Keep Your Eye On Him!

Paul McGann plays Mark North in Luther. Long-suffering lover of Luther's late ex-wife Zoe. He's been through a lot and is, basically, the reason Ian Reed was shot by Alice Morgan at the end of series one. 

But I think we should be keeping an eye on him. I think he's our baddie! Here's why I think so: In series one, episode one, when Luther is still in the hospital getting a visit from Ian, they play chess. They are clearly good friends. As you know, Ian turns out to be the series' "Big Bad" when he kills Luther's wife and frames him for her murder. In the hospital in S1E1, when they play chess, Luther plays white and Ian plays black. It was right there to see all along, right from the beginning - good vs evil. Nobody seems to have noticed this! Now, everything in this post is speculation. I don't have spoilers for this show at all. I don't know for sure if the following will turn out to be true... But...

In the scene in series two, episode one, when Luther and Mark North play chess in the diner, Luther again plays white and Mark North plays black. It's enough for me to want to keep an eye on him. Watch him. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this our villain.

Luther Punches His Way Back Onto Your TV Screen Tonight!

When we last saw John Luther he had been framed by his partner, Ian Reid, for the murder of his ex-wife Zoe. He had tracked Ian down and cornered him, with the help of Zoe's new lover Mark and John's loyal stalker Alice, to a railway station. He had been stabbed by Ian. Alice had shot Ian - after a 2:1 vote against letting him face the consequences of his actions in court - and the police were closing in.

It seems forever ago that we last saw the perfect pairing of John Luther and Justin Ripley tracking down the bad guys; since we saw Ian Reid weasel his way out of another nasty scrape (no more!); since we watched the only person who seems to have John under control - DSU Rose Teller - snappily talk John out of yet another bad choice. But it hardly matters, because tonight at 9pm on BBC One, Luther returns for a slightly tweaked second series. A shortened run of just four episodes begins tonight and sees Luther investigating a murder case with disturbing details. The murderer wears a Mr Punch mask and is violent as hell! But it's a case of "back to work" for Luther, still mourning Zoe's death and now working on a new team under the leadership of DCI Schenk - the good guy nobody really wants to like. 

Also returning - because it wouldn't be Luther without her - is sociopath stalker/murder/saucepot Alice Morgan, who committed the perfect murder back in Series One Episode One, and became something of an unlikely ally throughout the first series. How and why she turns up again is anyone's guess - since this is something of a low-profile BBC series there tends not to be quite so many spoilers available before transmission. And with this series I'm glad. It looks as though we'll be given two big two-part stories, but what those stories are about is anyone's guess. Expect gruesome murders, snappy dialogue, a moody atmosphere and more unconventional policing from everyone's favourite nasty bastard with a heart of gold.

And if you've never seen Luther before, then maybe it's time to start watching? Series One was mostly stand-alone stories - you should be able to pick up the basics as you go along. It's more than worth a look.

Luther (BBC)

Britain does crime drama really well. The BBC have a knack for doing it really, really well. And I think, last year, they managed to squeeze out the one I've found most interesting and so enjoyable! Last year the BBC gave us Luther.

The series stars The Wire actor Idris Elba as DCI John Luther, a troubled man with problems in every area of his life - a wife who no longer wants him, a genius sociopath stalker threatening to turn his life upside-down, a serious anger management problem and a tough case to crack, every bloody episode.

The first series begins with Luther chasing a man through an abandoned factory and, when a high platform gives way beneath the pursued, "not saving" a child kidnapper from a long fall into the bowels of the building.

Seven months later and Luther is recovering from a mental breakdown, a split from his wife and suspension from his job while the factory incident is investigated. We join him just as the investigation is dropped due to lack of evidence and he regains his badge.

His first case involves the execution-like murder of the parents of one Alice Morgan, a child genius. Luther believes from the off that Alice is the one to blame for her parents' death, despite there being no evidence, no murder weapon, no motive. And so begins a game of intellectual cat and mouse between the determined and talented DCI Luther and the cold and calculating genius, Alice. Once the pieces are in place on the board the rest of the series follows a "crime of the week" format, led towards a shocking and heartbreaking finale, with gentle encouragement from Luther's sociopath stalker.

The story arc is fascinating and unsettling and the "crime of the week" elements are made all the more interesting by the fact that there's no mystery to them. It's all about the chase. Luther is one of the most watchable characters in recent times, in equal measure morally sound and recklessly spontaneous. And he has one hell of a temper on him!

This is not good news for anyone who gets in his way! The host of "criminals of the week" get their comeuppance at the hands of this brute of a copper. I won't go too deep into the stories but the series contains some of the most horrific murderers you could think of.

Also in the path of this juggernaut is Paul McGann as Luther's wife's lover, Mark - his wife is played by Torchwood star Indira Varma. As the lives of Alice Morgan, Zoey Luther and Mark North collide with John Luther's own, it seems than nobody's lives will ever be quite the same as they once were.

This is the sort of series that throws its villains at you and allows you to watch - there's no whodunnit here. Instead the BBC have given us a deeply harrowing psychological crime drama filled to the brim with some of the most memorable characters to ever grace the screen. Alice Morgan's cold seductive charm is utterly compelling in particular; all credit to the wonderful Ruth Wilson for that! And the good news is that there's a second series in the pipeline. So eyes open for that, too. 

If you haven't seen the first series yet, it's available fairly cheaply on BBC DVD. I urge you to catch up. I promise that it's a six hour slice of your life that you will not grudge sacrificing. Luther is easily the most emotionally confusing crime drama I've seen in a long, long time. You'll love John AND you'll hate him. Sometimes within the space of one sentence! And it's that moral blurred line of all the characters that make this show so utterly, utterly unmissable.