337 Ludwig

First  viewed : 3  March  1978

I'm  very  surprised  to  read  that  this  was  actually  made  in  Britain, having  long  thought  that  this  must  have  been  a  German  import,  the  brainchild  of  some  hermit  living  in  the  depths  of  the  Black  Forest.  However  it  was  created  by  Czech  exiles  which  would  account  for  its  mid- European  strangeness.

Ludwig  is  by  far  the  weirdest  series  that  ever  filled  the  Magic  Roundabout  slot  and  so  came  into  my  Friday  night  viewing  schedule. It  had  been  first  broadcast  the  year  before  but  passed  me  by.  Seeing  it  in  the  Radio  Times  I  asked  my  friend   Patrick  what  it  was  like  and  I  remember  him  struggling  for  a  description.

Ludwig  was  a   sort  of   alien  machine  disguised  as  a  gemstone   who  lived  in  the  woods  entertaining  the  animals  with  the  music  of   Beethoven   whether  they  wanted  it  or  not  and  generally  interfering  in  their  daily  existence  with  his  retractable  mechanical  limbs. His  activities  were  observed  by  a  man  in  a  deerstalker  hat,   uttering  the  annoying  catchphrase  "Aah  Ludwig!  "  at  regular  intervals  and  giving  a  narration  which  consisted  of  telling  you  what  you'd  just  seen  for  yourself. Perhaps  he  was  Evan  Davies  in  disguise ?

I  didn't  know  what  to  make  of  it;  was  it  trying  to  get  toddlers  into  classical  music ?  It  just  seemed  completely  off  the  wall.  There  were   25   5 minute  episodes  in  total.