BBC One’s new psychological detective drama, Luther, hit our screens tonight and the show has a few strings to its bow that make it stand out from the glut of similar genre shows out there. It can really be considered something that the good old BBC managed to persuade him to turn his back on all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood for a few months and return to his British roots. And if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, you may be intrigued to hear that it has been written by Neil Cross, the lead writer on series two of Spooks. He has a dark side to him, Neil, and Luther, for all intents and purposes serves as a vehicle for him to let that darkness into the world. Eventually, our desperate man in a suit has nowhere to go and is soon precariously hanging by his fingers over a ledge whilst Luther looms ominously above him, demanding to know where he has hidden a kidnapped child. Finally drawing a confession from him, the twist here is, instead of rescuing him from his perilous situation, Luther lets him dangle for a while until he loses his grip and falls to his death. Nice. Told you the scriptwriter had a dark side. You presume she has been attacked as well but, like all good detective stories, there is a twist. Well, there has to be really, doesn’t there? You see, watching Luther you can see it is a work of genius, but it is a cliché-ridden work of genius. You can second-guess the plot quite easily, but that doesn’t mean the ride is any less enjoyable. We find that Luther himself has just come back to the police force after suffering a nervous breakdown of sorts. Exactly what has happened isn’t clear to begin with, but as the episode carries on, we find that he is a man who struggles to control his temper and is responsible for putting a man into a coma. Charges cannot be pressed due to lack of evidence, and so, British justice being the wonderful thing that it is, he is give his old job back and let loose on a bloody murder scene as his first case. As I’ve said above, there is more to this murder than meets the eye, and it is no surprise to find that the broken girl crying on the phone to the police is actually the person responsible for the crime. However, as bright a spark as she was, she holds her parents responsible for her lost childhood, and decides to exact revenge by killing them in cold blood. Being an intellectual mastermind, she is careful to hide any evidence against her, and whilst Luther quickly deducts that she is responsible for the crime, he is powerless to stop her leaving police custody. As it turns out, Luther is powerless to stop a lot of things happening in his life, and this is never more obvious than when he attempts to reconcile with his estranged wife. The next day he decides to turn his life around and solve the case he has been assigned to, and he confronts the murderess face to face, accusing her of killing her parents for the attention it would bring to her, an accusation that only served to anger her even more and unwittingly makes Luther public enemy number one in her eyes. She sets out for revenge, and threatens Luther’s wife with the same treatment as she dealt to her parents. It turns out she planted this herself, almost as a test for Luther to find. The episode ends as they confront each other on a bridge, with Luther throwing the urn into the Thames and both of them reaching an uneasy stalemate. As the credits come up, we see her in a hospital ward, visiting the victim Luther put into a coma before he was suspended. There is no doubt in our mind that this isn’t the last we’ll hear from her, and with another five instalments yet to come in the series, you know that that is a fairly safe assumption to make. As a character, Luther is both complex and interesting, and Idris as an actor is outstanding. There are not many actors about who can pull off such a high tension role as this. The script is well written and paced, and all of the supporting cast perform a more than commendable job of bringing Luther’s world alive. (Ruth Wilson, in particular, delivers a particularly memorable performance as the vampy villainess and the perfect foil for the angry, troubled genius that is Luther.)