BBC series watched by 11,800,000 returns with ‘stakes higher than ever’

David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin are back to solve more crimes with their record-breaking BBC murder mystery.

The first season of comedy drama Ludwig stormed screens as a cosy crime show that captured the nation, becoming the broadcaster’s biggest scripted series since 2024 with a total of 11.8million viewers and counting so far.

Not only has the second season already landed, but the show has already been renewed for a third, so Ludwig fans are being well fed.

In the first season, introverted puzzlemaster John (played by David) assumes the titular nom-de-plume as he steps into his missing brother John’s shoes to try and get to the bottom of his disappearance for his sister-in-law Lucy (portrayed by Anna).

But his ruse also inadvertently plunges him into the role of overseeing murder investigations, giving him a problem to solve each episode before the killers get away.

While season one was a riotous success, can this detecting duo strike lightning twice?

It seems so if critics are anything to go by, who are doling out praise for the show’s highly-anticipated return.

In this season, John can finally give up the facade that he’s John and is now working as a crime scene consultant for Cambridge Police as himself – a win!

But as he continues to crack on with his career as a murder mystery solver, the truth behind his twin brother’s disappearance remains elusive, so there’s still work to be done.

All this means the ‘stakes are even higher’ than before, as described by Digital Spy.

Their review continued: ‘There’s still plenty of the gentle humour that made the first season such an enjoyable watch.

‘John remains gloriously ill-equipped for many of the social situations he finds himself in, while Mitchell’s performance as the puzzle setter continues to make his eccentricities feel endearing rather than irritating.’

The Irish Times described it as ‘Peep Show with added murder and fantastic fed-up chemistry’ while The Times called it ‘as brilliant as ever’.

The Guardian’s glowing five-star review called it ‘cosy crime at its bumbling best’ and ‘up to its elbow patches in nostalgia’.

Although not everyone has been quite so taken with it.

The Independent likened it to a ‘comforting but slightly tasteless cup of tea’, even going so far as to call it ‘time-wasting’.

Reflecting on just how successful the cosy crime drama has been of late, best showcased with Ludwig’s popularity, Mitchell gave a slightly ominous assessment as to why.

‘The truth is that we live in troubled times. The golden age of crime, as they call it, was the 1930s, and that’s when people disappeared into their Dorothy L. Sayers novels, and Agatha Christie.

‘That was also an extremely troubled era. Let’s hope that this cosy crime boom ends more happily than the 1930s one did,’ he told the BBC.

So beware your enjoyment; it could tell of worrying times ahead.

Ludwig season two is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.