Ludwig

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" 😉

It's a pretty much comfort viewing where a socially awkward and brilliant puzzle maker is replacing his twin brother in the police, since he disappeared. It is basically a procedural with a main current plot about the brother's disappearance, but I actually was pretty happy that there is one crime per episode. It is really fun to just watch him solve the crimes without any police knowledgemente envolved. It reminds me "monk" a bit, a show that I really love, but with a different flavour and perhaps wittier.

For sure it will have a US remake sooner or later, since it's the type of premise that can have endless seasons and money due to a future syndication after 456 episodes. But let's all be happy because for sure we will have more "ludwig" in the future and I'm glad this was made. Emphatic characters, nicely written misteries and mostly a strong protagonist. Extremely entertaining.

Just binged this on iPlayer and loved it.

Nothing particularly original about it but was good fun throughout and kept you guessing throughout every episode.

It's a kind of mix of many different detectives/mystery programmes - Holmes , Poirot , Professor T , Jonathon Creek etc but done with a David Mitchel style.

The beauty is that it is not padded out with filler just to drag out each episode - it's the perfect 60 minute mystery so it chugs along nicely and sticks to the plot - with no annoying subplots that go nowhere. Its attraction is its simplicity and humour.

It's a very family oriented show with no violence , bad language , nudity , sexual content - it's just wholesome great TV viewing !!

I wish there was more like this being commissioned by the BBC that was as good a quality as this is. I'm not usually one for overcooking an idea into endless seasons until it becomes a parody of itself - but I do hope they make at least a second series.

"David Mitchell wants to do a series in which he solves crimes like Inspector Morse or Miss Marple. We'll go with Morse - complete with puzzles - swap Oxford for Cambridge and build in the loveable fogeyishness that Mitchell has made a career of." That's what they thought and and it was a great idea. They were on to a winner. It's completely daft, bears little or no relation to actual police work, but it doesn't matter a jot. Mitchell is great, Anna Maxwell Martin is a delight - she is great at portraying really nice people (I remember Esther Summerson from 19 years ago) - and Dipo Ola is great as the sidekick (what a great voice he has). What's not so great is casting Dylan Hughes as 15 year old. It's laughable. He is likeable and can act OK (except not as a schoolboy. Really, can't they find any decent teenage actors? I know they exist.) I watched the whole series while laid low with a virus. It was just the right thing.

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.