Crime procedurals are back, and David Mitchell’s is the best

LUDWIG ★★★★
Seven, Wednesday 5, 8.30pm, and 7Plus
John Taylor (David Mitchell), the timid but tenacious puzzle-maker at the centre of this wholly enjoyable detective tale, has a theory about coincidences – once you get to three, they’re no longer coincidences. If you apply that to the recent surge in mysteries where the investigator is an idiosyncratic outsider, it’s not hard to find three welcome new shows where the protagonist clears cases while pursuing a secret mission: Ten’s Matlock, Disney+’s High Potential, and now Seven’s Ludwig.
David Mitchell is an accidental detective in Ludwig.
The case-of-the-week procedural is back, complete with cold (corpse) opens and all the suspects being assembled. The twist is that the detectives in each show have a motivating force that keeps them pushing forward, a season-long search that endures after their latest assignment is successfully closed. Ludwig, I think, has the cleverest. A case of impersonation that makes for awkward tension, heartfelt failing and blithe humour. John Taylor is a fake.
A cheerful recluse, John constructs puzzles for a living, operating under the professional moniker of Ludwig. His life is so neatly self-contained that when his sister-in-law Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin) summons him for a visit one night, she can correctly guess what he was planning for dinner (Sundays are pasta). Lucy had married James Taylor, John’s twin brother and the extrovert to his introvert. But after several months of moodiness, the Detective Chief Inspector from the Cambridge police has suddenly disappeared.
Lucy, who has known the twins since they were six years old, and more importantly knows how to smoothly coerce John, persuades him to impersonate his brother, so they can keep his absence a secret and John can bring home the work files she believes will reveal what was plaguing her husband. John, who thought leaving the house was a big ask, reluctantly agrees, but as soon as he heads for James’ desk his team are called out for the stabbing death of a solicitor in his office.
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However, John realises his puzzling skills are applicable to a murder investigation. He’s so good at unfolding them that senior brass start paying attention to him. One of the pleasures of Ludwig is watching a shy underdog experience public success; in ego terms, John is the anti-Sherlock. And once he finds the coded notebook James left behind, John has a purpose – crack his brother’s secret (polyalphabetic ciphers are very much his thing). James just has to keep going back into the office, and, well, attending crime scenes.