New BBC series likened to watching ‘Mark from Peep Show as a police officer’

'David Mitchell is as brilliantly awkward as ever'

Ludwig is the new crime series from the BBC, and stars Mitchell as John, an introverted, awkward puzzle setter who gets drawn into the disappearance of his detective twin brother James.

The six-part drama follows him and his sister-in-law Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin) as John poses as his brother and infiltrates the police station where he works to try and find clues about what James was working on.

And if you've read that thinking that this was a role that TV's most hilariously awkward man was born to play, then it sounds like you'd be right.

Reviews for the show have praised Mitchell's performance, with some saying it is like watching his most famous character, Mark Corrigan from Peep Show, as a police officer.

In a positive review three-star review, the Guardian's Lucy Mangan said Mitchell is "as brilliantly awkward as ever" playing the "part he was born to play." She described the whole series as "enjoyably gentle case-of-the-week TV."

Praising the performances in the show, Lawes writes: "Ludwig is also packed with excellent performances. David Mitchell is certainly not reinventing the wheel, and is playing, well, David Mitchell, but no one else could play John better. What other actor would be able to express quiet discontent with such panache?"

All episode of Ludwig are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.