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The Armstrongs
Format	Drama/Documentary
Created by	Fergus O'Brien
Starring	Ann Armstrong John Armstrong Michael Handel Basil Mienie
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	12 (Series 1); and a Christmas special
Production
Running time	30 minutes Christmas Special: 90 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	22 February 2006 – 10 May 2006; and a Christmas special December 2006

The Armstrongs is a British television drama/documentary series broadcast on the BBC in the UK. The Armstrongs is an access-all-areas insight into the unorthodox and sometimes ruthless business antics that are par for the course at "U-Fit", Coventry's third-biggest double glazing company. The show is narrated by actor Bill Nighy.The program is unlikely to be screened anymore as John & Ann have had exchanged conflicting views with the BBC as the majority of the programme was largely contrived in agreement with the Armstrongs who were paid allegedly £185,000 to go with the flow^{[citation needed]}.

This was the second TV outing for the Armstrongs. The first was in a one-off documentary in 2003 called "The Office Christmas Party", which showed the preparations for U-Fit's Christmas party.

There is some discussion as to whether it is a true fly-on-the wall documentary, a fictional comedy with an elaborately constructed presence on the internet, or a mixture of the two. Note that U-Fit the company appears in the online Yellow Pages, not known for collaborating with hoaxes. John is a keen cyclist, and lives near Maxstoke in Coventry. His company is genuine, but now spends a lot of time in his holiday home in France. John can sometimes be found racing down dual-carriageways in lycra, competing in the Coventry Road Club cycling time trials on a Thursday night.

Contents 1 Overview 2 The Armstrongs: The Movie 3 Today 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Overview

Driven by the desire for profit, management team John and Ann Armstrong are constantly spying on their unwieldy sales force with CCTV cameras and phone taps. But motivating the team is an uphill struggle and John and Ann must resort to ever-more desperate measures to boost sales. Despite their best endeavours, their plans backfire with alarming frequency. However, woe betide anyone who gets in the way of their dream of becoming multi-millionaires. Ann suffered a miscarriage in the final episode, but even this did not prevent the Armstrongs attending a signage exhibition less than a week later in Sin City itself, sunny Las Vegas. This caused debate due to the apparent lack of concern shown by John and Ann.

The idea is a kind of all-too-real-life version of The Office, set in Coventry. Ann is the more talkative of the two, a mixture of starry-eyed optimist and petty disciplinarian. John mostly just swears a lot and criticises Ann's schemes for improving the company - such as hiring a Zimbabwean motivational guru called Basil Mienie (pronounced 'meanie').

[edit] The Armstrongs: The Movie

A film length special was made for Christmas in 2006. It was compiled from material from the series.

[edit] Today

• On June 14, 2006, it was announced on the official Armstrongs website that the couple had signed a book deal. The book is to be a sharp, witty A-Z of life from their quirky point of view. The book will be out sometime in October, 2006.
• In early 2006, Ann had a miscarriage. She is now expecting again. Angus is expected to be born in November/December 2006.^[1]
• In August 2006, The Armstrongs opened a beauty and hair salon in Marston Green, near Birmingham; called Younique.^[2] This has now ceased trading.

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Younique | Beauty Revealed | Home

[edit] External links

• U-Fit official site
• Younique website
• Othello Wiki Book Project entry for Michael Handel
• Basil Mienie
• The Armstrongs at the Internet Movie Database