Neil Cross's Blog

12 June 2017: The BBC today announced the return of Neil’s multi-award winning drama starring Idris Elba. The new four-part series of Luther will screen on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.

Here is the announcement in full:

Multi-award-winning crime drama series Luther will be returning to BBC One and BBC America. The new four-part series written by Neil Cross and starring Idris Elba, who has received a Golden Globe and Sag Award for his performance in the role of John Luther, will start filming early next year.

Writer Neil Cross, says: “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. And as for me, I’m scared of the monsters. The face at the window. The hand under the bed. The shadow at the end of the street. Who’s going to stop them, if not John Luther?

“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.”

Idris Elba, says: “Neil, the BBC and I have been talking about a further season and I am thrilled that we have been able to bring it all together. I look forward to putting the coat back on.”

Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, says: “Luther is one of BBC One’s most iconic dramas and we’re thrilled that Idris Elba is reprising his role as John Luther. Neil Cross’ plans for his return promise some big surprises for what will be an utterly heart stopping and unmissable fifth series.”

Hilary Salmon, BBC Studios Executive Producer, says: “We are tremendously proud to be bringing Neil Cross’s iconic show Luther back to BBC One. The return of John Luther always feels like an event but this time we will be pulling out all the stops to make the show bigger, bolder and of course more scary than ever.”

Luther (4×60’) has been commissioned by Piers Wenger and Charlotte Moore, and is produced by BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production arm and co-produced with BBC America. Executive producers are Idris Elba and Neil Cross, Marcus Wilson and Hilary Salmon for BBC Studios and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for the BBC.

Luther has earned a total of eleven Emmy® nominations, while Elba has earned a Golden Globe® award, his first Screen Actors Guild award, an NAACP Image Award and a Critics’ Choice Award for the role.

(from the BBC Media Centre for BBC One and the AMC Press Centre for BBC America)

 

 

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24 March 2017: Robert Rodriguez has signed on to direct the remake of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 film. Neil is scripting the film, for 20th Century Fox. More here from Deadline Hollywood.

Hard Sun is a pre-apocalyptic crime drama set in contemporary London starring Jim Sturgess and Agyness Deyn, coming in 2017.

The 6 x 60-minute episode series, created and written by Neil, is produced by Euston Films for BBC One in the UK and Hulu in the US.

Jim Sturgess (One Day, 21) and Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song) play detectives Robert Hicks and Elaine Renko, partners and enemies, who seek to enforce the law and protect their loved ones in a world that every day slips closer to certain destruction.

Robert Hicks (Sturgess) is a family man and a great, committed copper. He’s also profoundly corrupt. Elaine Renko (Deyn) is difficult and damaged… and utterly incorruptible. Hicks and Renko stand on different ends of the social and moral spectrum. They also seriously distrust one other – and for good reason. But they must somehow learn to work together… if they’re going to survive until the end of the world.

“Imagine the world you see when you look out your window… except it’s been given a death sentence,” says Neil.

“This isn’t science fiction. This is the real world. There’s no hero to come save us; no contingency plan.

“We’ve got five years.

“This is the world of Hard Sun… and the world of Elaine Renko and Robert Hicks.

“What’s it like, trying to keep order, trying to enforce the law in a city that, day by day, slips closer to certain destruction?

“How do you get up in the morning? How do you get out of bed and leave your family and go out there, putting your own life at risk?

“And what about the predators? What about the murderers, the rapists, the thieves? What about the psychopaths, the religious nuts, the cult leaders, the serial killers?

“Who among them would fear a prison sentence, in a world like this? Who among them would fear legal consequences? What does a life sentence even mean, any more?

“What’s the point of justice in the face of Armageddon?

“I’ve had Renko and Hicks and their world rattling round my head for a while now. I’m incredibly happy that, like me, they’ve found their home at the BBC. I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

Hard Sun is produced by Euston Films for BBC One. The executive producers are Kate Harwood for Euston Films and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for BBC One.

Hard Sun began filming in and around London in January for transmission later this year.

 

Neil’s new pre-apocalyptic crime drama is produced by Euston Films for BBC One in the UK and Hulu in the US

Jim Sturgess (One Day, 21) and Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song) play detectives Robert Hicks and Elaine Renko, partners and enemies, who seek to enforce the law and protect their loved ones in a world that every day slips closer to certain destruction.

Robert Hicks (Sturgess) is a family man and a great, committed copper.  He’s also profoundly corrupt.  Elaine Renko (Deyn) is difficult and damaged… and utterly incorruptible.  Hicks and Renko stand on different ends of the social and moral spectrum. They also seriously distrust one other – and for good reason.  But they must somehow learn to work together… if they’re going to survive until the end of the world.

Hard Sun is new six hour drama written by internationally-acclaimed, BAFTA and EMMY nominated writer Neil Cross, creator of Luther.

The series is produced by Euston Films for BBC One in the UK and Hulu in the US. Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Great Expectations) is the lead director with Hugh Warren (Thirteen, Call the Midwife) producing the series. The executive producers are Kate Harwood for Euston Films and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for BBC One. FremantleMedia International will distribute the series worldwide.

Filming in London began in January to transmit later in 2017.

6 January 2017

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Congratulations team Luther for the three nominations for the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, which were announced today.

The 2015 Luther Special has been nominated for Outstanding TV Movie; Idris Elba has been nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie; and John Conroy, the show’s Director of Photography, has been nominated for Outstanding Cinematography For A Limited Series Or Movie.

The awards will be announced on September 18.

The Primetime Emmys are the latest in a series of award nominations for the two-part Luther Special, which aired in the US and the UK in December last year. These include two wins so far Idris.

The show received three BAFTA nominations: Neil was nominated in the Writer: Drama category; Idris was nominated in the Lead Actor category and the BBC’s Nic Bennis and Miki Kato were nominated in the Titles and Graphic Identity category.

In this year’s Golden Globe Awards, Idris Elba won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for DCI John Luther.

Idris also won the Critics Choice Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series. The Critics Choice Awards also included two further nominations for Luther: Laura Haddock for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series, and Luther the show for Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series. The awards are announced on January 17.

In the American Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, Idris was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for Luther.

The NAACP Awards (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) included two nominations for Luther: Idris for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special (Luther); and Luther the show for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special.

Luther Season 1, Season 2 and Season 3 all also received Primetime Emmy nominations.

 

15 July 2916

 

Congratulations to Neil on his nomination for a BAFTA in the craft awards announced yesterday (22 March). He received the nomination in the Writer: Drama category for the Luther special, which aired in the UK in December.

The BBC’s Nic Bennis and Miki Kato were also nominated for Luther in the Titles and Graphic Identity category.

The awards will be announced on 24 April.

These are the first British nominations for the 2015 Luther special, following several in America.

In this year’s Golden Globe Awards, Idris Elba won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for DCI John Luther.

Idris also won the Critics Choice Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series. The Critics Choice Awards also included two further nominations for Luther: Laura Haddock for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series, and Luther the show for Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series. The awards are announced on January 17.

In the American Screen Actors Guild Awards, Idris was nominated for the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for Luther, and was also nominated for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special (Luther). Luther the show was also nominated for an NAACP award, for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special.

The new Luther special has picked up more American award nominations ahead of its broadcast this week.

The show goes out on BBC One in the UK on Tuesday evening (December 15) and in the States on on BBC America on December 17.

The Critics Choice Award nominations were announced today and included three for Luther: Idris Elba for Best Actor in a Limited Series, Laura Haddock for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series, and Luther the show for Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series. The awards are announced on January 17.

Last week, Idris and Luther picked up a range of nominations for the Golden Globe, SAG and NAACP awards.

 

 

Huge congratulations to Idris Elba, who has received a fistful of award nominations this week, and to the Luther team, who also received a nod.

Idris picked up two Golden Globe Award nominations announced today. He has been nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for DCI John Luther in Luther (Season 3), and for Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for the role of the Commandant in the movie Beasts of No Nation.

The Screen Actors Guild Award nomations were also announced this week, with Idris collecting three nominations, for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for Beasts of No Nation, and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for Luther.

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) Image Award nominations included two more for Idris, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Beasts of No Nation) and Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special (Luther).

Luther the show was also nominated for an NAACP award, for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special.

 

 

 

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Fox is hoping to relaunch ‘Escape’ the same way it rebooted its hit ‘Planet of the Apes’ franchise.

Neil Cross, the acclaimed creator of the BBC crime series Luther, has been tapped to pen Escape from New York, 20th Century Fox’s remake of the 1980s cult classic.

Read the full story here.

Luther returns with a 2-part Special in December 2015.

The first hour of the special will air in the UK on BBC One on December 15, and on BBC America on December 17 in the States.

Watch the BBC One trailer here:

Visit the BBC Luther web page for more clips and details.