Ludwig ending explained: What happened to James at the end of the BBC comedy-drama?

Viewers have loved every moment of BBC comedy-drama Ludwig, and the escapades of accidental detective, John Taylor. We look at the series finale, and answer some unresolved questions.

One of the surprise hit shows of the year, has to be BBC dramedy, Ludwig. The offbeat premise was a gamble, but it certainly paid off as those tuning in have gone wild for the series. John Taylor (David Mitchell) stars as a reclusive puzzle maker who publishes puzzle books under the name Ludwig. His identical twin brother, James, has an entirely different life as Detective Chief Inspector of the Cambridge police force.

When James goes missing, his wife Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin) needs John's help to find out what on earth has happened to him. John pretends to be his twin to infiltrate the police and get answers for himself and Lucy, only to find himself drawn into solving other perplexing cases. Viewers enjoy a deep dive into a series finale, as demonstrated by their questions raised about the recent Perfect Couple ending, and the high octane The Lincoln Lawyer ending on Netflix. With some questions left as the closing credits rolled on the Ludwig finale, we take a good look at what went down.

Ludwig ending explained

The series finale of Ludwig saw John admitting to Russell that he wasn't actually James, and had been masquerading as his brother all along. Lucy is arrested in connection to IT technician Holly's murder after it appears Holly and James had been having an affair. Holly had sent Lucy a text asking her to come to her house, telling her she had something to tell her.

Viewers believed Holly was going to admit to an affair with James, which they thought had already been revealed in the show. Holly's neighbours hear shouting and Holly is discovered lifeless with Lucy found nearby with a knife. It seems likely that Lucy was the perpetrator with this damning evidence, and further fingers point her way when Simon reveals he overheard Holly speaking to John, who she thought to be James, about their affair.

Russell interviews John to ask if he'd ever been in a sexual relationship with Holly, where he's eventually forced to admit he isn't James, and can't be sure whether James and Holly had an affair. The rest of the police team are shocked at this news, and John finds himself in a cell overnight while the investigation into Holly's death continues.

However, the team come around when they realise they need John to solve the mystery of Holly's death, and to give him the chance to clear Lucy of any implications surrounding it. Carol asks John to sign James's resignation forms, to maintain the illusion James was still working for the force until that point, and John had never been there impersonating him - this saves everyone's skin.

While investigating Holly's murder, John finds out it was Adam who'd killed her. It also came to light Holly had been selling information on members of the police force to the highest bidder, and extorting any officers with incriminating things she found out about them from having access to their emails.

Holly and James had also never had an affair - Holly staged this because she'd become suspicious John wasn't actually James and used the fake affair as a way to prove her theory. Adam had been sharing the profits Holly made from extorting police officers, and he'd killed her when he found out she wasn't giving him his fair share.

What happened to James in Ludwig?

The Ludwig finale reveals the biggest mystery of the entire season - James is still alive. When conspiracy theorist Roger Sinclair died, James had been first on the scene. He and partner Matt were taken off the case, and the new team on the case amended their official reports.

James believed Sinclair had been taken out in a professional hit, and the contents of his house later went missing on their way to Scotland Yard. James wanted to pursue the case, despite Carol telling him to stay away. At this time Matt went into hiding, and James had disappeared.

After he's signed James's resignation papers, John gets a voicemail from James explaining he was unhappy with Lucy and had thrown himself into the dangerous investigation of Sinclair as a distraction. It simply appears that he's decided to abandon Henry and Lucy.

John realises when explaining this to Lucy, that the voicemail contains a hidden message. Referring to himself as bowerbird, John believes James is covertly pointing them to a bird book he'd given Henry, which contains a hidden message leading John and Lucy to a storage unit full of Sinclair's missing possessions.

It seems Sinclair's conspiracy theories had been true and people wanted him dead because of his findings. While John and Lucy set to work finding Sinclair's research, James watches them from the shadows.