'Luther's Warren Brown

If you've been waiting eagerly for new episodes of Luther to arrive, don't worry - they're almost here! Yes, the show's back for two two-part specials, so expect more creepy crimes (all accompanied by the lovely Idris Elba, of course). When Digital Spy went to visit the set, Warren Brown chatted to reporters about the new instalments and his character DS Justin Ripley, so read on to find out what he had to say!

What's Justin been up to since the first series?
"After putting his neck on the line for Luther and being loyal, he was demoted to back in uniform."

How does he get back in?
"The old unit was dissolved. There's been a new bigger unit that's been created. And I think Luther feels a little bit bad that Ripley was on a good path and doing really, really well within the establishment and then has obviously been demoted, and he feels partly responsible for that. So I think he's got it in him now that he wants to get Ripley back to where he should be. At one point there's a bit where Luther says, 'I quit, I want out, but before I do I want to get you back to work'."

Has Ripley ever thought about quitting?
"No, I don't think so. The job, I think, is his life. There's a bit later on when he's chatting with the new detective and she's talking about being back in uniform, and he says, 'I was never embarrassed to be back in uniform'. I think when Luther comes back and offers him the chance to come back and work as a DS in plain clothes as he used to do, he thought, 'I was going to be in this for at least two years'. Luther says, 'I know everyone sort of bullied you and tried to make you leave and demoted you and tried to embarrass you, but you still stuck at it'. So I don't think for a minute he ever thought, 'No, I'm going to give up'."

Do you think Ripley does everything by the book?
"He was like, 'Everything by the book' and he saw Luther wavering off that path, but at the end of it he put his neck on the line because although he did waver off that path, he could see it was for the greater good. Sometimes everything by the book isn't necessarily good, and if we know criminals are going to get off because we haven't got evidence because we're going by the book but if we waver and can convict a criminal... I wouldn't say Ripley was naive in the beginning, he was just very down the line and procedural and by the book. I think he's definitely opened his eyes a bit, working with Luther."

Does Ripley still hero worship Luther?
"I think no matter what, he believes in Luther and thought that Luther was innocent when everyone around didn't believe. I think Justin's decisions were proved right again because it transpires that yes, he wasn't guilty and it was obviously Reed. He knew Luther was a great copper because he's now built up a relationship where they have been working together. I think that's why he then even more trusted him. And then the fact hat he's now come back in to say, 'I want to help you get back to where you are'. I think that's definitely still there, the loyalty."

Have you enjoyed filming the relationship between Ripley and Luther?
"It has been great to read and film that relationship, that shorthand because they have worked together. He knows how he works and it's definitely developed a lot more. I think it's worked because me and Idris have got on as well. There's a lot more of those two together and their relationship and they get on and know what they're doing."

What has it been like working with Idris?
"It was cool at the beginning - the very first meeting between Ripley and Luther was very much, 'Like your work, glad to be working with you'. And it was cool because I was like, 'I'm very glad to be working with you' to Idris, so it emulated it and I could just use my own experience. It exactly matched it. I think he's great, he's absolutely fantastic. Great to work with, really generous as well. We get on and it's been great."

What was the reaction to the first series like?
"My friends and family loved it. I think it was quite split. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea but it was quite bold and not trying to be just another cop show. I think it was successful in that."

What does make Luther different from other police dramas?
"The writing. The look and the feel of it made it stand out. It didn't look like another cop show, it was really quite cinematic. And a bit ballsy - it was not afraid to go dark. Some people were like, 'I think it's a bit too much'. Again, it's not going to please everyone all the time but for the majority of people that watched it I think the fact it was a bit more out there... that's certainly what attracted me. It was pushing the boundaries a bit."

Have you had any feedback from real police officers?
"Simon, an adviser on the show, is high up in the Met, so he was on hand before we started for us to ask any questions. We met up with him again just prior to starting the new episodes and he said, 'Thanks for making policing cool!' There's so many shows where the cops are bad, this, that and the other. Some of their feedback was that obviously with artistic licence you get to bend bits here and there but on the whole it was a good representation."

Is there a different feel this time as it's two two-part specials instead of a series?
"Initially I was thinking, 'Oh no, we need to do this for another series, it needs to be six [episodes]'. But then what do you do? Do you drag out the Luther-Alice storyline and then have a new killer each week? Then you've just replicated what we did in the first series. With specials it might give it more legs to actually last a bit longer and not just, 'Oh, it's that again, it's that again'. It can be something really different."

What can you tell us about the case in the first special?
"I always end up saying too much! From the beginning, again the criminal or the killer is revealed to the audience so the audience do know. It's the process and the chase - we know who the good guys are, we know who the bad guys are, let's watch the good guys get them."

Luther has some really dark scenes - how do you deal with those?
"Having read the scripts you know, 'It's going to be that', but you get onto the set and because the art department and everyone is top of their game - you go into it knowing this is pretend but to open a freezer and to physically see a girl's body that looks frozen to death is a little bit like, 'Urgh!' So that obviously helps with acting it because it's there in front of you. I had to walk into a scene where there's blood all up the wall and you actually feel like you're walking in there... What interests me is that all of those weird things have come out of [creator] Neil Cross' mind, so I'm thinking, 'What is going on in his mind?'"

Do you manage to switch off from those horrible scenes or do you get nightmares?
"No, I think it's a job. It's quite nice because I finished Luther last year and went straight on to [Single Father]. It was quite nice going from finding girls in freezers and blood up the walls and people being murdered to being 'bloke with bird'. When I did Single Father it was like, 'Yeah, there's no blood!' Alright, there was a bit of family drama, but it was like, 'Alright love'. So that was nice to not be so full on and dark. But it's good I'm getting to vary it and just do different kinds of work. I don't think I struggle to switch off."

The graphic scenes must stay with you though.
"Being in it, you do have that, 'What if this was...?' But you can drive yourself bloody mad if you think like that. Crimewatch, wasn't it, they always said, 'Don't have nightmares'. Watch it, that's it, and forget about it. The great thing was people weren't forgetting about it - people were still talking about it well after it's finished and that's a good thing. It had a big impact. This next lot is as dark if not darker."

Are you pleased with the success of the show in the US?
"The feedback's been great... I think the reviews and stuff have gone down brilliantly."

Do you want to go and work over there?
"Not necessarily. I'm not in a rush. This is going to sound like I'm slagging people off, but there's so many actors out there and people say, 'Do you want to go to America?' I'm not in a rush to go. Stuff's going really well at the moment over here and I'm glad to be working. Some people go out there working or trying to get jobs because they can't get a job over here, just handing out CVs. I think you've got to be open to it. I've had this show that's gone out there and Occupation was out on BBC America, Dead Set's just gone out. I've had more and more work go out there and I am working with people who are doing stuff in America, so at some point yeah, why not? But I'd rather do it for an actual project or if there's interest."

Has Luther got any famous fans?
"Idris was saying yesterday that Michael Mann is a fan of Luther, and I think he got in touch with Neil Cross. That was like, 'Wow'. If he's a fan, it's great. [We should] get some American crimes and bugger off out of the cold and try to solve some warm crimes. That would be alright, wouldn't it? It's not going to look the same. It won't be as dark with Bermuda shorts on - 'Someone's knocked over an ice cream, Ripley!'"

Luther returns on June 14 at 9pm on BBC One.

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