Alun Armstrong

Alun Armstrong is a prolific English character actor. Armstrong grew up in County Durham in North East England. He first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of characters from the grotesque to musicals... I always play very colourful characters, often a bit crazy, despotic, psychotic." His numerous credits include six different Dickens adaptations and seven series as eccentric ex-detective Brian Lane in New Tricks. Armstrong is also an accomplished stage actor who spent nine years with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He originated the role of Thénardier in the London production of Les Misérables and he won an Olivier Award for playing the title role in Sweeney Todd.

Known For: Acting

Born: Annfield Plain, County Durham, England, UK, 1946-07-17

Died: null

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1971	Get Carter	Keith	70
2	1973	Only Make Believe	Michael Biddle	0
3	1973	The Sex Victims	George	43
4	1973	The Eyes Have It	Mike	70
5	1973	The 14	Tommy	58
6	1974	Easy Go	First docker	0
7	1976	The Likely Lads	Tommy	61
8	1977	A Bridge Too Far	Cpl. Davies	72
9	1977	Risking It	Richard Clewes	0
10	1977	The Duellists	Lieutenant Lacourbe	73
11	1977	Shooting the Chandelier	Brodovich	0
12	1977	Our Day Out	Mr. Briggs	76
13	1978	Liza	Mikhalevich	0
14	1978	Freedom of the Dig	Quinn	0
15	1979	Measure for Measure	Provost	60
16	1979	All Day on the Sands		0
17	1980	Fear of God	Trahearne	0
18	1981	The French Lieutenant's Woman	Grimes	64
19	1983	Mr Moon's Last Case	Narrator	0
20	1983	Krull	Torquil	61
21	1984	The House	Mr. Smeth	50
22	1985	The Caucasian Chalk Circle	Singer	0
23	1985	Number One	Blackpool Police Sergeant	50
24	1985	Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire	Maxwell Randall, The Green Baize Vampire	56
25	1989	The Childeater	Stefano	70
26	1989	That Summer of White Roses	Zemba	53
27	1989	A Night on the Tyne	Willy	0
28	1989	Nineteen96	Det. Supt. Frank Burroughs	0
29	1990	Looking After Number One	Dick	0
30	1990	White Hunter, Black Heart	Ralph Lockhart	64
31	1990	Sticky Wickets	Evans	0
32	1990	The Widowmaker	Dad	0
33	1991	American Friends	Dr. Weeks	62
34	1991	London Kills Me	John Stone	61
35	1992	Split Second	Thrasher	59
36	1992	Patriot Games	Owens	67
37	1992	Blue Ice	Osgood	51
38	1994	Black Beauty	Reuben Smith	67
39	1994	Doggin' Around	Charlie Foster	60
40	1994	MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday	Capshaw	59
41	1995	An Awfully Big Adventure	Uncle Vernon	66
42	1995	Braveheart	Mornay	79
43	1995	Les Misérables: 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall	Thenardier	85
44	1995	Sorry About Last Night	Mickey	60
45	1996	Witness Against Hitler	Pastor Harold Poelchau	60
46	1996	Breaking the Code	Mick Ross	54
47	1997	The Saint	Inspector Teal	61
48	1999	Aristocrats	Lord Holland	60
49	1999	With or Without You	Sammy	55
50	1999	G:MT Greenwich Mean Time	Uncle Henry	58
51	1999	Sleepy Hollow	High Constable	72
52	2000	This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper	Asst. Chief Const. George Oldfield	0
53	2000	7 Up 2000	Himself - Narrator	0
54	2000	Proof of Life	Wyatt	61
55	2001	The Mummy Returns	Baltus Hafez	64
56	2001	Score	George	0
57	2001	Strictly Sinatra	Bill	48
58	2003	Paradise Found	Camille Pissarro	66
59	2003	It's All About Love	David	55
60	2004	Carrie's War	Mr. Samuel Evans	74
61	2004	Millions	Saint Peter	64
62	2004	Van Helsing	Cardinal Jinette	64
63	2004	Van Helsing: The London Assignment	Cardinal Jinetta (voice)	61
64	2004	When I'm Sixty-Four	Jim	53
65	2005	Oliver Twist	Magistrate Fang	67
66	2006	The Girls Who Came to Stay	Bob Jenkins	60
67	2006	Eragon	Uncle Garrow	51
68	2007	The Dinner Party	Jim	60
69	2008	Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story	Ernest Whitehouse	63
70	2010	Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary in Concert	Monsieur Thenardier (1985 Cast)	82
71		The Choral		0
72	1996	Brazen Hussies	Jimmy Hardcastle	33
73	1999	Onegin	Zaretsky	62
74	2000	Harrison's Flowers	Samuel Brubeck	65
75	2002	Inquisition	Martin	0
76	2016	Golden Years	Sid	63
77	2016	Asunder	Self - Narrator (voice)	0
78	2018	Funny Cow	Lenny	63
79	2018	Possum	Maurice	61
80	2019	Out of Innocence	Detective Callaghan	66
81	2020	Breaking The Codes		0
82	2021	The Nicky Nack		0

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1965	Public Eye	Vince Gregson	78
2	1965	BBC Play of the Month	Lightborne	50
3	1970	Play for Today	1st Docker	61
4	1970	Play for Today	Mr Briggs	61
5	1971	Justice	Bob Graham	60
6	1973	Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?	Scaife	77
7	1973	Thriller	Mike	66
8	1974	Porridge	Spraggon	81
9	1974	Father Brown	Joe	66
10	1975	The Sweeney	Peter Jenner	77
11	1975	The Stars Look Down	Joe Gowlan	0
12	1975	Days of Hope	Billy Shepherd	62
13	1976	The New Avengers		69
14	1977	A Sharp Intake of Breath		67
15	1978	Enemy at the Door	Louis Mendoza	80
16	1978	Armchair Thriller	Trahearne	42
17	1978	The BBC Television Shakespeare		52
18	1981	Get Lost!	Neville Keaton	50
19	1982	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby		70
20	1985	A.D.	Gamesmaster	49
21	1985	MacGyver	Chief Superintendent Capshaw	77
22	1987	Inspector Morse	Superintendent Holdsby	78
23	1987	Married... with Children	Trevor	77
24	1988	The Storyteller		81
25	1989	Tales from the Crypt	Inspector Herbert	80
26	1991	Murder in Eden	Sgt. McGing	60
27	1991	Stanley and the Women	Rufus Hilton	60
28	1992	Shakespeare: The Animated Tales	Caliban (voice)	68
29	1993	Goggle Eyes	Gerald 'Goggle Eyes' Faulkner	0
30	1996	Our Friends in the North	Austin Donohue	73
31	1997	Underworld		70
32	1998	In the Red	DCI Frank Jefferson	62
33	1999	Oliver Twist	Mr. Fleming	63
34	1999	David Copperfield	Dan Peggotty	71
35	2000	This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper	Asst. Chief Const. George Oldfield	76
36	2001	Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years	George Mole	30
37	2001	Messiah	DCI Charlie McIntyre	72
38	2001	Bedtime	Neil Henshaw	20
39	2001	Extinct	Himself - Narrator	80
40	2002	Sparkhouse	Richard Bolton	76
41	2003	Between The Sheets	Peter Delany	53
42	2004	New Tricks	Brian Lane	74
43	2005	Bleak House	Inspector Bucket	82
44	2008	Little Dorrit	Ephraim Flintwinch	78
45	2009	Garrow's Law	John Southouse	72
46	2010	A Passionate Woman	Donald (1980s)	67
47	2010	Downton Abbey	Stowell	81
48	2012	The Mystery of Edwin Drood	Hiram Grewgious	58
49	2012	The Hollow Crown	Northumberland	73
50	2014	Penny Dreadful	Vincent Brand	78
51	2016	Dark Angel	George Stot	63
52	2016	Frontier	Lord Benton	68
53	2017	Prime Suspect 1973	Clifford Bentley	73
54	2019	Year of the Rabbit	Chief Inspector Hugh Wisbech	72
55	2020	Breeders	Jim	70
56	2022	Sherwood	Gary Jackson	69
57	2023	Tom Jones	Squire Western	57