The Charming 'Ludwig' is TV’s Latest Maverick Crime Solver

TV loves a maverick crime solver. ABC has a hit with High Potential, which finds cleaning woman Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Gillory) using her extraordinary IQ and memory retention to solve crimes in Los Angeles. Over at CBS, the title character in Elsbeth (Carrie Preston), leverages her quirky powers of observation to help the NYPD crack the case. On NBC’s Found, former kidnapping victim Gabi (Shanola Hampton) uses her kidnapper to help her locate missing persons. In Peacock’s Poker Face, a charming nod to the OG maverick crime solver Columbo, Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) can tell when people are lying, which means she always knows whodunit.

Viewers love to watch the unexpected person catch the criminal. Enter BritBox’s utterly delightful and intriguing Ludwig, which premieres with two episodes. Already a hit in Britain, where it has been renewed for a second season, the series follows John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor (David Mitchell), a quiet, solitary man with a successful career creating puzzles — crosswords, sudoku, brain teasers. Ever since he was bullied as a child and abandoned by his father, puzzles have brought him comfort.

Ludwig is a man of extreme order. He has the same meals every week. His only cell phone is the one his sister-in-law Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin) gave him 20 years ago. He doesn’t understand computers.“If it were up to me, everything would be logical. The whole world. But it isn’t. It doesn’t work that way,” he tells Lucy.