Ben Miller on Alexander Armstrong reunion: “I’m sure we’ll do something soon”
Could we be seeing more of The Armstrong & Miller Show on our screens?
We last saw them paired together in 2010 at the helm of their BBC1 sketch show The Armstrong & Miller Show.
But seven years after leaving the world of quirky quick-fire comedy behind in favour of more meaty roles in long-running dramas, comedian Ben Miller has teased that he will be working together with Alexander Armstrong once more – and sooner, rather than later.
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The 52-year-old, who is hosting Prince Charles’ 70th birthday party later this month with Armstrong, 48, says the pair are constantly coming up with new ideas.
“I’m sure we’ll do something soon,” he explained. “We’re knocking a few ideas around. We’re waiting for a good wave to come along.”
Since leaving their sketch show behind seven years ago, the pair have both gone on to have lucrative careers in their own right.
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While Armstrong is now an established and popular television presenter fronting BBC quiz show Pointless, as well as several runs as a guest host on satirical quiz Have I Got News for You, Miller went on to star as DI Richard Poole in BBC1's Death in Paradise – and has recently rejoined Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson to star in Johnny English Strikes Again, the third instalment in the comedy spy franchise.
Miller reprises his role as the hapless but unrelentingly loyal sidekick Agent Bough to useless super-spy Johnny English after having bowed out in the second film, Johnny English Reborn.
It’s a role that’s ideal for the star, who admits he always fancied participating in a James Bond film back when it was a camp British spy-caper headed up by Roger Moore, as opposed to Daniel Craig’s more serious efforts as 007.
“When Xander [Armstrong] and I made The Armstrong & Miller Show, we loved the idea of being comedy characters in a Bond movie, but nothing came of it,” he said. “Bond has now become more serious. In Roger Moore’s day it was more of an action comedy.”
Nonetheless, despite Atkinson’s undoubtedly more comic take on the popular spy genre in Johnny English, the film bares more of a resemblance to the glossy Bond movies of late. With glamorous French locations, an array of gadgets and fast cars, Johnny English Strikes Again feels like a bona fide Bond movie with laughs.
The new film has a contemporary feel to it too, with Emma Thompson’s turn as the British Prime Minister not dissimilar Theresa May – currently navigating the crisis of leaving the EU.
It’s something Miller has noticed, too. “It doesn’t hurt that during this turmoil with the EU, we’ve got a character in the south of France,” he said. “It gives it a rich context.”
Miller even teases bumbling agent Johnny English would not have been opposed to leaving the EU, joking the character might be a gallant Brexiteer.
“I imagine Johnny might be in favour of Brexit,” he added. “There are resonances you can’t plan for.”
Read the full interview with Ben Miller in Radio Times magazine, out in shops and on the newsstand on Tuesday 9th October
