How to watch Ludwig online: stream the David Mitchell detective comedy from anywhere now

Having long retired from public life, reclusive puzzle writer John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor (David Mitchell) is cajoled from his life of solitude when his twin James, a DCI leading Cambridge’s inner-city major crimes team, goes missing. The best way to find him? By impersonating him, of course. The show premieres on September 25 in the UK, and will be available to watch in for FREE on BBC iPlayer. If you're on holiday while it's on, watch Ludwig on iPlayer from anywhere with a VPN.

If you think that sounds out of character for a David Mitchell typecast, you're absolutely right. The harebrained scheme is the brainchild of Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin), wife of James and, inconveniently, childhood sweetheart of John – though it's not as if they'd ever discuss such matters.

While John has a good enough eye for detail, gut for feeling, and mind for deduction to pass off as his brother, unlike James he's never been able to crack the mystery of small talk. But in order to keep the wool pulled over his new colleagues' eyes, he's going to have to work up the courage to look people in the eye and conceal his true feeble self behind a thin shield of passable pop culture references. 

If that wasn't bad enough, he's going to have to unpick the case of the missing twin while actually doing said twin's job. Taking in coded notebooks, conspiracy blogs, espionage, mistaken identity and murder plots, here's how to watch Ludwig online from anywhere in the world and for free in the UK.

How to watch Ludwig in the UK for free

Ludwig premieres on Wednesday, September 25, which is when all six episodes will become available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Each instalment of the show will also air on BBC One at 9pm BST each Wednesday.

BBC One and iPlayer are free to watch for TV licence fee payers.

If you're trying to access iPlayer while outside the UK, you might want to try a VPN to allow you to watch from abroad. Scroll down for more details.

How to watch Ludwig from anywhere with a VPN

You can watch Ludwig on the BBC iPlayer streaming service as described above by using a VPN — no matter where you are in the world!

Normally streaming services like iPlayer will know where you are trying to tune in from and block you if you're not in the right country but a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an app that hides your location. That means you can access your usual sports and entertainment services even while you're traveling abroad.

Our favorite VPN is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar, where you'll find a deeper reader on the best VPN services available right now.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service you require and start watching!

NordVPN is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to watch what you want, from wherever you want to watch it.

It's straightforward and easy to use, has great security, is available on loads of streaming devices and, best of all, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out 100% risk-free. Give it a go.

All you need to know about Ludwig