Ludwig sees David Mitchell play a socially awkward man who must turn to sleuthing in a bid to find his missing twin brother.
The six-part series, airing on BBC One and available now as a box set on BBC iPlayer, sees the Peep Show and Would I Lie to You? star play sharp-minded, Beethoven-loving John Taylor, who rarely leaves his home, where he compiles puzzles under the pseudonym "Ludwig".
His sheltered life is thrown into turmoil, however, when his sister-in-law Lucy (Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin) needs his help to locate her husband James, John’s twin, a Cambridge-based detective who has mysteriously vanished.
John reluctantly assumes James' identity to infiltrate the police station where his brother works and look for clues, but, as he tries to avoid getting caught out by James’ colleagues, John also finds himself using his puzzling skills to investigate a range of baffling crimes.
We spoke with David Mitchell who told all us all about the series and the link it has to his wife Victoria Coren Mitchell's show Only Connect...
Ludwig sees you take on your first lead role as a TV sleuth, what appealed to you?
"I love murder mysteries and I've always wanted to do one. Miss Marple – the Joan Hickson version – was great and I loved Sir David Suchet in Poirot too and we always watched Inspector Morse as a family. So the young me would be thrilled, and so is the 'now me!’ This has a comic spin too and the scripts were page-turners."
How do you see John?
“He's bright but his puzzle-setting is a distraction from reality. He finds the world messy, but puzzles are like murder mysteries, they're satisfying, as you see disorder resolved. That calms his mind, because in his childhood, his and James’ father left, which traumatized him, and his coping mechanism is doing things that make him feel comfortable, so he’s not lived a fulfilling existence."
Is he worried about impersonating James?
"He is, but Lucy and James are his family and he's fond of Henry [James and Lucy’s teenage son, played by Dylan Hughes] too and they need help. But, as he progresses in his investigation, there are various people who prove not entirely trustworthy and there's jeopardy."
But his puzzling talents come in handy when he has to solve murders under the guise of James, beginning with the death of a solicitor in episode one…
"Yes, he is a fish out of water and freaks out at being with a body, but when he starts to see the murders as puzzles, suddenly he's confident. He's drawn out of his comfort zone because he can't leave puzzles unsolved. Alan Connor, a real puzzle-setter [who also worked as a question editor on Victoria Coren Mitchell's show Only Connect], designed all our devious puzzles and I understood as much as I needed to, in order to look like I understood them!"
What's John’s relationship like with Lucy?
"There's a closeness, it's an old friendship. I don't know whether he was once smitten with her… Anna is brilliant, funny and moving, and I felt, 'I'm in a scene with a really good actor, I hope I don't look dreadful!' If she thought, 'I'm working with an idiot', she was kind enough not to say so!"
You also have great guest stars including Felicity Kendal, Sir Derek Jacobi and Rose Ayling-Ellis…
“I obviously remember Felicity from The Good Life and it doesn't feel real having watched someone on TV for years and then they’re in something with you! She was charming. Derek’s lovely too and plays a teacher who John knows from when he was at school. I was blown away that he did the show. And my daughter is a fan of Rose’s from Strictly, and was excited!”
And how did you find shooting in Cambridge?
"When I was a student there, I desperately wanted to get into acting and comedy. So filming there now, I thought, ‘Look at me. This is my job!’ Having a picturesque context is key to this genre too, so there were scenes near the river, and one crime is to do with a walking tour of Cambridge."
Finally, there are scenes where John inexpertly drives James’ ageing Saab, which used to be their father’s. How did you shoot those as you don’t drive?
“Most of the wide shots are of someone else wearing my jacket! But I like that it's another trope of TV detectives that he's got an interesting car, which is almost a comic character. It's just a generation on from Inspector Morse's Jaguar!”
Ludwig airs on BBC One and is available as a box set on BBC iPlayer. We will let you know about a US broadcast if it is announced.
