Ludwig: the ‘almost irresistible’ cosy crime saga returns

The first series of the BBC’s “affable cosy crime saga” “Ludwig” was “almost irresistible”, said Rebecca Nicholson in the Financial Times. David Mitchell starred as John Taylor, a famous puzzle setter known as Ludwig, who has a knack for solving “seemingly uncrackable” murders.

When his detective twin brother, James, disappears, Ludwig impersonates him to help his sister-in-law, Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin), solve the mystery. Series two continues in the “same lively vein as the first” with each episode combining a murder-of-the-week mystery set against the overarching storyline about James’ disappearance.

I was worried that the new series couldn’t possibly be as good as series one, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. “Relief: it is.” The script is “cracking”, Mitchell is “great”, and the supporting performances, including Sian Clifford as a slippery lawyer and Mark Bonnar as a local newspaper editor, are “faultless”. The first crime, featuring an elderly woman stabbed to death, is “a belter”: John’s method of unmasking the killer “made me squeak with delight”.

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How you feel about series two will depend on your tolerance for cosy crime, said Annabel Nugent in The Independent. “Ludwig” remains “as light as ever”, and the murders, though plentiful, are still bloodless – they are “cases lifted from a ‘Cluedo’ board” that are often “barely plausible”.

Still, it is a solid comfort watch for autumnal nights – “best enjoyed like a mug of milky tea, sipped down easily and without much thought”.