BBC and BritBox comedy-drama Ludwig has gone from strength to strength as it becomes the UK’s most-watched scripted launch of the year so far.

The first ep of Season 2, which wrapped last week, has now been watched by an audience of 9.1 million, according to Barb data from overnights.tv. This places it ahead of the likes of Prime Video’s The Night Manager with 8.7 million and fellow BBC comedy-drama Small Prophets (7.6 million).

The BBC was celebrating the milestone this morning and said this places Ludwig ahead of all rival scripted shows across both broadcasters and streamers. On the unscripted side, it still cannot match The Traitors from earlier this year, also for the BBC, which was watched by a consolidated audience of 13.3 million.

Ludwig stars David Mitchell as John Taylor, a reclusive puzzle maker who pretends to be his brother when he goes missing and infiltrates the local police station to investigate, before becoming embroiled in other cases. Mark Brotherhood is creator, Big Talk produces and the show, which has already been recommissioned for a third season plus Christmas special starring David Suchet, also stars Anna Maxwell Martin and Izuka Hoyle.

Big Talk boss Kenton Allen said: “Ludwig is a gloriously eccentric detective at the heart of a show that has never played by the usual rules, so to see more than nine million people embrace him is genuinely thrilling. Mark Brotherhood has created that rare thing: a clever, funny, warm-hearted show that audiences seem to have made part of their lives.”

Ludwig Season 2 ended last Thursday to 1.6 million overnight viewers but catch-up on BBC iPlayer has been where it has amassed serious numbers. The first season broke out at a time when audiences were looking for cozy viewing and was the BBC’s top-rated scripted show of 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: GK Barry agency HLD Talent has signed content creator and By Babes co-founder Heather Bowling.

The social media star, business owner and neurodiversity advocate is joining up with the likes of Barry, Mariam Musa and Shakira Khan at the London-based HLD, which is lead by creators agent Hannah Holland.

She is known as a the co-founder of By Babes, a UK-based and community-driven beauty and cosmetics brand, and creates much of her content around the company’s focus and products.

HLD called her “bold, ambitious and completely herself” and noted that she has a “built an incredibly loyal and highly engaged audience who have grown with her and who are invested in far more than just the content she creates.”

Bowling appeared on Season 5 of Footasylum’s YouTube series Locked In and made an appearance on Barry’s podcast Saving Grace.

“As she enter this next chapter, we’ll be working together to build on everything she’s already created, while opening up new opportunities across premium fashion and beauty, entrepreneurship, media, presenting and beyond,” said HLD in a statement.

Bowling was previously with Insanity.

EXCLUSIVE: David Barron, the British film producer with credits on six Harry Potter films, is entering the generative artificial intelligence space.

Barron has agreed to produce an AI adaptation of Jack London’s 1903 novel The Call of the Wild, which is written and directed by Simon Rumley (Crushed, Red White & Blue).

The film will be generated at nmatic, with CGI and traditional VFX helping deliver more complex scenes. Filmmakers are billing it as the first faithful adaptation of London’s novel because it will be made from Buck’s subjective experience.

“London’s canvass is so epic, the Alaskan geography so gruelling, the dog and wolf fights so visceral that a faithful cinematic adaptation has hitherto been logistically and financially impossible,” said Barron. ”But technology has finally caught up with London’s vision, and we believe now is the time to do justice.”

The Call of the Wild tells the story of a pampered St. Bernard dog, who is torn from his life of privilege in California’s Santa Clara Valley and is sold into the brutal world of the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, where he discovers the wild instinct that has always lurked within.

The film has been adapted for the screen several times, including a 2020 Michael Green film starring Harrison Ford.

David Barron, Mark Sandell (A Liar’s Autobiography) and Nick Price produce. Chris Catchpole, Carl Lyttle, and Toby White head up prompting and technical at nmatic.