Why Foxtel’s Luther star Idris Elba stopped drinking away the stress of being a star

As James Bond rumours go into overdrive, Idris Elba returns as damaged detective, Luther in a new season of the drama — and it’s his darkest role yet.

For those salivating over the prospect of Idris Elba pulling on James Bond’s tuxedo and sauntering up to their neighbourhood bar, this year’s sexiest man alive wants to be straight up about one thing — his martini order: “I like them stirred, not shaken.”

The cheeky quip in a recent NY Times interview played straight into the hands of fans desperate to see the 45-year-old play the world’s most famous movie spy.

But ask him about the dark and stormy TV role which cemented his reputation as an international acting force — damaged detective, John Luther — and he admits there was more chance of viewers finding him drowning his sorrows in a London watering hole when he first took on the job, than he believes there is of him playing the cocktail-swilling 007.

When he first started filming the gruesome crime series back in 2010, the weight of the work saw him spending most of his time after hours hitting bars.

Hunt … Elba plays detective John Luther on the trial of a serial killer. Picture: Des Willie/BBC FIRST

Notoriously gritty, the show is packed with murders and set in the dead of London’s winter, Elba admits shooting would leave him needing a stiff drink or two.

“It’s make believe, let’s be honest, but the truth is we go to great lengths to make it very compelling and dark and therefore that means, you know, us as a film crew, we shoot at night, we spent a lot of time in the cold and we kill a lot of people,” Elba tells TV Guide.

“We’d all watch that [back] and go, ‘Jesus Christ, what are we doing?’ and we’d go home and we’d dream about it and come back and do it all again the next day.”

“In my first season,” he reveals, “I used to spend a lot of time in bars, straight after work, without a doubt.”

Eight years down the track, with season five of Luther now under his famous tweed overcoat, Elba admits he had to find a better outlet than drinking away the toll the role takes on him.

Instead of hanging out in bars, he has channelled his night owl energy into his side hustles as a DJ, music producer and, as of November last year, co-owner of a chic and private cocktail bar called Parrot, inside the Grand Waldorf Hilton in the west end of London.

London calling … Elba (top right) stars in the semi-autobiographical comedy, In The Long Run. Picture: Supplied.

“You just have to have some sort of therapeutic outlet which tends to be music for me … making music, to take me out of that dark.”

While Elba may run in royal social circles now (he was a guest at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s May wedding), his dark past — before his big break as drug lord, Stringer Bell in The Wire — included being a club bouncer and pot dealer (selling weed to New York’s comedy stars, including a young Dave Chapelle).

Growing up on the mean streets of London, with a fierce Ghana-born mother ruling the roost, he would use those urban smarts to drive his unlikely fame and fortune.

His upbringing wasn’t all bad, with Elba celebrating the lighter side of his childhood in an autobiographical new comedy series, In The Long Run.

He’s used his experiences as a DJ for his next Netflix comedy release, Turn Up Charlie (streaming next month).

Groove … Elba channels his love of music and DJ-ing in new Netflix drama, Turn Up Charlie. Picture: Nick Wall/Netflix

But it was Luther fans, relentless in demanding the show must go on, which drove him to return for an intense, four-part season.

“The action has definitely been amplified. We have four storylines running and some big surprises that come in and at the same time, we want that ticking clock feeling,” he says.

“The story is complex. Last season we found John in a calm place thinking about coming back to the force or not. This season, he’s in the force and he is very much in the force … he’s a calmer John but things happen that tick him.”

He’s also got a new sidekick, DS Catherine Halliday, played by rising star Wunmi Mosaku — another black detective which proved an interesting dynamic for Elba.

“She, more than most characters, challenges Luther. There’s a sense of protection, I think because she’s a black detective and he wants her to climb.”

Royal … Elba with his fiancee Sabrina Dhowre at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor. Picture: Gareth Fuller

He’s been on the career ascent himself since the last season of Luther in 2015 — focusing on films and taking on documentary challenges, including Discovery channel’s Idris Elba: Fighter series, which saw him train for a professional kick-boxing bout; and No Limits, in which he attempted to break land-speed records.

There was also time to create his own fashion collection for global menswear retailer, Superdry (driving up its profits by 53 per cent); before he was lured back for another instalment of the BBC First drama.

But it’s likely to be the last on the small screen, with Elba confirming plans for a Luther movie: “the landscape of television has changed now so television is just as good as film and we want to bring our audience with us to a film.”

If his booming career isn’t enough reason to celebrate, there’s also his recent engagement to model girlfriend, Sabrina Dhowre.

After vowing he’d never wed again, the twice-married, father of two proposed last February — a blow to his largely female fan base, but worth raising a glass.

* Luther, 8.30pm, Sunday February 3 on Foxtel’s BBC First.