Ludwig: this fun police drama is the perfect platform for David Mitchell | Television and radio

david Mitchell… well, look. No one is ever going to accuse him of being “an actor with range,” right? Maybe this is my fault, for rewatching his turn as Mark on Peep Show so many times that I can recite profound quotes in my sleep (“the first friend I made since Nick Bickford in 1996”). Maybe it’s also a little his fault for playing more or less the same character in Back, Greed, Upstart Crow and, if you think about it, every episode of Will I Lie to You?. But that’s what David Mitchell is extraordinarily good at: saying, “Oh, God, No!” when three minor inconveniences accumulate in the same 30 minutes; meekly apologize for losing your temper, but not meaning it at all; saying “Sorry, but ah…” and turning around Columbo-style on the spot to correct someone; sweat when forced to talk to another person.

This sounds like criticism, but it’s not: I don’t mind if actors play more or less the same character when those characters are good and the setting suits them. That’s exactly what happened here with Ludwig (September 25, 9pm, BBC One), which is the absolutely perfect platform for David Mitchell and David Mitchell.

The setup is so delightful: Mitchell plays John Taylor, an introverted, possibly slightly OCD, agoraphobic puzzle-solver and twin of James Taylor, a mysteriously missing detective with a wife and teenage son. John has to infiltrate James’ Cambridge police department, find his notebook, and begin unraveling the clues and clues left behind to try to solve his disappearance, all while making awkward small talk with a series of colleagues from James. trust, without knowing it. And then the surprising thing, of course, is that John is phenomenally good at solving the puzzles of the various murders that keep happening in Cambridge, so he keeps getting mugged.

Each episode is a puzzle within a puzzle: the broader arc is “Where’s James, So?” but there’s always a body at the center of every hour-long episode, and seeing Davi… I’m sorry, John, Discovering them just puts a big, goofy smile on the face of anyone watching. There’s a moment, 40 minutes into the first episode, that made me laugh out loud, my biggest TV moment all year. All year!

As always, it really helps when the supporting cast is excellent. As Lucy, James’s wife and John’s childhood friend, Anna Maxwell Martin is terrific, trying to make her way through town while juggling the pain and panic in the throat of a deceased husband and the strange, enormous reality of have a teenager in your house. home.

James/John’s new partner, Russell Carter, who isn’t sure if you can trust him, is played by Dipo Ola in perfect frequency. Izuka Hoyle is a detective sergeant with boss energy, Gerran Howell is the wide-eyed wunderkind, and Dorothy Atkinson prowls around her office with a strangely charged vibe that bounces brilliantly off good Mitchelling.

All of this would be fine and a little Sunday tea time if it weren’t for a sharp script (by Mount Pleasant’s Mark Brotherhood), a pleasing cinematic aesthetic and a perfect balance of plot and tone (I don’t remember the last one I once saw a drama police officer and I thought, “This is really funny.”)

Ludwig It’s not the kind of weekly procedural murder mystery that you can particularly solve: there are no overly long interviews with suspects, there are no false clues or useless detours, there is no “we have him in a cell, he has confessed.” …So what’s bothering you, boss? conversations in cars. This is good for me because I hate all of those. Instead, it’s scratching an itch that’s somewhere a little more Jonathan Creek, a little more Inside No 9 – the solution is always through an inarguably dark hidden door, and what really makes the show fun to watch is to see John throw himself against the strange. scenario where he finds himself, rather than you, personally, trying to keep track of everyone’s alibis and motives.

Listen: We’re not reinventing the “David Mitchell” wheel here. He’s basically Mark from Peep Show if Mark ever finds something in his life that he likes. But when it’s this good, it seems a little out of my league to care. He’s now called “John.” Take care of it.