TV Pick of the Week: Ludwig - review by Yvette Huddleston

Mitchell is John Taylor, an acclaimed puzzle setter who uses the pseudonym Ludwig. He lives alone, has never married and rarely leaves his house. Then one evening he receives a phone call from his sister-in-law Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin), married to John’s identical twin brother James, asking that he get in the taxi that she has ordered and is waiting for him outside and travel the 120 or so miles to Cambridge where she lives. He is in the midst of making his solitary pasta dinner, is not best pleased by her request, but can sense the urgency in her voice so he packs a bag and does as she asks.

On arrival at Lucy’s house, a strange story begins to unfold. She tells John that her husband, who is a detective chief inspector with the local police, has disappeared. He left her a letter instructing her to leave immediately for a place of safety with their teenage son Henry (Dylan Hughes) and to trust no-one. It seems to be related to a case that James was investigating and Lucy asks John to assume her husband’s identity, go into his office and obtain a notebook that she believes might contain some clues. John is appalled at the idea of impersonating a police officer, but agrees.

Lucy briefs him on James’s colleagues and the layout of the office. The next day – with his hair restyled and wearing contact lenses instead of his usual glasses – he goes into work. There he meets his new partner DI Russell Carter (Dipo Ola) – his previous partner has mysteriously been seconded elsewhere – and junior detectives Alice Finch (Izuka Hoyle) and Simon Evans (Gerran Howell) as well as his formidable boss DCS Carol Shaw (Dorothy Atkinson).

Things don’t go quite according to plan, as James is called to a murder scene. John clearly has no experience of policing but he is very good at solving puzzles… While trying to find out what has happened to his brother, inconvenient murder investigations keep cropping up. It requires a huge suspension of disbelief, but this is extremely entertaining, beautifully played by all concerned and very funny.