Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: TV and Film, Idris Elba, Netflix, London
Gregory Robinson
The long-awaited Luther film on Netflix proved to be a big hit with fans across the globe, however, British fans were left scratching their heads in confusion over some of the locations.
Elba’s unorthodox detective returned to the streets of London this year to stop a gruesome serial killer terrorising the Capital.
But Luther’s most recent adventure left many Londoners seriously disappointed because the geography in the acclaimed film simply doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
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This problem isn’t exclusive to Luther: Fallen Sun either, as the hugely popular drama series You, which relocated from the U.S. to London for its fourth season, was also criticised for similar reasons. Viewers of the recently renewed series were left furious by the huge plot holes left by Joe Goldberg effortlessly walking between Royal Holloway University in Surrey, his home in South Kensington and Shoreditch.
In real life, the walk between Egham, Surrey and South Kensington would take anyone around six hours - even for the most brisk walkers with a spring in their step.
It seems Luther has taken a leaf out of Mr Goldberg’s bootleg London travel guide by hopping between London hotspots like Canary Wharf, Piccadilly Circus, Brick Lane and Soho within the blink of an eye.
For starters, Canary Wharf is near the Isle of Dogs in east London and Piccadilly Circus is in the West End, which would take just under two hours to walk between the two places or a 40-50 minute drive. Brick Lane is in the old East End of London and Soho is central.
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One viewer said Luther must be travelling through the air to get to all of the London locations seen in the film so quickly.
They tweeted: “Luther suffering from You-syndrome where big John is in Brick Lane, then Soho, then Shoreditch again all in successive scenes, before randomly being in Canary Wharf and then Piccadilly Circus. Come on, now. He got jet-pack?”
Another fan complained about the film on Twitter, tweeting: “This Luther film is driving me insane. How hard is it to get locations right. They've just driven round Canary Wharf looking for him in Soho!”
A third person went as far as calling the use of London’s locations ‘insulting’, and shared pictures of a car chase through the streets of Canary Wharf and Piccadilly Circus. The viewer wrote: “The Luther movie is insulting. The police is going to piccadilly circus thru *checks notes* Canary Wharf at least try to pretend to follow basic London geography smh."
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In fact, the car chase that whizzed between London’s financial district and the busy West End junction caused outrage among Londoners online. One eagle eyed fan noticed that the wrong tube train was used as well.
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After calling the film ‘generic and very disappointing’ an amateur critic on Twitter shared: “TV Luther was set in day to day London where people live & work. Seemingly average people are the murderers. It was outlandish at times but it was dark, scary & fun. It had great storylines & all the characters were interesting Netflix Luther was the opposite.”
At least Netflix always seems to get Top Boy's locations right...