Alexander Armstrong

Armstrong and Miller: interview

As a clip of re-formed duo Armstrong and Miller goes nuclear on YouTube, the pair discuss their return to their BBC comedy sketch show.

They don't make eggheads like they used to. Alexander Armstrong wore his best cosmetic slaphead with distracting ginger furze in Micro Men, the story of Clive Sinclair's race with his former colleague Chris Curry (Martin Freeman) to develop the personal computer in Cambridge. There was a wilfully mischievous tone to Tony Saint's drama, which spanned the late-1970s to mid-1980s: Armstrong as Sinclair was an erratic mix of geeky idealist and corporate tyrant. One minute he would be discussing the finer points of circuitry, the next throwing a phone through a window.

Sinclair was determined to take personal computing to new frontiers: "A man's reach should exceed his grasp - or what's a heaven for?", he said, quoting Browning. But he was also shown to be a control freak, ironically, as the thing he most resented in the early days was the "Stalinist" stranglehold on his company of the National Enterprise Board. Curry jumped ship from Sinclair after Sinclair refused to let him work on computers, insisting he focus instead on Sinclair's masterplan to develop a "personalised motor vehicle".

The early personal computer was quintessentially British: amateurish, user-unfriendly and unbecoming, but also a stunning technical achievement rooted in boffinry. Once upon a time, and not so long ago, the idea of having a personal computer seemed astonishing. Saint's drama included old episodes of John Craven's Newsround and clunky TV computer shows to show how far our expectations, and technology, had progressed in such a short space of time. Sinclair began as the hare, with the ZX80, ZX81 and later the Spectrum capturing the public imagination - although he was initially annoyed that people were more keen to play games on computers than anything else.

Armstrong presented Sinclair as occasionally regretful that Curry had left him to set up Acorn Computers, but his ambition to do things for magically cheap figures - £99 for a personal computer - soon displaced wistfulness. But even the big bucks couldn't extinguish the spirit of invention and innovation, which pinged as brightly as the green neon of the early computer. The conflict in Micro Men wasn't just between Sinclair and Curry, it was between egg-headery and profit; both men had teams of impressively long-haired nerds.

Armstrong caught Sinclair's weird diffidence perfectly. Assailed by a bevy of beauties at a Mensa conference, he banged on about his ambition to put the words of every book ever written on to something the size of a sugar cube. One of the women said it was nice to put his hands on something big once in a while. He nodded, as if she were making another scientific point, and then actually got what she was suggesting and his smile widened for a millisecond.

Sinclair and Curry were ultimately thrown into competition to supply the BBC with a computer system - which, several hundred sleepless nights and many kebabs later, Acorn won. (At Sinclair HQ, another telephone was thrown.) Home computers were all over the shops, but almost as quickly Sinclair and Curry were over-reaching themselves; Sinclair by trying to drive himself upmarket (he raged that he did not want to be known as "the man who bought you Jet Set F***ing Willy"). Acorn tried to go downmarket. They were both out of step. The consumer had moved on to the first CD players.

Sinclair emerged the more moderately triumphant when he swung past Curry late one night on one of his absurd C5 vehicles: his formal attire, his ugly machine and his slap-headedness all combining to produce an immediate visual gag. An absurd fight broke out between the rival boffins in their former local with scrappy punches and feeble attempts to concuss with newspapers. Reconciled afterwards, Sinclair told Curry that he was looking into the possibility of the flying car. Both companies were sold on, but the eggheads were not sunk.

The Telegraph previews Micro Men

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.

If you're British and over 30, try and watch Micro Men. It's the story of computers in the 80s, the days when Britain ruled the computing world, a nostalgia trip to make Siralan weep into the top of his game. Alexander Armstrong proves that he's way too good for daily quiz shows in the role of genius inventor and sort-of-idiot Clive Sinclair who ends up competing against his former colleague Chris Curry, a role that's perfectly programmed for the as-ever understated Martin Freeman, for the nascent home PC market. Period details are piled so high that they almost take detract from the main characters, but that's a minor quibble in a really good drama. Oh, and on top of all that it also features a cameo from extremely talented and lovely actress Nicola Harrison.

Micro Men brings Clive Sinclair's ZX Spectrum back

BBC4's new ROM-com recalls the rivalry that gave birth to mass home computing.

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.

BBC vetoes Armstrong and Miller's 'gipsy' joke

Armstrong and Miller have agreed to cut the word 'gipsy' from a sketch in their forthcoming series after "debate" with BBC executives.

Armstrong and Miller get third series

BBC1 has ordered a third run of sketch series The Armstrong and Miller Show before the second has even aired.

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.