There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on Tuesday when word broke that the US Fox network was planning a new, stateside version of gritty police drama Luther. There will likely be a much better reception for word that Team Luther UK is reuniting for two more episodes set to air in 2015.
Though last year’s episodes appeared to indicate that we’d seen the last of Elba’s tough-talking ‘tec (at least until the long-planned movie is actually made), it would seem there is life in the gruff old dog yet, with the actor returning to the role for what is being described as an “event series” of two episodes. The cameras will roll in March and the episodes will hit the Beeb later in the year.
It was just one part of a big announcement by the corporation, which included a hefty drama slate of shows such as a 1940s thriller called SS-GB adapted from Len Deighton’s novel by Bond veterans Robert Wade and Neal Purvis, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent by Tony Marchant and The Dresser, a two-hour drama starring Anthony Hopkins, who inherits the role first played by Albert Finney. And Top Of The Lake will return for six more episodes once more overseen by Jane Campion.
So even if Loofah does end up being turned into another American cop product, at least the original is still kicking around London’s streets.