Ludwig Series 2: Mark Bonnar & Sian Clifford Join The Cast As Filming Gets Underway

There’s a new detective series to know – and a second series is en route. When Ludwig launched on the BBC at the end of 2024, it was an unexpected hit, and the broadcaster’s largest new comedy launch since 2018 with more than 9.5 million Brits tuning in. Across the Atlantic, it is also BritBox North America’s top launch in 2025 so far.

Starring David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin, it was not long before a second series was announced. Flash forward to September 2025, and filming is officially underway. Here’s everything we know so far about Ludwig series 2.

DS Alice Finch (IZUKA HOYLE), DI Russell Carter (DIPO OLA), John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor / James Taylor, (DAVID MITCHELL), DCS Carol Shaw (DOROTHY ATKINSON), DC Simon Evans (GERRAN HOWELL). © Big Talk Productions/Colin Hutton

Ludwig Series 2: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

The BBC confirmed in November 2024 that a second series of Ludwig was in the works after the whopping success of the first, with Mitchell returning as John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor and Anna Maxwell Martin as sister-in-law Lucy Betts-Taylor.

Previously, the main duo hinted they were keen for a reprise: ‘There is a lot of heart in this show and David and I have a good relationship in it, so I am willing it on,’ said Maxwell-Martin, while Mitchell added: ‘That’s certainly our hope, that it will carry on. Fingers crossed.’

Written by Mark Brotherhood and directed by Robert McKillip and Jill Robertson, Ludwig arrived on BBC One at the end of September, led by the famous British comedian who can currently be seen in his new sketch show Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping with long-time collaborator Robert Webb.

‘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,’ Mitchell said on the news of Ludwig series 2 in November. ‘Sometimes the only thing that can bring the whole family together is murder.’

What Is Ludwig About?

Ludwig centres on John Taylor, an introverted Cambridge man who leads a quiet life. He has never married, never started a family and never really ventured beyond his front door. He doesn’t have a computer, mobile phone or even a TV, preferring to live in quiet solitude working as a puzzle designer under the pen name, Ludwig.

But, when his identical twin James disappears off the face of the Earth, all of that changes. In a bid to find out what happened to his brother, John takes over James’ identity – big shoes to fill when your brother is a DCI leading Cambridge’s major crimes team. John may be a master of cryptic puzzles, but will he be able to crack the biggest puzzle of his life?

Get a taste of the action with the trailer below…

What Will Happen In Series 2?

Ludwig series 2 will pick up where we left things at the end of series 1, with our titular master puzzle-setter John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor now a Crime Scene Consultant for the Cambridge Police Authority. No longer having to pretend to be his (still missing) brother James, John can let loose and be more himself than ever: a brilliant mind adept at puzzle solving, but pretty hopeless at everything else.

Speaking of James, John’s identical twin brother is still missing – but John is forbidden from using police resources to find him now he is a member of the force. Naturally, John won’t stop looking for James – and neither will James’ wife Lucy (Maxwell Martin). One masquerade may have been rumbled in series 1, but another puzzle is just unfolding…

The Cast

Mitchell and Maxwell Martin are set to return in the leading roles, along with Dipo Ola, Dylan Hughes, Dorothy Atkinson, Ralph Ineson and Karl Pilkington.

Joining them in new roles are Mark Bonnar as local newspaper editor Gareth Fisher and Sian Clifford as local MP Joanne Kemper, while Ben Ashenden and Rumi Sutton are joining the Cambridge Police. We’re also told additional guest stars will be announced in due course.

The full cast of Ludwig series 2 thus far includes:

• David Mitchell as John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor
• Anna Maxwell Martin as Lucy Betts-Taylor
• Mark Bonnar as Gareth Fisher
• Sian Clifford as Joanne Kemper
• Dipo Ola as DI Russell Carter
• Dylan Hughes as Henry Betts-Taylor
• Dorothy Atkinson as DCS Carol Shaw
• Karl Pilkington as DI Matt Neville
• Ralph Ineson as Chief Constable Ziegler
• Ben Ashenden as DC Ethan Cole
• Rumi Sutton as DC Caitlin Sullivan

John (Ludwig) Taylor (DAVID MITCHELL). © Big Talk Studios/Colin Hutton

Where Was It Filmed?

Ludwig was filmed on location in Cambridge, the small and historic university town in eastern England, with a plethora of ancient buildings dating back to 1209 and earlier. Ludwig takes place amid the city’s student-filled hubbub, with gorgeous buildings, cobbled streets and the River Cam running through it all.

‘I had a very happy time at university,’ Mitchell says on returning to Cambridge, having studied at the university as an undergraduate student. ‘It’s a beautiful city and it is lovely to visit. It is always slightly bittersweet because it reminds me that I will never be 21 again. Happy memories of my time there are tinged with regret laced with an awareness of mortality. As we all feel. Happy memories aren’t just happy, are they?

‘But I also love the fact that it is set in Cambridge,’ he adds. ‘I grew up in Oxford and growing up watching Inspector Morse it felt very special to know the city a bit. Oxford or Cambridge is a very good context for a programme like this because, in the picturesque and historical surroundings, you can allude to both sides of what the programme needs to be: the attractive, escapist side, but also a sense of darkness and oldness and the fact that humanity is flawed and twisted.’

John (Ludwig) Taylor (DAVID MITCHELL). © Big Talk Studios/Colin Hutton

Release Date

No news just yet on when we will get to see Ludwig series 2, but we’re hoping for a launch in spring 2026.

All six episodes of Ludwig are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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