Psychological crime drama Luther’s four-episode fifth season premieres late December 2018 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom. In the US, Luther’s fifth season premieres on BBC America in 2019. The show stars Idris Elba as John Luther, a Detective Chief Inspector solving – and brooding over – high-profile London murders. Luther’s four seasons aired on BBC One in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015.

CBC currently has Canadian streaming rights to Luther, while BBC Canada is historically Luther’s linear home. Whether this arrangement changes for season five wasn’t publicly announced by either CBC or Corus Entertainment as of the time of posting.

Given the show’s high profile, Luther is relatively under-the-radar in Canada. It’s certainly not obscure, not if Elba-as-James-Bond rumours exist. I personally post this as my parents are big Luther fans.

Science fiction drama Roswell, New Mexico debuts in Canada January 15, 2019 at 9:00 PM ET on Showcase. It is the second adaptation of Melinda Metz’s Roswell High young adult book series. The first Roswell High adaptation, Roswell, aired from 1999-2001 on The WB and 2001-02 on UPN. In the Eastern Time Zone, Showcase simulcasts Roswell, New Mexico with the show’s US home at The CW.

The landscape of The CW is somewhat different from that of its predecessor program services The WB and UPN. The CW likes reboots these days, to the point a prospective Good Christian Bitches reboot is in development there. To that end, Roswell, New Mexico sells itself apart from the original series. This is a strategy in line with the Dynasty and Charmed reboots. The upshot with Roswell, New Mexico is that it isn’t based on an Aaron Spelling property this time.

The reboot hinges to a point on an illegal-immigrant premise, which the trailer briefly touches on. Hopefully the show’s allusions to American politics aren’t awkwardly handled. At least Roswell, New Mexico is on a program service that cancels relatively few of its shows. Also, hot sauce moved on and found iZombie.