Ludwig

Every few years, thankfully we get a show like this. " Ludwig". Mark Brotherhood, the creator of this show deserves congratulations. What a fantastic premise.

James and John are twins. James is a cop and John is a puzzle book creative who goes by the name of Ludwig. James goes missing, and his wife, Lucy, summons John, to pretend he is James, to sneek in the police station to retrieve one item. But, luckily for us, it does not go that way. Several solved murders on, whilst still looking for James, more twists and turns. Kudos to Anna Maxwell Martin, as Lucy ( his wife), and Dylan Hughes, who plays the son Henry. Who also, if you watched "Maternity", was excellent as a dying kid. All the supporting characters are quirky and fairly well drawn out. This a great, great show.

I've only ever seen David Mitchell on Would I lie to you, but saw a trailer for this and it looked good so my husband and I settled in to try the first episode. Before we knew it, it was almost midnight and we had watched 3 episodes. All whilst laughing our socks off, giggling away and coming up with crazy theories to try and solve the case.

The characters are all endearing and the idea that you don't know who you can trust had us looking for the slightest hint and clue as to who was the dodgy party. Each episode has a different central murder to solve to keep you intrigued, whilst still having the main mystery of John's' brothers' disappearance.

We have now watched the remaining 3 episodes the next morning- desperate to get back to it and we think this is one of the best series we have watched in a long time. But there is still so much left unsolved- we are in dire need of a second series!!!

Let me say this first...Who to talk to to start the Second season...ha? Who? If they don't they are the dullest people in that business... Loved the whole principle of the series, the simplicity the subtle comedic situation...the whole thing how far fetched it seemed but loved it...they keep pulling you in with every episode till the final one and I still need to know more. Dive deeper in the story...each episode is about 53 minutes and I want it to be 90...that is not fair... You don't have models acting or super fit actors...just normal guys and gals working a nice script made like a beef stew till cooked perfectly "the hate metaphors" 😉

A savant on the spectrum, acting as a detective, sees the tiny details other miss and then solves the crime, all while being enmeshed in a much bigger problem.

The characters are very likable, the plots are reasonably believable, and there is a refreshing lack of phony subplots.

Each episode is a stand alone case while the big problem consumes the entire series, so there is a satisfying ending to each episode while the big puzzle has some more pieces added to it.

Agatha Christie always ended her books with Hercule Poirot gathering all the suspects together and meticulously going through the crime, finally revealing the culprit. That was always my favourite part, and this series does exactly that.

My only quibble is that the last 2 episodes are very dark exposure wise, and it is very difficult to see what is going on at times.

Lucy turns to her brother in law John, when her husband, John's twin brother James disappears. John, a puzzle designer by profession has to step into the shoes of his brother, a DCI in Cambridge.

It's a wonderful series, if I had to compare it to a show, it would be Jonathan Creek, you have complex mysteries, a wry humour, and a somewhat underrated, genius central character. It's light viewing, devoid of bad language and violence, it's intriguing family entertainment.

It's possibly the best new show to come out of The Beeb for years, I'm so glad to see it's been a ratings winner, and that a second series is in the pipeline. It has winner all over it, beautifully written, wonderfully produced and wonderfully acted.

David Mitchell is superb, perhaps the best thing I've seen him do, Anna Maxwell Martin, Dorothy Atkinson and Ralph Ineson are great. Sir Derek Jacobi gives a great guest performance.

Roll on Series 2, I can't wait for it.

9/10.