A Second Series Of Ludwig Is On Its Way

By Olivia Emily

3 weeks ago

It's the BBC's biggest new launch in two years

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There’s a new detective series on the block – and its a smash hit for the BBC. Starring David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin, here’s exactly what to expect from Ludwig before you tune in – plus whether can expect season 2…

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

Will There Be A Ludwig Season 2?

Yes, the BBC has confirmed a second series of Ludwig is on the way, adding the comedy mystery was the broadcaster’s most successful new scripted show since 2022, attracting over 9.5 million viewers across 28 days. Mitchell will return as John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor, while Anna Maxwell Martin will join him as sister-in-law Lucy Betts-Taylor.

Previously, the main duo hinted they were keen for a reprise: ‘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,’ said Maxwell-Martin, while Mitchell added: ‘That’s certainly our hope, that it will carry on. Fingers crossed.’

Written by Mark Brotherhood and directed by Robert McKillip and Jill Robertson, Ludwig arrived on BBC One at the end of September, led by comedian 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 said. ‘Sometimes the only thing that can bring the whole family together is murder.’

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

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.’