Luther to be released as movie by Netflix amid BBC’s ‘comically small’ budgets

Idris Elba
Idris Elba
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The television drama Luther is to become a Netflix film in a move away from the BBC’s “comically small” budgets.

The hit show, starring Idris Elba, has been turned into a feature-length story titled Luther: The Fallen Sun.

Netflix will release it in cinemas for a limited period from Feb 24 before it arrives on the streaming service from March 10.

The series began on BBC One in 2010 and ran for five series, but Elba, who has long been in the running as the next James Bond, said he wanted the film to be on a much grander scale.

“We have an incredible appetite to satisfy the audience that love Luther in its current form as a TV show, but also bring it into a new sphere with the film version.

Luther breaks out of prison to hunt a serial killer terrorising London
Luther breaks out of prison to hunt a serial killer terrorising London
Cynthia Erivo

“I don’t want to be controversial but people imagine me as Bond and that’s great, but I can’t wait for them to see me as Luther in this movie. Our ambition is to take it there,” he said.

Elba spent several years trying to get a big screen version of Luther off the ground but knew it would be “a big challenge, economically” to realise his vision.

Neil Cross, who wrote the TV series and the film, told Radio Times after The Fallen Sun was announced: “What we’ve been able to do - having delivered every episode of Luther on budgets which are comically small - is to have a wider canvas and a bigger budget to tell the kind of stories that we’ve always wanted to be able to tell.”

Idris Elba
Idris Elba
Andy Serkis
Andy Serkis

Luther became an international hit for the BBC, selling to over 200 territories. Elba won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the troubled detective John Luther, plus three Emmy nominations. In the UK, he was nominated for a Bafta award.

The new film is billed as an “epic continuation” of the TV series, with a gruesome serial killer terrorising London.

Elba’s character breaks out of prison to continue his hunt for the culprit. The film also stars Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis and Dermot Crowley.