BBC’s Ludwig Season 2: Filming Begins on Hit Detective Drama Starring David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin

Production has officially begun on the eagerly awaited second season of the BBC’s hit detective series Ludwig, starring David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin.

Created and written by Mark Brotherhood, Ludwig is produced by Big Talk Studios (part of ITV Studios) in association with That Mitchell and Webb Company. The first season proved a breakout success, becoming the BBC’s biggest scripted series of 2024 and the strongest comedy launch since at least 2018. More than 9.5 million viewers tuned in within its first 28 days, and the show went on to rank as the top season premiere in both total and unique viewership across BritBox North America in 2025. To date, Ludwig has been sold into 85 international territories, with further deals under discussion.

Series two picks up directly after the events of the first season. Master puzzle-solver John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor (David Mitchell) has taken on an official role as a Crime Scene Consultant for the Cambridge Police Authority, applying his brilliance to seemingly “impossible” cases. Freed from the need to impersonate his twin brother, John is now more unapologetically ‘Ludwig’ than ever—exceptional at cracking codes but utterly inept in the rest of his life.

Yet the mystery surrounding his missing identical twin, James, remains unsolved. Now that John is officially on the police payroll, he is barred from using station resources to investigate what happened to James or what he may have uncovered. Naturally, John refuses to give up—and neither does Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin), James’ wife and John’s sister-in-law. As the synopsis teases: “a puzzle needs solving and a husband and father needs bringing home. One masquerade may have ended, but a new one has just begun.”

Returning to the cast for series two are Dipo Ola as DCI Russell Carter, Dylan Hughes as Henry Betts-Taylor, Dorothy Atkinson as DCS Carol Shaw, Ralph Ineson as Chief Constable Ziegler, and Karl Pilkington as DI Matt Neville.

New faces joining the ensemble include Mark Bonnar (Dept. Q, Guilt) as newspaper editor Gareth Fisher, Sian Clifford (Fleabag) as local MP Joanne Kemper, Ben Ashenden (Black Mirror) as DC Ethan Cole, and Rumi Sutton (After the Flood) as DC Caitlin Sullivan.

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