The Wire's Idris Elba calls new character 'complicated'

Idris Elba admits missing pubs when he's filming in America

Idris Elba, famous for playing drug dealer Stringer Bell in The Wire, says his new character Luther is "iconic" but "really complicated".

The star appears in a new dark six-part police drama on BBC One.

He plays a detective who has to keep his own temper under control while trying to solve complicated murder cases in London.

He says the character is similar to Stringer Bell in a way but was hard to play.

"They're both intellectuals in their weird way," he said. "But with my character, I think he definitely straddles what we think is good and bad.

"He's a man that sees a lot of terror and his mind is terrified. He straddles that line."

In the opening episode, Idris Elba's character DCI John Luther is investigating the murder of a child genius' parents.

He's also struggling with his own demons after returning to work following a traumatic case.

He said: "He's a really complicated character to play because we've seen detectives that are tormented and who have terrible marriages. I didn't want to play that cliched line.

"I wanted to play a character that you believe in, that you would believe is in the Metropolitan police and this is what he does for a living.

"At the same time I wanted him to have a superhero thing about him that makes him slightly larger than life, that when you see him burst out into this rage out of nowhere you go, 'OK. This man's a little bit touched'."

'Stylistic'

Idris Elba, who appeared in The Wire between 2002 and 2004, says Luther is different to what people will be used to seeing on British TV.

He said: "It's unlike what we know for British television in terms of the way it's shot. We've gone for a very stylistic way.

"We use music and we use really weird-looking shots. The actors are fantastic and vivid. I think it's exciting because it's definitely different to British television as we know it."

As well as appearing in Luther, Idris Elba also stars in upcoming film, The Losers, with the likes of Zoe Saldana from Avatar and Jeffrey Dean Morgan from Watchmen and Grey's Anatomy.

The 37-year-old, originally from Hackney in east London, says it's based on a comic book and was good fun to film.

He said: "We play black op soldiers that get caught up in this big cover-up where their names get used for something they didn't do.

"The five of them have to try and find their lives back.

"It's definitely a popcorn film. It's definitely a film that I had a lot of fun shooting. We were in Puerto Rico for five months. I'm excited to see how it does."

After The Losers, Idris Elba is due to appear in two more films this year

After The Losers, the actor has a busy schedule ahead of him with two more films due for release including an independent movie called Legacy.

"I'm hoping to bring it to London," he revealed. "We shot it in Scotland, so in that sense it's a British film, but it is an American-shot story.

"Then I have a big film called The Takers with me, T.I. and Matt Dillon. It's a big heist movie.

"The good thing about that film is that I play a British character in an American film, and that was interesting for me."

Luther is on BBC One at 9pm on Tuesdays.