Idris Elba doesn’t watch his own TV shows

Virgin Radio

27 Feb 2023, 12:13

We all enjoy watching Idris Elba on the telly, don’t we? Well actually, it turns out that one person doesn’t like watching him in TV shows, and that person is… Idris Elba! 

The actor has given countless cracking performances in his career so far, including playing business-savvy antagonist Russell 'Stringer' Bell in hit US crime drama The Wire, and the titular character in British thriller series Luther.

However, you won’t find Idris settling down of an evening to watch any of his acclaimed displays. In a new interview with Esquire, he said: “I don't watch my shows unless I have to. I'm not interested. I was there. I gave. If I go to a premiere for a show, the likelihood is I'll position myself close to an exit and as soon as I can.”

Whilst the acting star might not be interested in watching himself, plenty of us are very keen to see Luther: The Fallen Sun, a feature-length version of the BBC police show, which is set to land in cinemas this month and will then stream on Netflix in March.

The film version of Luther will see a gruesome serial killer terrorising London, while brilliant but disgraced detective John Luther sits behind bars. Haunted by his failure to capture the cyber psychopath who now taunts him, he decides he's going to break out of prison to finish the job by any means necessary.

Speaking to Esquire, the actor said: “He’s probably the character that’s most like me, in real life. He has so much conviction. He doesn’t try to overcomplicate things. He gets to the point.”

He added: “I love the writing. It’s fun to play. Hopefully this is a series of movies expanding the John Luther stories, bigger canvas, more bandwidth to find out who he is, understand him a bit more.”

In related news, Idris Elba recently addressed speculation linking him to the James Bond role.

Luther lands in select cinemas on 24th February, followed by Netflix on 10th March.