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Ludwig – aka John Taylor (David Mitchell – Migration 3D), is an introvert who does all kinds of puzzles, crosswords, logic puzzles, sudoku et al. Yep, a massive nerd. He’s basically Peep Show‘s Mark Corrigan once Jeremy has left his flat ten years earlier, and even has the same Nokia brick mobile phone which was given to him 20 years ago.
Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin – A Spy Among Friends) – married to his twin brother, James, wants him to travel 145 miles to see her, to tell him something that she refuses to do so via phone, and has even sent him a cab… and an expensive black cab, at that!
She feels James had completely changed, his behaviour was odd, and then he just didn’t come home at all.
More to the point, he’s even written a letter of resignation from his cop job, and she can’t find any reason why he’s gone. Since there’s nothing at their home to indicate what’s happened, she suspects it can only be hidden within his desk at work, and since John is an identical twin, can she get him to pretend to be James and pose as a policeman?
For anyone reading this who doesn’t know: In the UK, pretending to be a policeman is illegal!
At the point of posting this, I’ve only seen the first episode, but it’s pretty damn funny, because Mitchell is so bloody awkward. As one comment said on the trailer’s comments, it’s David Mitchell being David Mitchell.
There’s also the problems of having to wear contacts when he normally uses glasses, although James didn’t, so John can’t wear them; and as you’d expect, John gets into all kinds of hot water. I’ll avoid spoilers, but it’s safe to quote from the premise that states how he ends up investigating a murder, which takes you to an office situation teased at the very start of the episode.
Ludwig is absolutely barking mad as a concept, but along with… ahem, Mitchell being Mitchell, and given his character also trying to deal with a tortured past, I’m absolutely and utterly hooked, already.
The neat inclusion of classical music, such as Ode to Joy by Beethoven (so, there’s the Ludwig) is also welcome, and the programme reminds me that while I dabbled in Logic Problems as a kid, I should really try and get into them again. Maybe, actually understand them!
John Taylor would certainly kick the fucking arse of The Penguin, too.
UPDATE EPISODES 2 & 3:
All episodes are now on the BBC iPlayer, and the image used for Episode 2 shows that it features Felicity Kendall So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be busy for a while…
Ludwig begins tonight on BBC1 at 9pm, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Director: Robert McKillop
Producer: Georgie Fallon
Writer: Mark Brotherhood
Cast:
John Taylor: David Mitchell
Lucy Betts–Taylor: Anna Maxwell Martin
DI Russell Carter: Dipo Ola
Holly Pinder: Sophie Willan
DC Simon Evans: Gerran Howell
DS Alice Finch: Izuka Hoyle
DI Matt Neville: Karl Pilkington
Henry Betts-Taylor: Dylan Hughes
Chief Constable Ziegler: Ralph Ineson
DCS Carol Shaw: Dorothy Atkinson
Jane: Mia Austen
Young John & James Taylor: Jakub Bednarczyk
Carla: Steve Binns
Sarah Gilmarsh: Scarlett Brookes
Esther Taylor: Annabelle Dowler
Brian: Ikky Kabir
Jamie:Christos Lawton
Chris the Taxi Driver: Tom McCall
Becka: Bridgitta Roy
Claire: Catherine Skinner
Alan Howells: Kewell Ganas
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.