What To Expect From Ludwig

There’s a new detective series on the block. Starring Daid Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin, here’s exactly what to expect from Ludwig, kicking off on the BBC this week.

BBC’s Ludwig: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Written by Mark Brotherhood and directed by Robert McKillip and Jill Robertson, a new mystery will land on BBC One tomorrow night, led by none other than David Mitchell. ‘I’m delighted to be working in a genre of television that I have loved ever since, at the age of 10, I started watching the Miss Marple adaptations, starring Joan Hickson, with my parents,’ Mitchell says. ‘Sometimes the only thing that can bring the whole family together is murder.’

DS Alice Finch (IZUKA HOYLE), DI Russell Carter (DIPO OLA), John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor / James Taylor, (DAVID MITCHELL), DCS Carol Shaw (DOROTHY ATKINSON), DC Simon Evans (GERRAN HOWELL). © Big Talk Productions/Colin Hutton

What Is Ludwig About?

Ludwig centres on John Taylor, an introverted Cambridge man who leads a quiet life. He has never married, never started a family and never really ventured beyond his front door. He doesn’t have a computer, mobile phone or even a TV, preferring to live in quiet solitude working as a puzzle designer under the pen name, Ludwig.

But, when his identical twin James disappears off the face of the Earth, all of that changes. In a bid to find out what happened to his brother, John takes over James’ identity – big shoes to fill when your brother is a DCI leading Cambridge’s major crimes team. John may be a master of cryptic puzzles, but will he be able to crack the biggest puzzle of his life?

Get a taste of the action with the trailer below…

The Cast

• David Mitchell as John Taylor, brother to missing James
• Anna Maxwell Martin as Lucy Betts-Taylor, wife of the missing James
• Dipo Ola as DI Russell Carter
• Gerran Howell as DC Simon Evans
• Izuka Hoyle as DS Alice Finch
• Dylan Hughes as Henry Betts-Taylor
• Dorothy Atkinson as DCS Carol Shaw
• Sophie Willan as Holly Pinder
• Ralph Ineson as Chief Constable Ziegler
• Derek Jacobi
• Felicity Kendal
• Rose Ayling-Ellis
• Karl Pilkington
• Allan Mustafa
• Paul Chahidi
• Hammed Animashaun

John (Ludwig) Taylor (DAVID MITCHELL). © Big Talk Studios/Colin Hutton

Where Was It Filmed?

Ludwig was filmed on location in Cambridge, the small and historic university town in eastern England, with a plethora of ancient buildings dating back to 1209 and earlier. Ludwig takes place amid the city’s student-filled hubbub, with gorgeous buildings, cobbled streets and the River Cam running through it all.

‘I had a very happy time at university,’ Mitchell says on returning to Cambridge, having studied at the university as an undergraduate student. ‘It’s a beautiful city and it is lovely to visit. It is always slightly bittersweet because it reminds me that I will never be 21 again. Happy memories of my time there are tinged with regret laced with an awareness of mortality. As we all feel. Happy memories aren’t just happy, are they?

‘But I also love the fact that it is set in Cambridge,’ he adds. ‘I grew up in Oxford and growing up watching Inspector Morse it felt very special to know the city a bit. Oxford or Cambridge is a very good context for a programme like this because, in the picturesque and historical surroundings, you can allude to both sides of what the programme needs to be: the attractive, escapist side, but also a sense of darkness and oldness and the fact that humanity is flawed and twisted.’

John (Ludwig) Taylor (DAVID MITCHELL). © Big Talk Studios/Colin Hutton

When Will Ludwig Be On TV?

Ludwig will kick off on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday 25 September 2024. Episodes will then air weekly at the same time on BBC One.

Where Is Ludwig Streaming?

All six episodes of Ludwig will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 25 September 2024.

Will There Be A Second Series?

No news just yet on a reprise, but we know the team would be keen. ‘There is a lot of heart in this show and David and I have a good relationship in it, so I am willing it on,’ says Maxwell-Martin.