Ludwig star David Mitchell suggests bleak reason for 'cosy crime' boom
Ludwig star David Mitchell has opened up on why he thinks TV fans are loving the 'cosy crime' genre.
David Mitchell thinks the cosy crime boom has been caused by the "trouble times" we're living in.
The 52-year-old comedian, who will reprise his role as puzzle-setter turned crime scene consultant John 'Ludwig' Taylor in the second series of the hit BBC comedy murder mystery, has opened up about why the genre has become so popular.
He told the BBC: "The truth is that we live in troubled times. The golden age of crime, as they call it, was the 1930s, and that's when people disappeared into their Dorothy L. Sayers novels, and Agatha Christie.
"That was also an extremely troubled era. Let's hope that this cosy crime boom ends more happily than the 1930s one did."
The Would I Lie To You star insisted that the team behind Ludwig were "quite worried" about nailing the "balance between mystery and humour".
He explained: "It's a comedy drama, not a straight drama. Although, my view is that any drama with no comic element is flawed.
"The main thrust is caring about the plot and the characters and then the comedy is decorative to that.
"The risk in Ludwig was putting too many jokes in, so the plot is undermined and becomes silly and a spoof.
"You need it to be broadly straight, but then to have funny elements that are believable for the characters."
Meanwhile, he noted how the setting for the series, which is based in Cambridge, has also played a vital role in hitting the right tone.
David said: "I went to university there, and I love it.
"You want people to enjoy slipping into this world like a pair of slippers, but with a dead body in them. Cambridge is obviously a great candidate for that.
"Inspector Morse is one of my favourite shows, but that was set in Oxford. That's where people want to escape to in this kind of program.
"I think you've got to have a beautiful setting to juxtapose with the nature of the crimes."
The detective series sees David portray puzzle maker John "Ludwig" Taylor and his identical twin brother, detective chief inspector James Taylor.
David stars opposite Anna Maxwell Martin, who portrays James' wife Lucy Betts-Taylor, and Dylan Hughes appears as Ludwig's nephew Henry Betts-Taylor.
Ludwig returns to the BBC with series 2 from August 20, but the broadcaster has already commission a third before the upcoming episodes even air.
David said: "I am delighted that Ludwig will be returning to solve more of Mark Brotherhood’s brilliant mysteries.
"I can’t wait to get started and have renewed the subscription on my denouement-learning app."
