Ludwig Series 1 2024 Created and written by Mark Brotherhood, directed by Robert McKillop and Jill Robertson. A BBC comedy drama series with David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin.
John Taylor is a reclusive man who creates puzzles for a living. He uses the name Ludwig for his puzzle work, he desires the anonymity, the name was born from his passion for Beethoven. John rarely leaves his house, he's been living in his parent's house, he was born there, he grew up there. His father ran away over 30 years ago, they never saw him again, his mother passed away more recently.
John has a twin brother called James, that him in the middle of the picture. James is marrying Lucy. She was their next door neighbor since they were all kids. John had feelings for Lucy but James beat him to the church. John settled for being a famous puzzle creator who still uses a land line.
One day Lucy calls, she lives in Cambridge and John hasn't seen her for a while. He rarely comes to visit, they don't call much, he stayed home instead of going to his mother's funeral. Lucy calls asking for a big favor, she wants him to get in the taxi she's sent and come to Cambridge. John goes to Cambridge, Lucy shows him a letter from James, the letter tells her to give his boss his resignation letter and leave Cambridge. John finds a cypher in the letter telling Lucy James loves her and always will.
Lucy schools John on the police station and off he goes. That's some of the police James worked with up above. John isn't good at driving but he gets the police station. John's not good at parking but he gets the car parked between some lines. Inside the building things get worse, John's not so good with people and places. All the noise frightens him. Lucy's info is out of date, John has a new partner and there are other co-workers he's got no idea about. Luckily John's new partner whisks him away to a stabbing.
Once I had watched the first episode I polished off the rest, one after another, all 6 episodes. In a recent interview with David he said the show was a cozy type of mystery, it's hardly gruesome, there's no autopsy to look away from. The show has a nice sense of humor. I laughed out loud three times in the first episode. The script, cast, production and music are all working nicely together. I'd read some comments complaining about the music intruding over the dialog. I just re-watched the first episode again and I can't see it. The music and the sound design work hand in hand to enhance the story. The cinematography, the direction, the editing are a joy to watch. Cambridge is a beautiful place.
I enjoyed this more than the mystery shows I've been watching in 2024. It might be my favorite show this year, still a ways to go, but probably. I thought it was easily as good as last year's favorite mystery show, Deadloch. Ludwig is not streaming in the US but I hope it will soon. You can see the first episode on Dailymotion.