Putting a new spin on the genius police consultant premise, the British series “Ludwig” (on BritBox) begins with identical twin brothers who are estranged in middle age. One is a police detective in Cambridge. The other is a recluse who lives elsewhere and publishes word and number puzzles under the pen name Ludwig. When the former goes missing, the latter begrudgingly agrees — at the behest of his brother’s wife — to assume his twin’s identity as a detective and see if he can get to the bottom of things. Inevitably, he ends up using his talents to solve murders while he’s at it.

David Mitchell (of the U.K. sitcom “Peep Show”) stars as both John Taylor (the puzzle master with awkward social skills and a love for Beethoven) and James Taylor (the cop about whom we know nothing, who is only seen in photos by the time the story begins). John experiences the world as a series of patterns to be sorted and riddles to be solved. So of course, when he finds himself pretending to be a detective, the gears in his brain start turning and voila, logic prevails and he pieces together the mystery behind the crime du jour — even if he isn’t trying. Everything else remains a struggle (he can never seem to park his car within the painted lines), which is the low-key humor of the series.

During his first case, he steals away and calls his sister-in-law Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin) to complain about this mess she’s gotten him into, which is worsening his preexisting anxieties. As they talk, he absentmindedly flips through the case file and then suddenly stops. “I’ve got to go,” he interrupts. “A bit awkward really, I think I may have just solved a murder.”

The series (created by Mark Brotherhood) flashes back periodically to the twins’ childhood, which was marked by their father’s decision to abandon the family. This trauma has shaped them as adults, especially John’s reluctance to form interpersonal relationships. This makes him an ideal detective, the show would have us believe, because it allows him to stand apart and be an observer rather than a participant in life — all the better to assemble a mental catalog of facts, unencumbered by emotion or bias.

The cases take place at a large country estate-turned-hotel, a fancy school John and James attended in their youth, and so on. John is able to maintain his ruse through it all until it all comes to a head at the season’s end, when one of their own, a police IT consultant, turns up dead. This sets the stage for a second season, albeit one presumably missing the tension of a man bluffing his way through a profession that’s not his own.

There’s a lot to like about the six-episode series, even if the execution occasionally leaves something to be desired. Lucy is a withholding character who doesn’t seem upset so much as perkily curious about her husband’s disappearance. He left her a cryptic note saying he was in danger and not to trust anyone; oddly, this doesn’t seem to inspire in her anything resembling fear. But she’s also just underwritten; her impenetrable affect doesn’t suggest a woman trying to keep her feelings in check, but an actor who has been given little to work with that is recognizably human.

Visually, “Ludwig” is also too dark or muddy for the show’s lighter tone. Maybe that’s why the best episode is one that largely takes place outside at a construction site; you can actually see what’s on screen. It’s one thing to use puzzles as a storytelling framework, but another to ask audiences to puzzle out what they’re even looking at.

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'LUDWIG'

2.5 stars (out of 4)

How to watch: BritBox

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