Luther season 4: Idris Elba will return for two-episode special in December
GRITTY BBC detective drama Luther is set to return next month for a two-hour special, it has been announced.
The two 60-minute episodes will be broadcast on consecutive weeks in December in the UK but the exact air dates have yet to be confirmed, a BBC spokeswoman told Express.co.uk.
The news comes as BBC America announced that it would be showing the episodes in December as a one-night-stand rather than splitting it into a mini series.
The three-hour binge watch - presumably taking into account adverts - is exclusively for US viewers of BBC America and will be airing on December 17.
The new series will see Idris Elba reprising his role as the tortured police officer and Ruth Wilson returning as the mysterious killer Alice Morgan.
The new episodes will also feature Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie as Detective Sergeant Emma Lane and Darren Boyd taking on the role of Detective Chief Inspector Theo Bloom.
The special will also star Laura Haddock, John Heffernan and Patrick Malahide, while Michael Smiley and Dermot Crowley returning as Benny Silver and DSU Martin Schenk respectively.
Idris, 43, said: "I think there were bigger challenges when he lost his wife and his best friend. That was a huge pinnacle and something that it took him a long time to get over. And in this [special] there is something similar that happens to him that is definitely traumatic."
He went on to say: "I think Luther goes back just because he can’t stay away from it for too long.
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"Ultimately, because he’s a protector, and he just wants to be able to fix what he can see other people won’t be able to…"
In a synopsis released by BBC America, Luther will be on leave of absence from the police force and "laying low in a rundown cottage", however a "shocking piece of news" will force him to return to the murky streets of London that he tried to escape.
A cannibalistic serial killer is on the loose "eating body parts as he goes" with a "trail of clues leading from one crime scene to the next". But this could be Luther's toughest one yet as he is confronted by ghosts from the past at every turn, leaving him isolated and volatile.
Luther will air on BBC One in December