A Nuke now nestles on the darting throne, but for those who witnessed him obliterate an old stomping ground, Luke Littler’s rise is no surprise. Despite many first acquainting themselves with a bright-eyed 16-year-old Littler during his demolition of Christian Kist at Ally Pally over 12 months ago, the road to becoming the PDC’s youngest world champion has a backstory.
Before he was the Pro Tour reaper, Littler appeared five times on the MODUS Super Series - a platform born out of lockdown that has grown exponentially to offer stellar prize money to those without PDC Tour Cards and now has its own 24-hour channel on Pluto TV.
Chris Murphy, the series' CEO and executive producer, became well acquainted with the reigning world champ during his MODUS dominance in 2023, and the lifting of the Sid Waddell trophy was apparently on the wall. “He’s not got a mean streak in him as a person, but on the dartboard, he's a monster and an entertainer. You’re thinking, ‘This guy has got everything,’” was Murphy's initial reaction to first witnessing a budding Nuke.
“Everyone was quite excited about him. People knew he’d hit nine-darters when he was 12, 13 in the JDC and things like that; they knew he was a special talent, but we’ve seen that before, and it has never been fulfilled. “When he came to the MODUS Super Series, obviously we spend a lot of time with the players, they’re in here for a whole week. I was quite taken by his maturity. I know people say his appearance is older than he is, but I felt his attitude was as well.
