'Luther' Ending Explained: Here's What Happened In Series 5's Dramatic Finale

Warning! This article contains HUGE spoilers from ‘Luther’ series five, episode four

‘Luther’ fans had waited five years for a new series before this week, only for the whole thing to be over, in the space of four days. 

The end of series five brought with it some seriously big shocks, and will undoubtedly leave viewers wondering if Idris Elba could return as the rogue detective again.

There was a lot to take in as Luther’s involvement with Cornelius and the murders of Jeremy Lake were wrapped up, and if the action left you feeling just a tad confused, we’ve got you covered...

The episode began by revealing Jeremy was still on the loose, and had killed a random man on the street, whose body he had hung over a bridge. As a new calling card, Jeremy had also placed a mask of his own face over the victim’s. 

Elsewhere, Palmer had taken Alice and Mark to a warehouse and locked them in a freezer, and informed Luther he would have to go to a series of checkpoints before locating them. Growing tired of the wild goose chase, Luther decided to go straight to Cornelius, enlisting Halliday to find out where he was by doing a search on one of his associates, Ronald Massey. 

Upon arriving at the Hotel Octavian, where Cornelius was hiding out, Luther threatened to kill him, before getting him to instruct Palmer to call off killing Mark and Alice.

Cornelius and Luther then headed to the warehouse where Palmer was still insistent on carrying out his original instructions, so Luther shot him in order to disarm him. However, Cornelius then shot him again, killing him instantly. The crime boss then took a picture of Luther next to Palmer’s body with a smoking gun in his hand to use as insurance if he should ever need it. 

Luther then rescued Mark and Alice, and as they headed back to Mark’s house, Luther lied to Alice, telling her Cornelius was dead. However, she soon rumbled him after a phonecall to Cornelius’ house revealed he was alive and well, leaving Alice feeling betrayed. She then warned Mark not to let Luther back into his life, warning him that he was not the person he thinks he is. 

Meanwhile, Jeremy’s wife Vivien was questioned by the arresting officers, and it was confirmed Jeremy did indeed have a brain tumour, as Halliday previously predicted, and only had months to live.

While Vivien initially insisted she had no idea about her husband’s crimes, Luther soon got the truth out of her when he correctly suggested the book Jeremy has been keeping was a confessional one. He explained Jeremy was proud of the crimes he had committed, but Vivien’s strict instructions to keep things under wraps meant the book was his only outlet.

Vivien then revealed Jeremy had a fantasy called “happy families” where he summons people to the door to kill them, like lambs to the slaughter.

Schenk had to leave the interrogation room to receive a call, in which he was informed of Benny’s death after his body was found in a van at the warehouse. He ordered officers to solve the crime, but to stay quiet. 

Jeremy was then seen arriving at the house of the school teacher whose pupil he murdered in episode one. He immediately knocked her out and began using her house as his own to lure a plumber there, while a sex worker was later seen arriving.

Back at the police station, Luther and Halliday poured over Jeremy’s “happy families” fantasy, and speculated what location he would be using. Hedging their bets, they headed to the school teacher’s house.

Meanwhile, Schenk was informed that Cornelius was seemingly behind Benny’s death and vowed revenge, sending armed officers over to his house. However, Alice had beaten them to it, and began firing at Cornelius. After realising the police where there too, she escaped, before Schenk arrested Cornelius. But the gangster played his trump card when he showed him the picture of Luther at the warehouse. 

Schenk then called Halliday to covertly bring Luther back to the station, but after Luther realised this, Halliday secretly texted Schenk of what they were up to and their location.

Upon arriving at the school teacher’s house, they found six people murdered wearing masks of Jeremy’s face. It was then revealed that Jeremy was in fact posing as one of the dead bodies and attempted to attack Halliday. Luther managed to overpower him before handcuffing him to a radiator.

As Halliday then told Luther she had informed Schenk of their whereabouts, he prepared to flee. At that point, Alice emerged and shot Halliday dead in order to set Luther up, still pissed off from his betrayal. She then shot him in the shoulder and ran off, before he chased her onto a building site, where the police were able to track them down thanks to a trail of blood. 

After a passionate confrontation, Alice shot Luther again. Weakened, he attempted to arrest her for Halliday’s murder, but she slashed him across the face and admitted she loved him.

As Alice prepared to shoot him again, Luther lunged at her, pushing her off some scaffolding, but he grabbed her before she could plunge to her death. However, she then sliced his hand, forcing him to let go, and her lifeless body was seen metres below.

As Schenk arrived on the scene, he arrested Luther and the detective left the building site with his future looking very uncertain indeed.

With no news of another series, it remains to be seen whether this is the end of Luther’s story, or if he will somehow find a way out of this one. 

‘Luther’ is available to watch again on BBC iPlayer.