For some reason, we’re watching our way through ‘Luther’. Why we’re watching a series which began 16 years ago I have no idea. Someone said (someone is ALWAYS saying ‘watch this’, ‘watch that’, its the nature of streaming), ‘watch Luther’, and we duly did. Are. Cos there’s lots of them and we don’t do ‘binging’, we don’t watch very much tv really. But we love a cop drama and its nice to watch a series in which they send actual ‘text messages’ to each other on old Nokia phones. And Idris Elba (can I still call him ‘Idris’ when he was knighted last year???) is fab, as you’d expect. But Ruth Wilson is spectacular.

I’ve always had a ‘bit of thing’ about our Ruth. In that she’s fucking gorgeous. But as ‘Alice’ in Luther, she’s something else. She’s cleverer than everyone else, odder than everyone else, funnier than everyone else and more dangerous than anyone ever. And she does it brilliantly. Not just because she looks so good whilst doing it.

In series 3… possibly 4, she ‘returns’ (she’s always coming and going from the show) driving a Jensen FF. A car so amazingly ‘special’ that it was a fantasy motor for all car-crazy kids in the early 70s. As you can see from the pic, it has not one but two(!!!) air vents on each side. Which is how you know its an FF. And not an Interceptor. Because the Ferguson Formula made the car 4-wheel drive. The first time a road car (off-road cars and proper jeeps had 4-w-d forever) was equipped as such. It took 14 more years before Audi ‘invented’ the Quattro with 4-w-d.

The Jensen was just so stylish (read: dog ugly), you can almost ‘feel’ the chic and luxurious cool of West Bromwich oozing from its pores. Because that’s where Jensen Motors was based. They imported 7-litre Chrysler engines from the States, shoved them into their bodies and 4-wheel-drove them. They even tried to fit the (in-)famous ‘Hemi’ engine to the car. But the Hemi (which is still the engine used in drag racers) proved too powerful for the Jensen to cope with. Which is a shame, because we all love a car with almost infinite power but lacks the proper suspension, brakes and strength to handle it. Jensens were supercars of their day. Expensive. Roaring V8s. Muscular.

And here we are, just 16 years late, and our Ruth/Alice pitches up in one. Class.

In the latest series we’re watching ‘Alice has died’. But her character is such that it doesn’t necessarily mean she won’t be pitching up again any minute soon. More importantly, I hope the car’s ok.

Happy Thursday

A xxxx