Idris Elba avoids watching ‘Luther’ because it is too "dark" for his young son.
The 46-year-old actor – who has a four-year-old boy, Winston, with his ex-girlfriend Naiyana Garth, and a 16-year-old daughter, Isan, from his marriage to Hanne Kim Norgaard – refrains from tuning into the BBC programme, because it is "not the kind of thing" he likes to watch.
He said: "If I’m honest, I try not to watch the show.
"It’s dark, very dark, not the kind of thing I like to watch.
"I’ve got my son, do you know what I mean? We like to watch ‘Shrek’."
Screenwriter Neil Cross has revealed that that the maverick cop, DCI John Luther, will be returning to complete "unfinished business" on the hit show.
He said: "Now what? It’s a question Idris and I get asked a lot.
"What happened to John Luther after we last saw him striding unbowed through the streets of his city, his blood red London?
"It can’t be over, can it? There’s so much we don’t know. So much unfinished business.
"The thing is, we’ve been asking ourselves the same question. Because we love John and wonder what he’s up to…
"In the end, we picked up the phone to some old friends and asked if they’d like to find out what happens next.
"It turns out, they would. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to find out what
happens next.
"Now what? Luther’s coming back. That’s what."
Wunmi Mosaku will join the cast as new recruit DS Catherine Halliday, and ‘Cold Feet’ star Hermione Norris will play a psychiatrist named Dr Vivien Lake who will help Luther uncover a swathe of brutal murders.
The fifth series of ‘Luther’ – the first episodes since 2015 – will kick off on New Year’s Day.