season 3, Ruth Wilson hints that her character always likes to lure Luther to the dark side but she is quite vulnerable on her return
“I don’t stick to any rules, [Alice] is always trying to pull Luther to the dark side and it works quite frequently. She’s vulnerable, you see her vulnerable in this as well and she needs his help”.
Return of the Mac… Well, Overcoat!
As well as facing his old demons in season 5, DCI John Luther is once more called to immerse himself in the deepest depths of human depravity. The opening episode is littered with a number of spine-chilling murders that will haunt you when walking the cold dark streets in the blackness of night, but this is just a gateway to the complex events that follow. On the direction of the new series, Elba revealed that the show stays true to its formula.
“True to Luther in its setup, it just gets more complex. It’s never straightforward, this season is extremely complex. Our director was overly aware that’s the way Luther is, you sort of unfold it, and unfold it and unfold it. Even in this particular season, so many things fall out of that, that it becomes a very complex web. Of course, Alice shows up and she isn’t here to give me Christmas cards – more like give Luther a headache”.
He went on to say: “I think what is really special about this particular season it is a huge four episodes in one movie. It’s pretty scary”.
Comic actor Michael Smiley also returns as DS Ben Silver, spending more time away from his desk than behind it, Ben finds himself going on his own journey over the four episodes.
New Faces
Season 5 also brings with it some new faces, the first comes in the form of a new sidekick or should we say partner in crime fighting? Vera’s Wunmi Mosaku joins the cast as will DS Catherine Halliday to investigate a series of “monstrous killings”. On playing the role as DS Halliday, Mosaku relished playing a part she hasn’t played before.
“Catherine is just someone I’ve never really played. I think she is a side of me I’ve never really shown on screen before. I feel like she’s in her own little world in a way. She’s like this little sugar cube that puts some spice into life”.
She went on to give a little insight to who her character was and it sounds like she could go head to head on the intelligence stakes against Luther, bringing fresh eyes to their investigation.
“I think she’s the brains and he’s the brawn. She’s brave enough to speak up. But she’s still like he’s the boss but she wants to learn but she wants to stick to the rules. They are a bit like chalk and cheese, but they work well together”.
Also joining the cast is ‘Cold Feet’ star Hermione Norris who plays a psychiatrist named Dr Vivien Lake. She is called on to help Luther get to the bottom of a swathe of brutal murders. Returning to her hometown of London, Norris assumed this would be an easy job this time around but due to the nature of the storyline found that wasn’t quite the case.
“Sometimes when things are particularly dark it can be quite funny. You have to laugh more. Although, it is a tough shoot because it’s in the winter, night shoots. I was excited to be back in my hometown, I thought “Great I’m back in London, this is going to be easy, but it could take you an hour to get to location so it was long long days. Bleak storylines, the house we shot in was really strange. So you do really get into the vibe, you inhabit the whole world very much”.
Luther: The Movie
There has been a long-running conversation on whether there would ever be a big screen, feature-length version on the maverick detective who only answers to himself. By the sounds of things, the development of the film is coming on nicely, with Neil Cross busy scribbling away on something that could take the form of David Fincher’s ‘Seven’.
“It’s no news that we are really advancing on getting a movie version up on its feet. Neil is beavering away writing this thing. The remit for the film is to scale it up. Luther has all the ingredients to echo those classic films of the ’90s like Seven and Along Came a Spider. What we would like to do or attempt is to try and use that blueprint to create Luther the film. You know, it will be more murder, more Volvos, more frowning Luther”.
Buckle up, and strap yourselves in, Season 5 is going to be one hell of a terrifying ride, one that will make sure you never want to leave the house again.
Luther will premiere on New Year’s Day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The four-part series will broadcast over consecutive nights from January 1 – 4, 2019 at 9pm.
