Ratings: Did ‘Luther’ season 4 conclusion improve season 5 odds?

The two-part story of “Luther” season 4 is now complete over in Great Britian, and based on the ratings we imagine that BBC One has to be at least reasonably satisfied with the results. While it was not a complete home run, it still performed very well for a crime drama airing during the week. (Many of Britain’s to-rated series air during the weekend.)

According to Digital Spy, the show drew 4.7 million viewers in its second outing Tuesday, which is a slight decrease from the premiere … albeit an expected one. The final part had already aired in what was a one-off special in America, so there were more spoilers out there and more than likely some watching via less-than-legal means rather than waiting. Also, some of the hype had died down.

As a whole, “Luther” drew over a 20% audience share, which is a staggering figure compared to most American TV. If a show had that over here, it would be considered one of the biggest hits of our generation. Some of that speaks to how compartmentalized entertainment has become in the United States, where there are so many options from traditional TV to streaming services.

Do these numbers help improve the show’s odds of returning in any way? We’d say that it really doesn’t have any bearing one way or another. The BBC would probably jump on more “Luther” in a second, and it comes down more to what creator Neil Cross and star Idris Elba have in mind for the future. In most interviews that we’ve seen they seem to be keen on moving the character over to the big screen for a feature film.

If you do want to see all of our “Luther” coverage so far, be sure to head over to this link! Also, you can sign up over here to get some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: BBC.)