10 Greatest Original TV Heroes Of The Last Decade

10. DCI John Luther: Luther (2010-)

There has been no shortage of detectives on our screens over the past decade. Always a TV mainstay, the longevity and success of such shows pretty much comes down to their being well written and having a compelling lead. Without these, you are doomed to drown in an absolute sea of mediocrity.

BBC’s “Luther” has these qualities in spades and stands head and shoulders above most of its modern contemporaries. Many actors on this list have gone on to greater success off the back of these roles, but none have shot up quite so meteorically as Idris Elba.

In the mid 2000s his talents were unearthed States side in his brilliant turn as Stringer Bell in “The Wire,” but he struggled to make it stick and continued to float around in British TV middle of the day drama obscurity, until Neil Cross cast him as fractious detective John Luther.

Cross credits Columbo and Sherlock Holmes as strong influences for the writing of the character, but it’s Elba’s raw charisma and magnetism that makes Luther so much more than another Holmes like.

Seething with barely contained rage and apt to fly off the handle at any moment, Luther is in a constant and wholly unsuccessful fight to keep his shambolic personal life away from his work and becomes perpetually embroiled in a mad, plate spinning routine trying to protect those around him, save his sliding reputation, catch some of London’s most twisted serial killers and try for a romantic relationship that doesn’t end in homicide. It's great stuff.