TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Gritty and ambiguous, Luther is a captivating drama bolstered by a powerhouse performance from Idris Elba in the title role.
Episodes
Luther: Season 1 Photos
Tv Season Info
Cast
as John Luther
as Alice Morgan
as Det. Chief Insp. Ian Reed
as Zoe Luther
as Mark North
as Det. Superintendent Rose Teller
as Det. Sgt. Justin Ripley
as Henry Madsen
News & Interviews for Luther: Season 1
Critic Reviews for Luther: Season 1
All Critics (22) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (2)
Come for some slightly above-average murder mysteries, stay for some way above-average central performances. Luther is often good, never clean and always fun.
Creator and writer Neil Cross explores tricky dramatic territory, with suspense, crackling dialogue and a talented cast.
It's beautifully shot, full of slick architectural vistas, and boasts the versatile and saucy Ruth Wilson as its villainess.
Powerful, challenging, ambiguous, surprising, dark, odd, stunning, grisly, disturbing, raw, sexy, taut, intense, captivating.
Snag is, the plot is ridiculous, and a batch of rather fine actors have been persuaded to throw subtlety and logic to the winds and to portray characters which veer wildly between cliché and implausibility...
This was woeful ham, utterly redeemed by Idris, and I await Luther II with genuine anticipation and my cliché-pants ready.
Audience Reviews for Luther: Season 1
Super Reviewer
Elba shows just how far dynamism can carry a show. At its peaks, Luther is some of the most compelling viewing available. The show is at its pinnacle when Elba and Ruth Wilson share the screen. In the barren stretches without Wilson, the plot really falters and the writing becomes quite stereotypical of cop-drama murder mysteries. Season 1 is by far the best.
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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