In pictures: David Mitchell films new crime comedy drama Ludwig in Cambridge
TV star David Mitchell has been filming in Cambridge for a new BBC One series called Ludwig.
The cast of the new show, a “genre-bending crime comedy drama” set in Cambridge, spent last Monday filming around St John’s College before moving to the Millpond and the River Cam on Tuesday.
The series will tell the story of John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s identical twin, DCI James Taylor, who disappears off the face of the Earth. John - played by Cambridge alumnus Mitchell - takes over his brother’s identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts.
According to the BBC “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’.
The detective series follows full-time luddite, John 'Ludwig' Taylor, as he assumes the identity of his missing twin brother in a bid to track him down and bring him home.
“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.
Mitchell says: “I’m delighted to be working in a genre of television that I have loved ever since, at the age of 10, I started watching the Miss Marple adaptations, starring Joan Hickson, with my parents. Sometimes the only thing that can bring the whole family together is murder.”
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).
Ludwig will have six episodes and is a Big Talk Studios Production in association with That Mitchell and Webb Company for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The writer is Mark Brotherhood.
Comedian and actor Mitchell, who read history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, formed comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, with Robert Webb, after meeting him while performing with Footlights – the University of Cambridge student comedy society.
Mitchell has gone on to star in shows including The Upstart Crow, Outsiders and Peep Show, and is a regular on panel shows.