Looooooooofaaaaah! Ahem. That still seems like the only appropriate response. Though it has sometimes appeared that Idris Elba is ready to hang up the coat and the perma-frown for good, Luther is indeed headed back to our screens, as a tiny new teaser confirms.
It's really not more than Elba breathing heavily as the troubled DCI John Luther, but given that the cameras have only just started rolling on the fifth series of the show, that's what we can expect.
And because this is Luther, the title character is once more on the trail of a violent criminal, this time the perpetrator of a series of monstrous killings that become ever more audacious. Tangled leads and wanton misdirections all seem designed to protect an unspeakable horror. "We missed John Luther," says series creator Neil Cross, back on duty alongside Elba. "We missed some old friends. And we wanted to make the biggest, scariest, darkest, most thrilling series of Luther there’s ever been. So that’s what we’ve come back to do."
Dermot Crowley, Michael Smiley and Patrick Malahide are all back as DSU Martin Schenk, Benny Silver and George Cornelius, with recent recruit Wunmi Mosaku as DS Catherine Halliday, who will be wading through the darkness with our hero.
The new series will boast four episodes and features Jamie Payne in the director's chair. The Beeb has yet to announce an official return date, but at least we know work is now underway.
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