David Mitchell is brilliant — no, not the Cloud Atlas author (though he’s brilliant, too), but the equally British talent known for his great comedic work with Robert Webb (That Mitchell & Webb Look, Peep Show), as William Shakespeare (Upstart Crow), and as a team captain of arguably the funniest British panel show of the past decade and more (Would I Lie to You?). Even those unforgettable series haven’t made the popular dent that his latest show, Ludwig, has. The crime dramedy became the BBC’s most-watched new scripted show since 2022, with the second episode bringing in 9.5 million views.
The delightful series stars Mitchell as John, a hermetic puzzle-maker whose twin brother, detective James Taylor, goes missing. When his sister-in-law (the wonderful Anna Maxwell Martin) asks him for help, John impersonates his twin in order to sneak into his office, grab some information, and leave without anyone noticing. Things get, well, a bit more complicated than that. Mitchell recently spoke with MovieWeb about the detective series and what his headspace was like when portraying a man who is pretending to be another man.
“I mean, I had a vague sense in my head of how James differs from John, in terms of them coming from the same place, but taking different paths in life. But I think very much what I loved about the idea of Ludwig and the premise is, because John — and we accept this — looks identical to James, that is essentially his superpower in terms of impersonating him.” Mitchell continued:
“In every other regard, he’s terrible at it, so people just assume it’s James. They just don’t question it at all. So whatever he does, however strange, however incompetent, however inappropriate, they just think it’s James going through some kind of crisis. And I think for me, that gave huge comic possibilities. It allows him to fail in the sort of basic day-to-day of being a police officer, so much worse than if he were impersonating a police officer under any other circumstances.”
Related
The Best British Panel Shows of the Last 30 Years
There have been some brilliant, and some not-so-brilliant, British panel shows on TV the last 30 years, and these are arguably the best.
“From when I first read the idea, I thought, ‘That is funny — if people will accept the premise that he just looks identical.’ It’s like Quantum Leap, he just looks identical, and other than that, he’s useless,” added Mitchell. “Except, it turns out he has, from his day job, the puzzle-solving skills required to solve these crimes.” Nonetheless, even if John is a puzzle-master, he doesn’t exactly try to solve the puzzle of impersonation and ‘become’ his brother in any method sort of way. According to Mitchell, John doesn’t have the bandwidth to be a master of disguise while he’s impersonating his twin brother James — he is too busy trying to get through each moment.
“I don’t think he is in any conscious way trying to do what James would do. He’s just trying to survive,” explained Mitchell. “And it just starts. He doesn’t mean to be impersonating him. He just wants to get into his office and look for some files and leave. That was supposed to be the extent of the impersonation, just get through the lobby and get through the door. You might have to say ‘Good morning’ twice. But that’s not how it plays out, and then he’s sucked in, and it’s too late.”
David Mitchell memorably says of Ludwig‘s concept:
It’s the sort of heightened idea I think audiences want to buy into, and that’s a key part of the genre. You know, we don’t want to question, “Why does Miss Marple keep being in places where murders happen?” We don’t ask, because we want her to be.
Striking the Balance of ‘Ludwig’ & Preparing for Season 2
While David Mitchell has admitted to sharing some of the inherent trepidation and neuroses of his character John, he was actually very confident about taking on the role (perhaps because of that similar disposition). Instead, he was more worried about the tonal balancing act of Ludwig. “I immediately felt this is a part I can play,” explained Mitchell. “I wanted to play a TV detective. I love the genre, and I thought that this gives me some comic possibilities. And I’ve done that a bit, and I thought I could make that funny. So I thought I could play the character.” He continued:
“My worry was whether the show overall, whether we could strike a confident tone that was comic to enough of an extent to amuse people, but not so comic that they’re not following the story and engaged in it in the way you need to be for what is primarily a drama, not a sitcom. I think that was on everyone’s minds going into shooting it. Will we strike this balance? And we had a great director for the first three episodes, a chap called Robbie McKillop, and he really took the lead on that. I think he struck a tone that is funny when it needs to be, that’s gripping when it needs to be, and also has some sort of emotional depth.”
Related
‘Ludwig’ Review: David Mitchell Is an Irresistible Puzzler in BritBox’s Latest Police Procedural
Equal parts comedy, intrigue, and heart make for a relentlessly fun crime series that never lets you look away.
“So that really drew it together into something that feels confidently of itself, and it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be both a comedy and a drama in an awkward way. It is what it is.” Indeed, the balance was expertly struck, and audiences can’t wait to see where Ludwig goes in Season 2, especially after the twisty conclusion to the first season’s finale. There seem to be plans for much more Ludwig, with series creator and writer Mark Brotherhood saying, “We’ve all been blown away by the reaction to Ludwig and I’m thrilled we get to come back with a whole new set of puzzles for him to solve in his unique way.” MovieWeb asked Mitchell what conversations he’s had about the next season:
“We’ve talked a bit about the ongoing arc. He’s got plans well into the future, I’m delighted to say, and I’ve read some of the second series. I’ve only read the first script, which was terrific and immediately sort of gripping, but also in an appealing way. And yeah, I was delighted to read it. I won’t tell you anything about it, because it won’t help to know, but it was a page-turner, like all his scripts have been.”
In the meantime, the acclaimed first season of Ludwig is streaming on BritBox. You can watch it through the link below:
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
