Mumford & Sons team up with Idris Elba for music video

Golden Globe-winning actor Idris Elba has made his directorial debut with global folk sensation Mumford & Sons.

The Wire actor Elba co-directed the video to forthcoming single "Lover of the Light" in the Pembrokeshire countryside and also stars in it.

The band met with Elba and scriptwriter Dan Cadan in a London pub and after an "ale infused" conversation decided to go ahead with the project.

"We are, quite obviously, huge fans of Idris Elba's acting work, as pretty much anyone can agree he's the most badass British actor since Richard Briars. So we trusted him as the director for our latest video," a spokesperson for Mumford & Sons said.

The band said they don't normally enjoy being in music videos, saying they've "always been uncomfortable with the process" unless they are performing live.

"Talking to Idris and Dan about making a video that we're not in made it a lot more fun to think about," they said.

"They went off and wrote the treatment after our ale-infused conversation in a pub in London, and what they directed, we are proud to present as ' Lover of the Light'."

The single, released on 3 December, is taken from Mumford & Sons' second album, Babel, which debuted at number 1 in both the UK and US in September and has sold over 1 million copies globally.  

Idris Elba presented a documentary, How Clubbing Changed the World, Channel 4, which aired in August. His acting credits include Ghost Rider, Thor, The Big C, The Losers and The Wire.