Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller are reviving their podcast, Timeghost.The first three episodes are available from Wednesday 20th May.
The original podcast ran for 26 episodes in 2009, Xander and Ben play Martin Baine-Jones and Craig Children, two cultural commentators pronouncing on what's in the zeitgeist, often without having seen the work in question.
Timeghost is available through the Acast network, or on all major podcast platforms.
We Are Most Amused And Amazed is a spectacular night of comedy and magic from The London Palladium, to celebrate the 70th birthday of HRH The Prince of Wales and raise funds for youth charity The Prince’s Trust.
Reuniting comedians Armstrong & Miller as hosts, the show also features the very best comedians and magicians from Britain and beyond: from the world of comedy, Bill Bailey, Rowan Atkinson, Sandi Toksvig, Omid Djalili, Mischief Theatre, and Alistair
McGowan, as well as magicians Penn & Teller, Dynamo, and The Ehrlich Brothers.There are also special appearances from Kylie Minogue, Cheryl, Jim Carter and Wallace & Gromit.
We Are Most Amused And Amazed airs on Tuesday 13th November at 8pm, on ITV.
Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller will host a comedy and magic show on October 22nd at the London Palladium, to mark the Prince of Wales's 70th birthday. The night of stand-up and illusions will raise funds for the Princes Trust.
The show, including Rowan Atkinson, Bill Bailey, Omid Djalili, Penn & Teller, and Dynamo, will be recorded for broadcast at a later date, Tickets can be booked here. Xander said:
This is going to be a night from the very topper-most drawer. What
a colossal honour it is to be hosting such a dazzling line-up for HRH
and best of all I’ll be alongside my lovely old friend Ben thingy.
Ben added:
Alexander Armstrong and I are delighted to be hosting Prince Charles’
favourite comedians and magicians at the Palladium, and all in a very
good cause: relaunching our comedy careers. And raising a few quid for the Prince’s Trust of course.
The logical date for this to be broadcast would be on Prince Charles' birthday, 14th November, but who can fathom the ways of TV schedulers? More info when I have it.
Children's Hour was a radio sketch show first broadcast in 2008, and presented by Armstrong and Miller's alter egos Craig Children and Martin Bain-Jones,
Now Children's Hour is being repeated on Radio 4 Extra, starting on Wednesday 3rd January at 11.30pm. Although described as a "show for young people", Children's Hour is very much..not that! Extremely funny though, and very highly recommended.
Today, 26th October, is the 10th anniversary of the day in 2007 when the first episode of Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller's The Armstrong and Miller Show was broadcast. It carried on from where their 1997 to 2001 Paramount and Channel 4 sketch show left off.
Now on BBC1 in prime time, the show introduced a whole range of new recurring characters, including filthy Flanders & Swann parody Brabbins & Fyffe, Divorced Dad (who gives entirely unsuitable advice to his young son), and Pru and Miranda, who run Dandy Lions, a spectacularly inefficient vegetarian restaurant in Hampstead. These sketches invariably end with the line: "Pru, It's kicking off!, at which point their customers (and their front window) feel the full
force of their pent up frustrations with each other.
But their most popular new characters were undoubtedly the WWII RAF pilots, who spoke modern-day street slang in cut-glass 1940s accents.
After their previous series ended in 2001, Xander and Ben decided to work together again on this show after having appeared together in a 2005
charity show at the Groucho Club. As Xander explained:
It was the
first time we had performed together for many years, and it was lovely,
really good fun. Because we'd worked together so much and so
intensively, we thought we'd done enough to last a lifetime. But we
realised how much we missed it and how the chemistry just worked.
Re-uniting suddenly seemed the sensible thing to do.
Ben added
Our
wives Belinda and Hannah were there to watch. They had never seen us do
our act before, and they encouraged us to get back together.
Since the last series of The Armstrong and Miller Show in 2010, Xander and Ben have worked together on sitcom pilot Felix & Murdo in 2011, but there have been no signs of another sketch series, possibly due to both men's busy work schedules. Maybe one day...
Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller are reunited to present With Great Pleasure at Christmas, at 10pm on Radio 4 on Christmas Day (repeated on Boxing Day at 4pm).
Expect laughter and
maybe the odd tear as they present readings from their favourite works
of fiction and poetry, many with a Christmas feel, and a song or two (including, I'm reliably informed, The Hatmakers' Song).
They're assisted by one of their favourite female collaborators, Sarah
Alexander.
Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller haven't worked together for several years, but they're back together for one night only to present With Great Pleasure At Christmas, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day.
They'll talk about the books, poems, and much more that have inspired them. The show is being recorded in front of a live audience in central London on the evening of Monday 21st November. Apply here for tickets!
It's 20 years since Armstrong & Miller were shortlisted for the Perrier Award, the name at that time for the Edinburgh Comedy Award. A long time ago, right? And through the miracle of the BBC website, we can see just how young Xander and Ben looked back then.
Turns out that people's appearance changes the course of 20 years. Who knew? "Whatever happened to them" though, BBC? Tsk.
The fabulous Children's Hour with Armstrong & Miller, originally broadcast in 1998, is being repeated on Radio 4 Extra on Tuesday nights. Xander and Ben star as Martin Bain-Jones and Craig Children, presenting the station's "show for young folk".
Episode 1 is currently available on iPlayer, with the other three episodes to follow. Very funny and highly recommended.
