Rest easy, the new series of Ludwig is as brilliant as ever

Anita SinghThu, August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC

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David Mitchell is back as Britain’s most unlikely detective - BBC/Big Talk

I’ve been waiting impatiently for the second series of Ludwig (BBC One), but with a slight worry. Could it possibly be as good as series one? Relief: it is. The script is cracking, David Mitchell is great, and the supporting performances are faultless. It also features a guest appearance from Stephen Merchant as an obnoxious snooker player. What more could you want?

A quick recap: Mitchell plays John Taylor, a socially awkward puzzle-setter whose identical twin brother, a Cambridge detective, vanished without a trace. At the urging of his sister-in-law (Anna Maxwell Martin), John posed as his brother to gain access to police HQ and search for clues to the disappearance. Whilst there, it turned out that his puzzle skills made him an excellent solver of crimes, so his attempts to find out his brother’s whereabouts were slowed down by the fact he kept being called out to murder scenes.

Series two continues in the same vein, combining a fun murder-of-the-week mystery with the overarching storyline about the disappearance. The first crime is a belter: an elderly woman stabbed to death with sewing scissors at the theatre, with both of her daughters (Rebecca Front and Doon Mackichan) claiming that they were the sole perpetrators.

“That means we need to uncover who didn’t do it,” John says. “Well, this is a new one.” Of course I won’t spoil it for those of you who haven’t watched it yet, but John’s method of unmasking the killer made me squeak with delight. I’m always in awe of writers who can devise murder mysteries, and Mark Brotherhood, the writer, has a whale of a time here.

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The settings for future murders in this series include a snooker tournament, a wedding reception and a sushi restaurant. Besides Merchant, the guest stars include Sian Clifford, giving a wonderfully deadpan performance as a self-regarding MP, and Mark Bonnar as a local newspaper editor. Maxwell Martin remains an excellent foil for Mitchell as the eccentric Lucy, as is Dipo Ola, who plays it straight as detective Russell Carter.

Anna Maxwell Martin reprises her role as Lucy, John’s eccentric sister-in-law and unlikely ally - BBC/Big Talk

Ralph Ineson is darkly comic as chief constable Ziegler, who knows more than he’s letting on about James Taylor’s disappearance. No longer posing as his brother, John is now officially employed as a police consultant, but this doesn’t make him any more comfortable in social situations. His interactions with Ziegler are excruciating for him, enjoyable for us.

So much thought has been put into John’s character: the way he can solve seemingly impossible logic puzzles but struggles to open a door; the fact he has an ancient Nokia instead of a smartphone. Visual gags abound, including the murder-suspect sisters wearing strings of pearls over their police custody grey tracksuits.

There are only six episodes in this series but that’s a good thing. The story doesn’t get baggy and the murder mysteries maintain their quality. A third series has already been commissioned, and hurrah for that.

Ludwig is on BBC One on Thursday 20 August at 9pm and BBC iPlayer

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”