'Ludwig': David Mitchell's new quaint and quirky British detective drama

We can't move for "cosy crime caper", said Digital Spy's Rebecca Cook. From Disney+'s "Only Murders in the Building" to Richard Osman's novel "The Thursday Murder Club" – soon to be a Steven Spielberg film – "watered-down deaths that are explained away by docile amateur sleuths in a saccharine setting" are all the rage.

David Mitchell throws his hat into the ring with BBC One's new murder-mystery "Ludwig" and is a "natural fit" as an "accidental detective". In fact, this could "be the most fun you have watching TV this autumn".

Mitchell plays reclusive professional puzzle-maker John Taylor, who uses the name "Ludwig" for his work. His uneventful life is rocked by the disappearance of his identical twin brother James, a police detective. His sister-in-law Lucy, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, says James left a coded note and encourages John to pose as his twin to gain access to police HQ and his notebook in an attempt to solve the mystery.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Any viewers hoping to solve the crime before Ludwig will be sorely disappointed as "motive, alibis, red herrings and suspects are inconsequential" and the killer remains entirely "unguessable" up until John reveals them. But no matter, continued Cook, as Mark Brotherhood's script is "tremendous fun".

It hits that hard-to-reach spot of "cosy crime without being twee", said The Telegraph's Anita Singh. That said, don't bother if you're no fan of the leading man because the "whole thing is built around his David Mitchell-ness". In fact, Ludwig could well be Mark Corrigan from "Peep Show", if Mark had "less ambition and slightly better furniture".

Although it is "not reinventing the wheel", this "fish-out-of-water comedy" set in "picturesque Cambridge" is "pleasingly escapist, with a quirkiness that lifts it above the likes of 'Death in Paradise'".

Even those with the smallest supporting roles – among them Felicity Kendal, Karl Pilkington and Derek Jacobi – are "very amusing", while James's former detective partner Russell (Dipo Ola) is a "real standout", said Radio Times's James Hibbs.

But it is Mitchell in particular who is "perfect for this role". Fusing Mark Corrigan's "awkwardness and frantic energy", his own very personal brand of "dry quippiness", plus a "dramatic bent", this feels like the "role of a lifetime".