--- title: Watch Idris Elba in Gripping New Trailer for Luther description: The third series of Luther aired in 2013 but is returning to screens this Christmas canonical: https://time.com/4127862/idris-elba-trailer-luther-bbc/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-26T14:20:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:55:26.210Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Watch Idris Elba in Gripping New Trailer for Luther og:description: The third series of Luther aired in 2013 but is returning to screens this Christmas og:url: https://time.com/4127862/idris-elba-trailer-luther-bbc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70363ef5263c2d15/698769568e06012c83458a36/luther-idris-elba.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: LUTHER Series 3 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Idris Elba in Gripping New Trailer for Luther twitter:description: The third series of Luther aired in 2013 but is returning to screens this Christmas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70363ef5263c2d15/698769568e06012c83458a36/luther-idris-elba.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Idris Elba in Gripping New Trailer for _Luther_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 26, 2015 2:20 PM UTC  Idris Elba plays John Luther in BBC America's Luther Idris Elba plays John Luther in BBC America's LutherRobert Viglasky—BBC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 26, 2015 2:20 PM UTC Idris Elba is returning to television screens as the brooding detective on British crime drama _Luther_ for a two-part special of hour-long episodes this December. Two years after the third series concluded in 2013, this Christmas special sees Elba’s character DCI John Luther investigating a series of grisly murders in London. He will be joined by Game of Thrones’ Rosie Leslie, who stars as DS Emma Lane. Luther begins on Dec. 15 at 9pm GMT on BBC One. [Watch BBC’s full-length trailer below](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTZvxT03y1UR). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4127862/idris-elba-trailer-luther-bbc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4127862/idris-elba-trailer-luther-bbc/"},"headline":"Watch Idris Elba in Gripping New Trailer for Luther","datePublished":"2015-11-26T14:20:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:55:26.210Z","description":"The third series of Luther aired in 2013 but is returning to screens this Christmas","url":"https://time.com/4127862/idris-elba-trailer-luther-bbc/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70363ef5263c2d15/698769568e06012c83458a36/luther-idris-elba.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70363ef5263c2d15/698769568e06012c83458a36/luther-idris-elba.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"LUTHER Series 3","caption":"LUTHER Series 3","creditText":"Robert Viglasky—BBC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4127862/idris-elba-trailer-luther-bbc/","name":"Watch Idris Elba in Gripping New Trailer for Luther"}}]}] ```