Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller starred in this consistently intelligent and hilarious comedy sketch show, initially for the Paramount Comedy Channel and then for Channel 4 from series two onwards.
A & M frequently rubbed up against the boundaries of good taste, often without their clothes on, as in their vet-spoof, Nude Practice.
Recurring characters included Strijka, a Norwegian heavy metal band with a tenuous grasp of English; spoof detectives Parsons and Lampkin, and costume drama Brunswicke House.
Every episode in the final series concluded with a visit to Bog Hose House, a parody of Big Brother , where the housemates were constantly sprayed with hoses while discussing their experiences.
The jokes generally played out over time, to be savoured for their cumulative effect: The butch-as-anything gay couple, each of whom thought the other was the effeminate one; the inspirational schoolteacher whose avid interest in his pupils turned to surly and total indifference the instant the bell rang and he went off the clock (“Right! Fuck off!”), and the young Japanese expatriates so painstakingly modish they were gauche.
The title was changed to The Armstrong and Miller Show for the third and fourth series.
The duo returned in 2007 with a new (slightly less edgy and more formulaic) comedy show of the same name, which ran for three series on BBC1.
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A & M frequently rubbed up against the boundaries of good taste, often without their clothes on, as in their vet-spoof, Nude Practice.
The jokes generally played out over time, to be savoured for their cumulative effect: The butch-as-anything gay couple, each of whom thought the other was the effeminate one; the inspirational schoolteacher whose avid interest in his pupils turned to surly and total indifference the instant the bell rang and he went off the clock (“Right! Fuck off!”), and the young Japanese expatriates so painstakingly modish they were gauche.
