Episode 1

The season opens with a case that is already old before it starts. A fetishist is murdering women, and the killings match an unsolved case from the 1980s closely enough that the past is doing the investigating for them. Luther and the team are chasing a copycat whose spree has only just begun, and the hour is a race between the pattern and the next body.

But the historical echo gives the episode its texture. Every clue has to be weighed twice, once for what it says about the current killer and once for what it borrowed from the old one. That makes the work slower and more uncertain, and the show is smart enough to let that uncertainty breathe instead of rushing past it.

Neil Cross wrote it, Sam Miller directed, and the cast around Idris Elba is quietly formidable. Dermot Crowley's Martin Schenk, Nikki Amuka-Bird's DCI Erin Gray, Warren Brown's Justin Ripley and David O'Hara's DSU George Stark make up a team that watches Luther with a mix of admiration and worry. Sienna Guillory's Mary Day arrives early and lingers, Michael Smiley's Benny Deadhead and Shaun Mason's Beanie do their usual sideline business, and Rachel Hankey's Emily Hammond and Kevin Fuller's Paul Ellis fill in the field work.

The case is solid, but the episode earns its keep on how the team works together. Luther is not the only one in the room with instincts, and the show is happy to let Schenk and Stark push back at him. A Luther who is argued with is a Luther who is still tethered to the job.

It ends with the killer still out there and the 1980s file still open. The spree has only just started, and every day it runs makes the old case colder. A season opener should promise trouble, and this one does, with interest.