Dunno if/when it might turn up on BBC America (did his Shakespeare ever make it?)
The setup is he’s a reclusive puzzle guy with an identical twin Detective in Cambridge who goes missing. So of course the wife of his brother convinces him to come (what’s 150 miles from Cambridge?) and impersonate his brother.
I reckon it started last Wednesday yet my wife and I were able to watch the first two of six on BBC iPlayer. Likely, as usual the first was better than the second yet both were very funny.
His character’s name is John Ludwig Taylor yet only the sister in law (and her son) even know he’s not his brother who I’ve only seen is James Taylor; so I can’t wait to see what his middle name is.
I read in the Daily Fail or the Mirror (same thing) that some people were complaining about the Beethoven score. After reading that I half-expected Hans Zimmer-esque cranking of the Fifth, I’ve only heard what sounded like a tease of a few notes of Für Elise from his posthumous Christmas Album otherwise non-interfering stuff from what might be like 3rd or 4th, otherwise I’d just think it a good score. “Ode to Joy” is used both digetically (?) at the end of the first episode and the closing credits of the 2nd.
It’s good to see him back though. Last seen as Shakespeare and some talk shows.
Police detective drives around an Oxbridge city in a 30 year old car and solves puzzling murders while listening to classical music. Haven’t we done that already?
Despite that it’s nothing like Morse and is an enjoyable gentle comedy. Well worth bingeing all the episodes on iPlayer.
“Some talk shows”? That’s a rather belittling way of describing Would I Lie To You?, which he’s been doing for 17 years now and which I’d easily say is the most consistently enjoyable comedy show I’ve ever watched. David Mitchell never went away; he’s just been doing phenomenally funny stuff that American audiences don’t know about.
Also a frequent visitor on other British panel/quiz shows. His signature “tune” is the long-form rant about linguistic expressions or other stuff we never think about and take for granted. Kind of like Andy Rooney, with a beard instead of eyebrows, but much funnier. Married to Victoria Coren Mitchell, very funny and smart in her own right, host of Only Connect, maybe the hardest quiz ever on TV.
Didn’t mean to belittle. “Would I lie to you” is a clever and often hilarious show. Oddly it was the co-captain (?) or rival Lee Mack that got me to watch the show as I had seen some “Not going out”. Mitchell was even funnier as he has a sort of charm.I didn’t know (then) that they both had been on the show for 17 years.
I don’t watch much TV yet we were lucky enough to have whatever BBC channel “Upstart Crow” (his Shakespeare show) for episode one. I said to my wife, “If David Mitchell is in and co-wrote this show it’s going to be great” and I miss it. Covid knocked it out except for one Very Special Episode. (ETA: I believe they were going to stage it in the West End as a stand-alone play)
I said the same thing when I heard about Ludwig. I didn’t know if he was playing a cop or a Monk-like detective yet if he’s in it it’s going to be great. I read in the Independent that there are lots of calls for another series and a quick read of the synopsis suggests the overall arc of James Taylor’s whereabouts will not be solved. BTW, I now think his middle name is Wolfgang.
If you’re choosing to watch stuff because David Mitchell is in it then you should go back to the early days of That Mitchell and Webb Look [and the radio version … Sound], Peep Show and Ambassadors. All feature in equal measure his long-time writing and performing partner Robert Webb. Each is very different types of comedy vehicle, but they are clever and genuinely funny and bear repeated watching.
And they did stage it for six weeks or so from February 2020 to March till Covid closed it. Yet my wife wasn’t here then. And somehow I was not informed that it returned in Sept-Dec 2022.
Side-remark: BBC America used to show a LOT of UK comedy (including the aforementioned That Mitchell and Webb Look). This must be eight years ago or more, now—but I still miss those shows.
Now they show mainly American movies–the same ones shown on a bunch of other cable channels. Very dull.
It’s a pet peeve of mine that BBC America has fewer and fewer British shows; I think the Graham Norton Show is just about the last one. Now if I want to watch a British show in the US, my choices are the Britbox or Acorn streaming services or perhaps PBS.
Maybe BBC America OWNS Britbox and Acorn? Or one of them? And their strategy is to divert Americans starved for UK content over to one of those premium plans?
If so: curse their flinty little hearts.
(Anyway, if few Americans know who David Mitchell is, anymore: BBC America has a big share of the blame.)
They have marathons of the various Star Trek shows, or Law & Order (the American version; I’d actually appreciate a marathon of the UK version) or David Attenborough documentaries. Everything but British programs.