David Mitchell has spoken about his fears around working with Anna Maxwell Martin on their new BBC show Ludwig.
The Peep Show star is set to play the reclusive puzzle-setter John 'Ludwig' Taylor in the upcoming dramedy. John is tasked with cracking the disappearance of his identical twin brother, with the help of his sister-in-law Lucy, played by Maxwell Martin.
Ludwig assumes his brother's identity as a Cambridge police detective and begins to solve a series of murders while trying to trace his twin.
While Mitchell said Maxwell Martin had appeared on an episode of Would I Lie To You?, since those "don't feel like work", he felt that Ludwig was their first real job together.
Speaking to Digital Spy and other press at a Q+A to promote the new show, Mitchell said: "She's brilliant and so what I felt in the scenes with her is, I'm in a scene with a really good actor here and I hope I don't look dreadful."
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Mitchell went on to explain his "intellectual theory" that comedy and drama have "no real difference", adding: "It's the same skill. There's not a different approach. You're just playing the situation."
However, he went on to say: "But obviously, on some level, when you're in a scene with Anna Maxwell Martin, who's done so much great stuff in a totally different genre from me, you'd be a complete egomaniac not to be a bit nervous.
"So it was very nice that I felt those scenes work and if she thought, Oh my god, I'm working with a real idiot here, she was kind enough not to say so."
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Mitchell said of the experience of acting alongside Maxwell Martin: "She's very funny, moving. She just hits all the notes the scene needs to hit. And it was a privilege. It was fun. She was really easy to get on with.
"And I sort of felt, okay, I'm alright. I'm allowed to be in a drama. This is all right."
Ludwig is set to premiere on Wednesday, September 25 at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
