Alexander Armstrong

An affectionate telling of the struggle for the home computer market in Britain in the 1980s. The drama is seen through the personalities of classic egghead Sir Clive Sinclair (Alexander Armstrong) and his one-time colleague and friend Chris Curry (Martin Freeman), who originally championed the idea of a micro computer but left Sinclair Radionics when Sinclair sneered at the concept. Sinclair soon realised that computers made more sense than the electric cars he was developing and so the two went head-to-head in the market, with Sinclair's Spectrum up against Curry's BBC Micro. Early on Sinclair says that "inventors are obliged to dream", but the film shows the business world is an unforgiving place.

BBC lines up spoof web review

Comedians Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller have revived their cultural critic characters Craig and Martin for a spoof online review show for the BBC.

Guest interview: Stuart Maconie

Regular Guest Host Alexander Armstrong is hosting tonight's show, so we decided to interview Have I Got News For You first-timer Stuart Maconie instead.

BBC axes Mutual Friends

BBC1 has axed primetime comedy-drama Mutual Friends after just one series.

The Hat Trick show, penned by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto, was initially planned as a one-off about male friendship featuring comedians Ben Miller and Alexander Armstrong but was later commissioned for a 6 x 60-minute series.

Have I Got News internet spin-off to bridge TV run

Alexander Armstrong is to front a fortnightly web spin-off of Have I Got News For You that will bridge the gap between the next two series of the satirical BBC1 quiz.

Mutual Friends, may not be a ratings hit but I'm enjoying the talents of the two stars - the brilliant Marc Warren and the scene-stealing Alexander Armstrong. It manages to be hilariously funny and quite deep and serious in places.

Before its first screening, critics were comparing it to ITV1's Cold Feet, but Mutual Friends does have its own engrossing style and the story is very different. Warren and Armstrong bounce off each other brilliantly while there's good support from an ensemble cast including Emily Joyce as Martin's boss and Sarah Alexander.

Being very easy to watch and surprisingly very funny, it's the kind of drama only us Brits could achieve with a good mix of proper drama and human, normal characters. The only possible flaw is that I've yet to warm to Keeley Hawes's character.

This curious drama with occasional laughs is still struggling to find its feet and its identity, something that isn't helped by its underwritten, shallow and irritating female characters. This isn't really their fault, because they have almost nothing to do except whine, cling or just generally be pointless and annoying.

Poor Sarah Alexander in particular is saddled with a deadly role as Liz, ex-girlfriend of tedious lothario Patrick (Alexander Armstrong). One minute she's quite sane and sensible, the next she's behaving like a halfwit. Things are still being kept together by Marc Warren as Martin, the hopeless cuckold whose desperate attempts to win back the affections of wife Jen (Keeley Hawes) keep hitting the rocks.

We liked parts of it in the same way someone with the last wisps of life passing their lips savours their chronically sore knee as it is the only conduit through which any feeling now exists.

The central relationship between Martin (Marc Warren) and Patrick (Alexander Armstrong) succeeds but only because everything surrounding it lies a state of moribund decay.

A shudderingly badly written new TV drama that wouldn't last beyond the first week in a theatre. On TV it'll carry on for six godforsaken episodes. It is one of those vaguely unpleasant pieces that thinks it's a black comedy but has neither the charm nor the cruelty to pull it off.

People shitting in other people's shoes? Hilarious, I'm sure. The soundtrack - a knowing, jaunty tango - amplifies every failing.

The estimable cast - Marc Warren, Alexander Armstrong - have a vaguely betrayed air, as if they know the script can barely cover their naked shame. Only Keeley Hawes has thrown her heart into it, seeming to relish her shallow, unappealing character. I used to really like her as an actress. One line for me sums up the poverty of this script. A poor child actor had to deliver a bombshell about his parents' infidelity. He was only a kid but he still seemed to cringe as he said the words: Is Uncle Carl in heaven? Good. Now he won't be able to shag mummy any more. Can you think of a smarmier, more contrived line of dialogue? A more obvious plot-hinge, a cheaper, nastier, less plausible sentence for a child to deliver?

The Beeb has managed to hash out a few frothy, camp, enjoyable dramas over the years with the likes of Cutting It and Playing The Field. Now, it's got a new one to add to the ranks, with the debut of Mutual Friends.

Making a decent drama is hardly rocket science: keep it simple, write about what you know and hope the viewers can empathise. In this case, it was a group of dysfunctional friends in their thirties and forties, juggling love, life and infidelities with a healthy blend of irreverence and drama.

It's a straightforward format, which is probably why BBC's last high-profile drama, Bonekickers, failed so miserably. That had a similar conceit: a group of dysfunctional archaeologists juggling love, life and ancient mystic artefacts. Yep, that's where they lost us. Poor old Adrian Lester, who starred in Bonekickers, must have been slightly envious to see his former Hustle co-star, Marc Warren, getting some meaty lines and heartfelt drama here. Elsewhere, the rest of the cast was flawless: Keeley Hawes as Warren's self-righteous and estranged wife, Alexander Armstrong using a dash of his sometime persona as the Pimm's man to play a surprisingly convincing ladykiller (seriously, the man oozed charm) with Sarah Alexander as his ex-fiancée. Hopefully, the sardonic humour will continue as the series progresses.