Culture

Welsh actress to appear in Ludwig Christmas special alongside ‘Poirot’

03 Sep 2026 4 minute read

David Mitchell and Sir David Suchet (Credit: BBC / Big Talk Studios / Amanda Searle)

Nation.Cymru staff

David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin are to be joined by an all-star cast in a Ludwig Christmas special.

Special guest stars in the festive instalment of the hugely popular detective series include Sir David Suchet, Jason Flemyng, Joe Wilkinson, Cathy Tyson, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Welsh actress Alexandra Roach.

The Welsh speaker from Ammanford has become a regular face on TV appearing in such acclaimed shows as Utopia, Y Golau (The Light in the Hall) Inside No. 9, Nightsleeper, Lazarus and Death Valley. She will also be playing a lead role in forthcoming Channel 4 psychological thriller Hunting Alice Bell.

With series two of the International Emmy Award-winning series Ludwig currently airing to great success on BBC iPlayer and BBC One, and with series three now in production, the has BBC announced a Ludwig Christmas special for this coming festive season.

Joanna Scanlon, Iwan Rheon & Alexandra Roach star in Y Golau, image by S4C

It will see the actor behind one of television’s most famous detectives, Hercule Poirot, having the tables turned, with Sir David Suchet taking on the role of a murder suspect in this Christmas episode.

The smash hit detective series is created and written by Mark Brotherhood, and produced by Big Talk Studios (part of ITV Studios) in collaboration with That Mitchell and Webb Company, in co-production with BritBox and ZDF.

David Mitchell (John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor), Anna Maxwell Martin (Lucy Betts-Taylor), Dylan Hughes (Henry Betts-Taylor), and Dipo Ola (DCI Russell Carter) are joined in the Christmas special by a stellar line-up of guest stars.

Set in Yorkshire, the Christmas episode sees John, Lucy and Henry arrive at a remote Christmas themed hotel for what should have been a much-needed escape, when a sudden blackout turns the festivities into a locked-room murder mystery. Trapped by a blizzard and cut off from the outside world, the guests must spend the night with a killer in their midst. With John reluctantly pulled into one of his strangest puzzles yet, the race is on for the Taylors to solve the crime before Christmas.

On working with Sir David Suchet, David Mitchell said: “I have long been a huge admirer of Sir David Suchet’s work and have watched every episode of Poirot several times, so it was a dream come true for me when he agreed to appear in the Ludwig Christmas Special. He was an absolute joy to work and spend time with – funny, interesting and generous – and his performance in the programme is wonderful.”

Anna Maxwell Martin and David Mitchell star in Ludwig (Credit: BBC)

Sir David Suchet says: “It was an absolute pleasure to work alongside David Mitchell and the wonderful ensemble cast. It made quite the refreshing change to be playing a suspect rather than the detective, and to sit comfortably in my armchair while David delivered the denouement. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time.”

Ludwig is a Big Talk Studios production in association with That Mitchell And Webb Company, in co-production with BritBox and ZDF, for the BBC. The Ludwig Christmas episode is written by Mark Brotherhood, and the director is Chris Foggin, who is also currently directing series three of Ludwig.

Episodes 1-3 of Ludwig Series 2 are currently available on BBC iPlayer, episodes 4-6 will be available from Thursday 10 September. Episodes are going out weekly on BBC One, Thursdays, 9pm. The Ludwig Christmas episode forms part of Ludwig series 2.

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