Ludwig - BBC

But Ludwig is a show that might have been designed to suit me, even if its schedule hadn’t had to be. I have spent years (and the forewords to at least two Only Connect companion quiz books) discussing how the nation’s love of word and number puzzles comes from the same place as its love of crime fiction. Wherever you are on the spectrum, you cannot but be soothed by the solution of a crossword or a murder, all loose ends tied up: it’s the illusion of being able to impose order on chaos.

For many people, that is lightly pleasing, for others it’s genuinely therapeutic, and for some of us it’s a goddamn psychological necessity. For as long as I can remember, I’ve reached for a pack of cards at the first sign of trouble, counting and calculating with imaginary decks if I haven’t got a real one. When my father was dying, my brother and I completed crossword after crossword. Ludwig makes clear that the young John Taylor embraced puzzles as a coping strategy for his awkward personality and a particular childhood trauma, which might be the most relatable trait I’ve come across in a character since Magwitch ate a whole pork pie at one sitting.

Doing Only Connect, I’ve met hundreds of fellow puzzlers with high IQs and uneasy minds, many of whom have felt like outsiders.