Meanwhile, when asked whether the film is his Bond audition, Elba said “Oh my God, no! I’ve been saying for years, no!”, before adding: “The martini line is a bit cheeky, isn’t it? I was like, ‘Neil, are you sure you want to put that in?’”

Asked if he thinks Luther is better than Bond, Elba said: “Not ‘better’, no. Luther’s equally engaging, equally sexy and great to see visually. But Bond is from a universe where espionage was the way to capture. Luther is from the world where you bang on the door, ‘Are you in there? I’m coming in.’

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“I think Luther fits with a bit more of a modern-day bad guy as opposed to someone from the taking-over-the-world style.”

Elba previously told Total Film magazine that while “it’s not a competition”, he did “reference Bond as a template for the type of film we’re going for”. He also hinted that, like with Bond, when he is “too old” to play Luther someone else could “step in to play John”.