The BBC has released the official trailer for ‘Ludwig’, giving us a fresh look at the wonderfully awkward detective’s return to Cambridge this August.
Following the events of the first series, John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor is no longer pretending to be his missing identical twin brother. Instead, the master puzzle-setter has managed to turn his slightly unconventional stint in policing into an actual job.
David Mitchell (Peep Show) returns as John, now officially working as a Crime Scene Consultant alongside DCI Russell Carter, played by Dipo Ola (Landscapers), as the pair tackle another collection of apparently “impossible” crimes for the Cambridge Police Authority.
Of course, solving murders is only part of the puzzle.
John’s twin brother James is still missing, leaving John and sister-in-law Lucy, played by Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland), continuing their search for answers. As the BBC rather ominously puts it: “One masquerade may have ended, but a new one has just begun…”
The new trailer mixes the elaborate murder mysteries which made the first series such fun with the larger conspiracy surrounding James’ disappearance. There are bodies, suspiciously complicated crime scenes and plenty of opportunities for John to approach police work like someone has handed him a particularly interesting cryptic crossword.
Returning alongside Mitchell, Maxwell Martin and Ola are Dorothy Atkinson (Call the Midwife) as DCS Carol Shaw, Ralph Ineson (The Witch) as Chief Constable Ziegler, Karl Pilkington (Sick of It) as DI Matt Neville, Ben Ashenden (Stath Lets Flats) as DS Ethan Cole and Rumi Sutton (The Last Bus) as DC Caitlin Sullivan.
Series 2 also adds Mark Bonnar (Guilt, Line of Duty) as newspaper editor Gareth Fisher and Sian Clifford (Fleabag) as local MP Joanne Kemper.
‘Ludwig’ was one of the BBC’s biggest scripted launches of 2024, attracting more than 9.5 million viewers for its opening series, so expectations are understandably high for John’s second collection of fiendishly constructed cases.
And, for anyone lacking the self-control required to watch murder mysteries weekly, the BBC is once again removing that particular obstacle. All six episodes will arrive on BBC iPlayer alongside the BBC One launch, meaning you can either ration the puzzles sensibly or immediately lose an evening to them.
‘Ludwig’ Season 2 premieres Thursday, 20th August 2026 at 9pm on BBC One, with all six episodes available as a box set on BBC iPlayer from the same date.
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