David Mitchell leads new BBC crime drama Ludwig, and the first details of the show have landed.
David Mitchell has become a familiar face in UK comedy, whether trying to discern who’s telling the truth in Would I Lie To You? or as the uptight Mark Corrigan alongside long time comedy partner Robert Webb in Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain’s Peep Show.
He also took on the role of William Shakespeare in Ben Elton’s sitcom Upstart Crow, and reprised the role for a stage adaptation that opened in 2020 and then again when the play was restaged in 2022
Just as Alan Davies took a left turn from stand-up comedy to drama in David Renwick’s superb Jonathan Creek, Mitchell is now moving into the realm of crime drama to play the title role in six part BBC series Ludwig.
The synopsis reads as follows:
When John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s (David Mitchell) identical twin, James, disappears off the face of the earth, John takes over his brother’s identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts. John has never married, never had a family and never really ventured further than his own front door. Without a computer, mobile phone or even a television, he lives in quiet solitude, designing puzzles for a living, under the nom-de-plume of ‘Ludwig’.
However, filling the shoes of your identical twin is one thing – when your twin also happens to be a successful DCI leading Cambridge’s busy inner-city major crimes team the stakes are much higher. John may be a master of all things cryptic, but can he crack the biggest puzzle of his life?
Anna Maxwell Martin co-stars as Lucy Betts-Taylor, John’s sister-in-law and wife of his missing brother James. Other cast members include Dipo Ola, Gerran Howell, Izuka Hoyle, Dylan Hughes and Dorothy Atkinson.
Mark Brotherhood created and wrote the series, with Robert McKillop and Jill Robertson directing.
Ludwig will be broadcast on BBC One later this year, we’ll keep you updated as we hear more. Filming has just got underway.
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