LUDWIG - wed bbc 1 9pm - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

New series on weekly - thanks @mum2jakie for the shout out

Puzzle setter John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s life is upended when his identical twin, DCI James Taylor, disappears in the new series coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One

When John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s (David Mitchell) identical twin, James, disappears off the face of the earth, John takes over his brother’s identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts.

John has never married, never had a family and never really ventured further than his own front door.

Without a computer, mobile phone or even a television, he lives in quiet solitude, designing puzzles for a living, under the nom-de-plume of ‘Ludwig’.

However, filling the shoes of your identical twin is one thing - when your twin also happens to be a successful DCI leading Cambridge’s busy inner-city major crimes team the stakes are much higher.

John may be a master of all things cryptic, but can he crack the biggest puzzle of his life?

Joining David Mitchell in the ‘case-of-the-week’ crime comedy-drama is Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, Line of Duty), as Lucy Betts-Taylor, John’s sister-in-law and wife of his missing brother James.

Also joining the cast are Dipo Ola (Landscapers, We Hunt Together), Gerran Howell (Catch-22, Suspicion), Izuka Hoyle (Boiling Point, Big Boys), Dylan Hughes (Malory Towers, Maternal), and Dorothy Atkinson (Mum, The Gold).

I think fundamentally it’s about the murders and the puzzle solving.

I think that’s what is so escapist and satisfying about this genre, the light meringue of a pleasing plot.

Another thing that I like about it is that it’s not gritty. It is cosy murder of the old school. So even though the crime at the centre would be an absolute abomination if it happened in real life, we all benefit from the murder-mystery convention - if you like, the Agatha Christie tradition – so we don’t dwell on what murder really is, on the horrific nature of the crime.

We focus on the context and the mystery and the play of human emotions that leads to it.

In Ludwig we don’t dwell on the fact that it’s murder any more than in a game of Cluedo you’d start thinking, ‘But how awful for Doctor Black’s family. He must be so missed.’

Better wed than dead!

Meant Wednesday 😂

E6 and last one tonight

Gosh is it Wednesday again already. This week has gone so quick - so you’ve all been saved my crazy guesses!

Here we go!

Gets excited

Gets off the phone to concentrate

Oh. Wasn't that good

I didn't understand the code at the end but they got the address

So James basically did the same as his dad. 🙀🙀🥲🥲

Selfish prick !!!

Left his wife and son

Holly was a baddie selling info

James was watching them to make sure they got it all - blink / mn / text and would have missed it 😂

LOVED the way they brought John in as a puzzle solver consultant 😂😂😂

So will be a s2

Prob this time next year

And solve more about sinclair and what small bit of info he found got him killed

No, James didn't walk out. That was the whole point about the metaphor discussion.

I think that was all just a cover @Blondeshavemorefun. James left a message saying he'd left his wife and son as he knew others would hear the message. But he left the clue for John knowing he'd realise there is more to it.

Oh that was brilliant! And we saw the real James! And it's been set up for another series where presumably John will bring down the dodgy police officers.

Really enjoyed that. Even if half the time I had no idea what was going on!

Oh. The not leaving his family by passed me

But

He still left them

Puzzled

So is Ziegler dodgy then. He thought John was James

Me too @BIWI

East watching like death in paradise but better puzzles

E6 the ending recap

www.whattowatch.com/features/ludwig-ending-explained-is-lucy-a-murderer-where-is-james

No Jame is lying on the voice message! For those who are listening in. He’s loudly making a few points: he never anticipated John filling in for him, and the Sinclair was an excuse for him to leave Lucy and Henry. So the opposite is true. He DID anticipate John filling in for him (go back to the construction site ep4 where anticipating people’s moves was part of killer’s murder plan set up) and he says John is Lucy’s best friend and he’d do anything for her. And he didn’t leave Lucy and John. It was a cover for sharing the Bowerbird cypher key.

I love how the method in each murder case of the day ties into character development or the the broader arch. Swapping a knife for another from a different location brought by Lucy, they look really similar … like one brother brought by Lucy taking the place of another? And didn’t that knife/brother look just at home in the knife block/police station!

I enjoyed this episode. It gave enough for us to chomp on and the bits I like. The police MIT team interactions Constable Evans, Sergeant Finch, DCI Carter and DCI Taylor. Ziegler doesn’t know about John/James so could still be a baddie. They made the mystery Big enough but not ridiculously big like illuminati. Someone accessing and selling secrets is believable and realistic. I said “why would Holly care enough to have a pinboard” well money is a good reason!

Im happy with that episode. I don’t really care about James. Actually I still think he’s the baddie. How did he get all those papers and into storage? Through baddie connections? I think the point DCI Carter made about John and Lucy being so paranoid they don’t know who to trust might allude to James trusting the wrong people.

I hope they tell us how the car person died!

James has pretended to the outside world that he's left his family. Presumably to protect them. Presumably knowing that his brother is the only person clever enough to help with whatever is actually going on.

I think Ziegler is dodgy and that Shaw, Russell, Alice and Simon are the good guys.

I'm going to miss this so much. Such a brilliant series.

@BakeOffRewatch I bow to your knowledge and hopefully car Murder will be e1 of s2

Yes Z is def suss /dodgy

LOVED IT! Been ages since we've watched something we both loved, definitely ready for S2. Great cast too.

Definitely setting us up for S2!

But in that final scene in the car park, wasn't that James, rather than John, who was there (going by haircut, mostly)? Thinking about it, I don't think that would parse, maybe a continuity thing? Anyway, all so nicely done. Been a great series.

And if Shaw and James are the good guys, and commandeered the van-load of evidence to stop it getting in the hands of bad actors, why have they just been sitting on it all this time?

No it was John being himself as he was wearing glasses. When he was pretending to be James he had to wear contacts which he hated.

Oh I thought it was James too. Becauase wasn't whoever it was watching them load boxes, and there were three of them loading? Maybe James wears glasses at night too!

@BlossomToLeaves I think you're talking about a different scene. James was watching John, Lucy and Henry from behind a fence as they were loading Sinclair's files into their car.

The very final scene was a new murder investigation in a multi storey car park with John in his new role as consultant.

oh i see, yes I was meaning the fence scene when they were loading files.

I didn't know what to make of the last scene - it did seem to be John as consultant, and I wasn't sure if it was just an epilogue showing that he was successfully carrying out the new role, or a trailer for S2. I guess we'll find out!

It's interesting that he didn't look that improbably old for the flashbacks to John's childhood. Perhaps a matter of lighting?