Peep Show icon joins exciting new comedy – but there's a major twist in store

Peep Show star David Mitchell is set to star in a brand new comedy drama – with a twist.

The Would I Lie To You team captain is starring in new BBC show Ludwig alongside Line of Duty’s Anna Maxwell Martin. Also appearing in the new comedy drama are Dorothy Atkinson, Izuka Hoyle and Gerran Howell.

According to the BBC’s synopsis, the show follows John Ludwig Taylor, who makes puzzles for a living. His life is upended when his identical twin DCI James Taylor vanishes – and he’s drafted in by his sister-in-law Lucy to assume his identity as a detective.

Determined to find clues to his brother’s whereabouts, John positions himself in the Cambridge Police Authority – only for it to lead to a classic whodunnit inspired by Agatha Christie.

In a twist, not only does the show turn into a potential murder mystery, but David is playing both his character John and his twin brother. Appearing at a Q&A for the BBC show, David said: “I’ve always loved murder mysteries.

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“Some of my happiest viewing memories are as a child watching Miss Marple with Joan Hickson - I mean, she was in it, she wasn't in the room – and Inspector Morse, and that sort of thing. I love that kind of programme.

“I think when it can have a comic spin as well, that's even better. Because I like a murder mystery sort of puzzle, a whodunnit, but I don't love watching things that are horrific and gritty and sort of remind you of the frailty of the human life.”

The star added: “I go with the Agatha Christie route - the person that was murdered, we don't meet them, we're not invested in them, so it's fine. It's just a puzzle. Agatha Christie, very good, kill an old Colonel, and the backstory is nobody liked him. So we can push aside what it means for a human life to be taken away.”

David teased: “Scripts in general are quite boring to read, even if they're good scripts, because they're not meant to be read, they're meant to be filmed. But these scripts were page turners. Genuinely in every episode, I just sat there reading it, wanting to know what happened.

“At every point, from the proposal through the scripts, I was more and more thinking, ‘This is great. I really hope it happens’. So I was in from the start. It was then question of someone agreeing to shoot it."

John is tasked with solving a separate murder each episode, while also searching for his missing brother.

The show’s first series will be comprised of six episodes in total, with filming taking place in London and Cambridge earlier this year. It’s due to hit BBC One and BBC iPlayer on September 25th.