TV Review- Ludwig

Imagine going to work and while a colleague appears to be exactly the same person as yesterday, it is actually their twin. Would you notice? This is the premise we are asked to believe in Ludwig, starring David Mitchell, familiar though several series such as Peep Show and Upstart Crow. Yet he has never quite been as David Mitchell as he is in Ludwig. He plays John Taylor a crossword setter (nom de plume Ludwig derived from Beethoven) who prefers words to people but finds himself thrown into a different walk of life when his twin brother James, a detective, goes missing. James’ wife Lucy persuades him to up sticks, come to Cambridge and go into the police headquarters posing as James’ to find clues as to her husband’s disappearance. Why she doesn’t just ask the police to find one of their own or even tell her son for several days is one of several odd developments dotted though.

Though initially anxious to undertake this task when James does go in he finds himself whisked off to a murder scene and discovers a skill in deducting who the assailant was using his crossword creating logic. Soon he is solving a murder a day whilst trying to find out more about his brother’s vanishing act. In some ways Mitchell’s persona is not unlike many a longer detective whose idiosyncratic deductions solve cases when nobody else can.

 There are many shows dubbed comedy dramas which don’t really contain enough comedy whereas Ludwig is laugh out loud funny to a surprising degree. Though there are moments of slapstick – James trying to park his car being a recurring one – the humour is as much in the witty dialogue and character reactions.  Though the series also has the feel of a gently afternoon drama, it is its irreverence and sharp banter plus Mitchell’s fish out of water character that makes it work. Plus, writer Mark Brotherhood gives each of the other characters enough amusing traits so they are funny as well. You can easily imagine this same scenario working as a sitcom with a studio audience and that’s a good thing. The package is wrapped in strident music, featuring Beethoven pieces as we pan around the grand buildings of Cambridge in a manner that is reminiscent of Inspector Morse.

The pace is certainly slow, especially the first episode though this allows us full access to Mitchell’s John, a man who lives in the past his focus on crosswords appears to have allowed the world to pass by. His phone is twenty years old; he hardly knows how to use a computer and when he first goes into the office the cameras pick up is every awkward moment. Yet amusingly none of his colleagues notice that much. the first episode takes us through his excruciating day until the epiphany when he solves the murder in an office using the skills that he has developed with crosswords. If the premise is almost unbelievable it is no less so than many a detective show, remember the one with two gardeners whose every job made them privy to a homicide?

The series scores highly with tiny moments; a look here, a quip there with deft directing and editing picking these up. There's also Anna Maxwell Martin as John’s wife Lucy whose slight quirkiness and on-screen chemistry with Mitchell works really well. The cast also includes Dipo Ola who is excellent as the new sidekick DI Carter who mysteriously replaced James’ regular DI after ten years; he and Mitchell also work really well together. There’s great support from Dorothy Atkinson as the icy DCS Carol Shaw, Izuka Hoyle as the deadpan DS Alice Finch and Gerran Howell as relentlessly enthusiastic DC Simon Evans.  These two bicker like kids on holiday over who gets to carry out the next arrest. It’s a cast that has been assembled with skill and they all bounce off each other really well. We also get the befuddled reactions of the suspects reacting to James' unorthodox methods.

The early cases themselves are not really gone into any more detail than is necessary though some of the best incredulous glances come in these scenes. In the first one a man is murdered in a modern office block, but the second episode’s case at a new age seminar provides an ongoing gag about team work that pays off both fictionally and comically. Amongst the guest cast is none other than Felicity Kendall on familiar territory as she was of course half of those aforementioned gardening sleuths Rosemary and Thyme, probably the previous most unlikely detective show. The series’ arc story involving the disappearance of James casts a net of suspicion and intrigue which ferments as the series progresses and we see the Taylor’s house being watched, there is the mystery of the “Sinclair business” and more.

Episodes three and four spend more time at the crime scene and each of these provides some pin sharp comedic moments as James unravels them using probability, theory, and other such methods. Episode 3 focuses on a body found in a church (cue lots of grand organ music and light shimmering through stained glass) at the end of a city tour. The suspects are those who took the tour, not all of whom, are quite as they claim to be. The outcome proves rather moving. At this point you wonder quite how the team has been able to solve any crime before James’ arrival. Cleverly the show does not allow us to see what his brother’s methods were but surely someone would notice the differences? The one person who does seem most likely to uncover the deception is IT expert Holly (whom James amusingly calls “the computer woman”).

Episode four’s murder occurs on a building site whose half-finished tower block becomes almost like a three-dimensional chess board due to the shifting rosters that James works out are at the heart of the crime. This episode really nails the mood between serious and funny that makes the show work so well. Half the fun is watching the reactions of the suspects and also the fact that James’s own team are always a couple of steps behind his deductions.

Part five takes a more serious turn after an apparent headmaster’s suicide turns into an impossible murder to solve. Not quite impossible for those of us who’ve seen this plot before of course, it’s turned up in more than one detective series over the years. The room is locked from the inside, windows sealed so how did a murderer escape? The episode is the most conventional of the series to the point where James is now mostly acting as if he really is a detective, the funny bits left to the junior officers Finch and Evans; Izuka Hoyle and Gerran Howell bounce off each other really well. We meet retired teacher Mr Todd who turns out to be the man who first inspired Jame’s interest in puzzles but who now seems to be losing his faculties, though as it turns out not as much as it seems. There is a lovely understated scene at the end where he reveals he realises this is not John but James. Derek Jacobi plays Todd with his customary twinkle.

The episode draws comparisons with James’ former bullies and the bullish PE teacher who turns out to be, to nobody’s surprise, the killer. I do feel PE teachers are frequently demonised in various dramas to the point where it’s become a cliché. So, the b plot is actually more interesting as Lucy, against Jame’s advice, seeks out a clue in the other side of the country. Anna Maxwell Martin plays Lucy with a veil of furtiveness that has sometimes made me wonder if she is behind the whole thing. Or up to something. However, the most dramatic event actually occurs at the very end when she receives a call from Holly asking to see her right away even though it’s the middle of the night. Would you go?

Thus, part six opens dramatically with a shot of the door of Holly’s flat ajar, her body lying on the floor and then cuts to police cars arriving as Lucy stands in the middle of the road carrying a bloody knife. As episode opens go, this is a very startling one. What follows is a twisting, unexpected series of events that address many of the ongoing plot points and inevitably enable James’ deception to be revealed. Watching this knowing there is to be a second season had me pondering just how they were going to work it but writer Mark Brotherhood pulls out the stops to deliver something that may not quite be Line of Duty but in its own way reboots the series allowing it continue, sows some new plot avenues and also allows the characters to address their own oversights. Or to paraphrase DCS Carol Shaw (a laser focussed Dorothy Atkinson) how could a room full of police officers miss the fact that James was not John. Its really well done, the busy script believable enough in context to work. All the cast get something meaningful to do and David Mitchell, Anna Maxwell Martin and Dipo Ola superbly sell the unlikely sequence of events. As a series closer you couldn’t want much more.

Like the rest of Ludwig, this is a pleasant surprise. The confirmed second season should be interesting. It’s a show that balances mystery, humour, intelligence, and drama equally well. Far less slight than it may appear, it is more sleight of hand as it winds its way methodically to a conclusion that will make you appreciative and holding out for more.