A couple of nights ago, I was watching a BBC television series on Hulu called Accused. It’s a bit of an anthology in which the series follows the stories of several characters as they go through trials in court for crimes of which they’ve been accused. It tells the story of how they came to the moment. In the episode, I saw, entitled “Alison’s Story”, it featured Alison Wade (played by the lovely Naomie Harris) on trial for selling drugs as a result of a fallout with her husband (played by Warren Brown), which was hastened by her cheating. Seeing Brown in such a villainous role was a shock to me because I always felt he was one of the classic good guys in all of television based on what I saw of him in another BBC show. That brings me to this week’s moment in the Flashback Friday series: the Luther TV series.
How I first came across this moment? I first came across Luther in January 2014. I was still reeling from how things played out with Miss Stillman College. When I wasn’t busy with my 1st semester at RIT, I was binge-watching television shows. I discovered Luther on Netflix and I tuned in because of the show’s star: Idris Elba.
What it meant to me then? The series was an immediate favorite to me. As a lover of police procedurals, there were many aspects of it that I enjoyed. I liked John Luther’s assessment of crime. It reminded me a lot of the Elementary version of Sherlock Holmes. I also liked the supporting characters…Ruth Wilson as the antithesis in her role as Alice Morgan and Brown as the ideal sidekick with Detective Sergeant Justin Ripley. I really liked how they slipped Indira Varma in there as Luther’s estranged wife. It was my first time seeing her in anything since I sneaked and watched Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love roughly 25 years ago. She still looks fantastic, by the way. The crimes were elaborate but the way in which Luther and Ripley went about bringing resolution to them was just as elaborate…and they did it without gunfire. I really liked it.
What it means to me now? I’ve watched all 5 seasons (or series, as they are called across the pond). I was particularly saddened when Ripley was killed in Series 3. He was my favorite character on the show and one of my favorite law enforcement characters in all of television. His death rocked me in a way similar to that of Rex Winters from Law & Order: Los Angeles and Warrick Brown from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The show was never really the same afterward. And with the way it ended—Luther being arrested—really put a damper on it for me. All things considered though, Luther was a fantastic series. I really enjoyed the cerebral ways in which Elba’s character went about his work and how Morgan was the perfect foil.
