Luther is heading east for a new series…


The BBC1 detective drama starring Idris Elba is to be remade with a new star for a Russian audience. Entitled Klim, the show will see the iconoclastic cop transplanted from London to Saint Petersburg for an eight-part offering to be shown in 2015.

Following in the footsteps of Life on Mars, the series will be made by production company Sreda for broadcast on Russia’s Channel One, and is already being heralded as “the next Sherlock” by Sreda co-owner Alexander Tsekalo.

“Luther is such a complex, smart character who always wins out with his intuition, provocative questioning and scientific methods,” said Tsekalo. “Russian audiences will love it – everyone’s looking for the next Sherlock, and we think Klim, our version of Luther, will be it!”

The original version of Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch was dubbed into Russian and proved a huge ratings hit there, so much so that broadcasters changed its transmission time to just 15 minutes after that of the UK – late-night in Russia – in order to avoid piracy.

Other recent BBC drama successes on Russian TV have included Doctor Who, Ripper Street, The Paradise, Father Brown, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and perennial favourite Pride and Prejudice, all licensed from the Corporation’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide.


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