Idris Elba has posted a cryptic message amid debate a about the "authenticity" of his BBC crime series Luther.
The post comes after t he drama was criticised for a lack of "authenticity" by the BBC's creative diversity chief Miranda Wayland.
According to The Times, she said: "When it [Luther] first came out everybody loved the fact that Idris Elba was in there - a really strong, Black character lead.
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"We all fell in love with him. Who didn't, right? But after you got into about the second series, you got kind of like, 'OK, he doesn't have any Black friends, he doesn't eat any Caribbean food, this doesn't feel authentic'."
While Idris himself has yet to explicitly comment on the discussion, he has shared a cryptic message on social media.
On his Instagram Stories on Wednesday, Idris shared a simple quote in white text on a black background.
It reads: "We must not pull ourselves backwards, only push ourselves forwards. IE."
The quote appears to be attributed to Idris himself with the presence of his initials on the post.
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In addition to her comments about Luther, Wayland called for other ways to bring about authenticity and exclusivity in our television series, noting: "It's about making sure that everything around them [the characters] - their environment, their culture, the set - is absolutely reflective."
The BBC responded to Metro regarding the remarks, commenting: "Luther is a multi-award winning crime drama series and the iconic role of DCI John Luther has become one of TV's most powerful detective characters of which we are tremendously proud.
"The BBC is committed to its continued investment in diversity and recent BBC One dramas I May Destroy You and Small Axe are testament to that."
Meanwhile, Luther creator Neil Cross previously revealed that he did not consider race when casting the role of John Luther.
"I have no knowledge or expertise or right to try to tackle in some way the experience of being a Black man in modern Britain," he commented.
"It would have been an act of tremendous arrogance for me to try to write a Black character.
"We would have ended up with a slightly embarrassed, ignorant, middle-class, white writer's idea of a Black character."
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Luther has run for five series and featured the troubled detective John Luther investigating disturbing crimes, with many episodes dedicated to his twisted relationship with psychopathic killer Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson).
Other Black characters to feature in the series include Nikki Amuka-Bird as DCI Erin Gray in the second and third runs, while Wunmi Mosaku joined the cast in the fifth series as Luther's investigative partner DS Catherine Halliday.
Luther is planned to continue with a film outing instead of further runs of the television series.
Earlier this year, Idris told The All-New Capital Weekender : "Apart from making more music, people that love my film and stuff, listen, I’m going to be making Luther: The Movie.
"I'm super excited and I hope the fans are sort of excited for that. It’s been a long time coming for a movie, so I’m excited about that."
He added that "the sky is the limit" with where they can take the film, adding that the story will be more ambitious and possibly stretch to international settings despite maintaining the consistency of the main character.
The Mirror has reached out to representatives of Idris Elba for comment on this story.
*Luther series 1 to 5 are available now on BBC iPlayer.
