Mumford & Sons and Idris Elba team up for music video

Idris Elba has made his directorial debut, creating and starring in a music video for Mumford & Sons.

The short film will accompany the group's next single, Lover of the Light, which is released on 3 December.

The band say that they and Elba came up with the idea after an "ale-infused conversation in a pub in London".

"We are huge fans of Idris Elba's acting work, as pretty much anyone can agree he's the most badass British actor since Richard Briars."

The actor worked with scriptwriter Dan Cadan to make the film, which merged his own ideas along with those of the band.

"We've been fortunate to work with some great directors in the past, but we've always been uncomfortable with the process of making music videos.

"Talking to Idris and Dan about making a video that we're not in made it a lot more fun to think about.

"They went off and wrote the treatment after our ale-infused conversation in a pub in London, and what they directed, we are proud to present as Lover of the Light."

The video was shot in and around the Pembrokeshire countryside in Wales.

Lover of the Light comes from the band's second album Babel, which debuted in both the UK and US at number one.

More than one million copies have been sold around the world.

Lover of the Light is released 3 December.