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.’

He left them for their own safety. I'm not sure why he said in the phone message something to the effect that he didn't expect John to leave his home when he left clues which he clearly expected John to be able to solve. Unless he thought his wife would ship everything over to John?

Edit: Just seen @BakeOffRewatch's explanation - of course, yes, it was something else that was there to mislead listeners deliberately.

Wild guesses and coincidence rather than knowledge I think! And a lot of time on hands. Baby is past the newborn mushy stage and now alert and cooing so less time holding a newborn watching tv. Gosh the time has gone quickly. Thank you for making the thread @Blondeshavemorefun I have really enjoyed it. I watched the first 4 episodes over and over a lot.

Some 5am thoughts:

• in each episode there’s a consistent theme of people, not necessarily outright lying, but misrepresenting the situation. DH after ep3 said they’re all accidental aren’t they - no they’re really not, though the murderers talk about it as if it was! Ep1 murderer crying that she didn’t plan all this, when she planned the phone call, the distraction and the signing out of the book, never mind stabbing someone forcefully enough with a letter opener (it’s not easy!) and then leaving them for dead over the weekend. In the UK, how you behave after a murder contributes to your culpability and crime. Leaving a body to rot in the office over the weekend is pretty dark. Ep2 ok yes him falling over is accidental, but colluding together to hide a dead man’s body and then lie about it? Pretty criminal and why did Lady Bruce get involved and not just call the police! I think the bloke who killed someone in a driving accident was more guilty there too - after all his word only that the dead person “came out of nowhere”. Ep3 Adrian Tate says he was defending himself against Jordan Halshaw but we SEE him throttle him for too long, that’s murder not self defence and no need to hold his neck anyway, we see Adrian is a strong man. Again no need to hit Megan across the head he could have forced the phone off her. He’s a man who is prone to violence and excessive force. And whose self image of buying his wife an expensive ring leads him to steal and murder. Did he really lose his last job due to redundancy? Doubt it. Probably why he found it hard to find another. Ep4 is clearly pre meditated and Gary is a psycho, ep5 is too, not sure about ep6. Anyway my point is what people SAY seems very different to what they DO. And certainly they cast themselves as a helpless innocent victim whose actions are accidental when really they are not. Very criminal in fact. And even the psychos go to great lengths to cover their tracks (last 3 ep). Anyway I’m making the basis to say I think James is a psycho. He’s a Gary not a John. And his whole I need to protect my family, well he could have just done what DCS Carol Shaw told him and dropped the Sinclair case.
• Sinclair found out something about James
• Ziegler doesn’t seem fishy to me, someone trying to protect the police yea but not fishy

if I have time I’d love to rewatch it all, and James’s voice message is certainly due a lot of over analysis.

That last [hope it's not though] episode was absolutely brilliant . They've left it with a cliffhanger [appearance by James] , to no doubt see whether another series could be made , and everyone I know loves it plus good critic reviews so here's to another !!

Loved this programme. So pleased it's set up for S2 - I can't see them not making it as it seems to have been very popular.

It's an unusual Way to solve crimes and murders

But clever

It's just a plot device 😂

You say he's so different, but the thing is, we've hardly seen James. A brief glimpse, we don't know what he's like, we only have the reactions of Lucy and John to go by. Surely if he was 'that' different to John, John would have been spotted straightaway?

I don't know why she's lying either

Oooh interesting theory

I think that's all part of the ambiguity. She was testing him, for sure. But the kiss? It might have happened, or it might not.

How did you not realise she was deaf when she had a BSL interpreter there 😂

Erm , I said I did realise she was deaf !!

I agree with you.
So James is still alive and John will continue to solve murders in the next series, working as a consultant.
Who is Ziegler who contacts the boss lady policewoman and DI Russell Carter ?

So sorry me being stupid!

I don't watch strictly

Why did she have a interpret there but obv managed on EASTENDERS

EE is scripted so she would know exactly what was being said. Also, there could have been an interpreter off screen.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. It's one of those series that you say I loved Ludwig, so what else will I watch? and I'll make time to watch it over again before series two. Much preferred it to Death in Paradise, which never appealed. It's cleverer, although I did get the knife switch because I'd clocked the block on Holly's island.

Came very late to Last Tango in Halifax, that's the Derek Jacobi connection up above and would highly recommend @Blondeshavemorefun you'd like that too.
Last Tango in Halifax - BBC iPlayer
It did kind of go downhill in the last series, but there are five of them.

I liked how James's voicemail was so full of clues for John and obfuscation for whoever he knew would be listening in. It reminded me of Bower Birds again, which I've seen on a David Attenborough sometime and am absolutely in thrall to them Bowerbirds: Meet the Bird World’s Kleptomaniac Love Architects
I think Henry's a bit of a chip off the twins' block as well. He liked getting is hands on the orange covered notebook.

When they were loading up the car from the container I'd only just said someone will be watching, when they cut to James behind the fence. I hope he wasn't followed.

Not to do with Ludwig but I listened to Anna on the Waitrose Dish podcast with Angela Hartnett and Nick Grimshaw. Goodness, she's a live wire.

I’ve started watching Last Tango In Halifax off the back of this thread, I’m on episode 2 of series 2 now. It’s fluffy but dramatic enough and well acted - just what I like about Ludwig too. The characterisation is fantastic, Celia asking Azeem who she’s just met in Calderdale Registry Office (an obviously Persian Muslim name) if he knew Paul Jatri (an obviously Punjabi Sikh name - as different as Blanc and Weiss) was a great line in her character as a daily mail reading homophobic bigot. They’re all so unlikeable except Alan!

What's last tango about ?

Alan and Celia in their 70s, their grandsons put them on Facebook and they reconnect. Alan asked Celia out 60 years ago as teens and he waited 2 hours for her and she never turned up. By the end of the first episode they’re engaged. The storyline and events are really silly and there’s a lot of slapstick visual humour stuck in as well (SPOILER …. Like a scene we watched now where woman I’ll panting on floor being helped by another woman and looks like they’re in flagrante delicto). but it’s acted like a drama. The guy played by Tony Gardner is every thread about a loser DP and Ex-DH from AIBU personified.

So oldies finding romance

It's not just that, it's all the other family stuff too. All the family members get their own stuff to deal with.

Yeah the oldies finding romance is a mechanism for bringing their very different families and friends, background stories, money, feelings etc and conflicts together. Divorces, babies, affairs, gossip, fights. It’s fantastic really how they’ve done it. It’s TOWIE-esque in storyline but somehow feels like watching Countryfile?

That's not quite how I'd characterise LTIH. I'd say it's much more a drama than a comedy (although it has its comic moments). And it's very well written and has a great cast. It isn't a lightweight show like Midsomer or Madame Blanc.

Just seen that series 2 has been confirmed.