Loading AI tools
British 2024 television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ludwig is a six-part BBC television detective dramedy series starring David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin which premiered on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in 2024.
| Ludwig | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Actors Anna Maxwell Martin and David Mitchell | |
| Genre | Comedy drama Detective Mystery |
| Screenplay by | Mark Brotherhood |
| Directed by | Robert McKillop Jill Robertson |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Georgie Fallon |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC One |
| Release | 25 September – 30 October 2024 |
John Taylor (David Mitchell) is a reclusive puzzle maker who publishes puzzle books under the pen name "Ludwig". His identical twin brother, James Taylor, is a successful Detective Chief Inspector in the Cambridge police force. James has gone missing, and his wife Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin) enlists John's help to solve the mystery. Pretending to be his brother, John infiltrates the local police station to investigate, and becomes inadvertently embroiled in solving other cases.[1]
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | Average UK viewers (millions) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 25 September 2024 | 30 October 2024 | TBA | |
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [2] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Robert McKillop | Mark Brotherhood | 25 September 2024 | 6.01 | |
|
Puzzle setter John 'Ludwig' Taylor assumes the identity of his identical twin brother, as Detective James Taylor in the Cambridge police authority in the hopes of finding clues to his brother's whereabouts. He leads the Major Investigations Team to gather information and ends up investigating a completely unconnected murder whilst remaining in character as his brother. | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Robert McKillop | Mark Brotherhood | 2 October 2024 | 6.15 | |
|
Still posing as his police detective brother, John Taylor gets drawn into the investigation of another man's disappearance during a team-building seminar held in a stately home. Once again, John uses his logical skills to untangle the incident, while James's wife Lucy reminds him he's meant to focus on finding his brother. A bigger mystery behind James's disappearance begins to take form. | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Robert McKillop | Mark Brotherhood | 9 October 2024 | 6.34 | |
|
The murder of a Cambridge tour guide tests John's logic, while Lucy conducts her own investigation into a case whose details were left by James in an old fax machine and found by John and Lucy in Episode 2. | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Jill Robertson | Mark Brotherhood | 16 October 2024 | 6.64 | |
|
John Taylor, continuing to impersonate his police detective brother, gets caught up in the investigation of a suspicious death on a building site. | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Jill Robertson | Mark Brotherhood | 23 October 2024 | TBD | |
|
The headmaster of a school is found apparently hanged in his study. John Taylor, a former pupil of the school, is convinced it is murder. He attempts to solve the case with the assistance of his former teacher and mentor, who also deduces that John is impersonating James. After receiving a strange phone call, Lucy goes on a covert mission to unravel the mystery of James's disappearance. | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Jill Robertson | Mark Brotherhood | 30 October 2024 | TBD | |
|
Holly, the police technology specialist, is found dead and Lucy is suspected of her murder. During the investigation, in order to ensure Lucy's exoneration, John is forced to reveal that he has been impersonating James. John receives a cryptic phone call from James, leading him to a hidden store of police files. Cambridge Police contrive James's resignation and re-engage John as a paid consultant to solve crimes. | |||||||
The production company for the series is Big Talk, in association with That Mitchell and Webb Company. Mark Brotherhood has written the script, and the producer is Georgie Fallon. Executive producers include Kenton Allen, Chris Sussman and Kathryn O'Connor.[3] Mitchell is also an executive producer, along with script writer Brotherhood and Saurabh Kakkar. Directors are Robert McKillop and Jill Robertson.[4]
In January 2024 Anna Maxwell Martin joined the cast, as well as Izuka Hoyle, Gerran Howell, Dipo Ola, Dorothy Atkinson and Dylan Hughes.[5] Guest appearances in the series include Karl Pilkington, Felicity Kendal, Hammed Animashaun, Paul Chahidi, Derek Jacobi, Allan Mustafa, Sam Swainsbury and Rose Ayling-Ellis.[6][7]
Filming took place in Richmond upon Thames, London and Cambridge in January 2024.[8][9]
Alan Connor was brought in as the series' "puzzle consultant", and produced the crosswords used as props in the series. He also worked with John Henderson ("Enigmatist") to set a cryptic crossword for The Guardian in-character as Ludwig.[10]
The series was first broadcast in the UK on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 25 September 2024.[11][12]
Reviews from critics have been generally favourable.
In a five-star review for The Telegraph, Anita Singh described the "cosy cryptic crime series" as a "comedy triumph".[13] In a three-star review for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan said it was "like watching Peep Show's Mark join the police force".[14] In a three-star review for The Independent, Louis Chilton said, "If you like Thursday Murder Club, you'll love this abject pap".[15]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Ludwig has a 100% Fresh rating.[16]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
