Ben Miller Biography

Bennet Evan "Ben" Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English comedian, actor and director. He is best known as one half of comedy double act Armstrong and Miller, with Alexander Armstrong. Miller and Armstrong wrote and starred in the Channel 4 sketch show Armstrong and Miller, as well as the BBC sketch show The Armstrong & Miller Show.

Early life and education

Miller was born in London, England and grew up in Nantwich, Cheshire. His paternal grandfather was a Lithuanian Jewish tailor who emigrated to the UK and lived in London's East End. He anglicised the family surname. Ben's father Michael Miller was a lecturer in American Literature at the City of Birmingham Polytechnic; and his mother Marion was from Wales. She taught English at South Cheshire College. He has two younger sisters, Leah and Bronwen.

Miller was educated at Malbank School and Sixth Form College, his local comprehensive school in Nantwich, Cheshire. He studied Natural Sciences at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. As an undergraduate, he participated in theatre with Rachel Weisz, and also dated her. He remained at Cambridge to study for a PhD in solid state physics, with his thesis titled Novel quantum effects in low-temperature quasi-zero-dimensional mesoscopic electron systems.

He abandoned completion of his thesis to pursue a career in comedy. Miller's interest in comedy began when a friend asked him to help ferry around the judges of the National Student Drama Festival, which was being held that year in Cambridge. Having already finished his undergraduate degree, he joined the Footlights in 1989, working with Andy Parsons, David Wolstencroft and Sue Perkins, and went on to direct a revue.

Career

Miller moved to London to pursue a career in comedy. He was introduced to fellow Cambridge graduate Alexander Armstrong in 1992, at the TBA Sketch Comedy Group, a comedy club which ran at the Gate Theatre Studio, Notting Hill throughout the 1990s. They performed their first full-length show together at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1994 and returned in 1996, when they were nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award.

Their success resulted in the commission of the television series Armstrong and Miller, which ran for four series from 1997 to 2001 - one on the Paramount Comedy Channel and three on Channel 4. In 1998, the duo also had their own radio show with the same name on BBC Radio 4, which featured many of the sketches and characters from their TV series. After a six-year break, the show was recommissioned for Hattrick Productions as The Armstrong and Miller Show and is in its third series. In 2008, they also had a second radio show, Children's Hour with Armstrong and Miller.

Miller also started acting in films, starring in Steve Coogan's first feature film, The Parole Officer (2001). In 2003 he played the role of 'Bough', sidekick to Rowan Atkinson's title character, in the film Johnny English. In 2004 he co-starred in The Prince and Me.

In 2004 and 2005, he starred in two series of the BBC television series The Worst Week of My Life, with Sarah Alexander. In 2006 he took part in a three-part Christmas special, The Worst Christmas of My Life. He starred as James Lester in ITV's 2007 sci-fi drama Primeval and as Mr Jonathan in the Australian film Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance.

Miller provided the voice for the ITV Digital and now PG Tips Monkey in a popular series of television advertisements featuring Johnny Vegas. In 2008, he appeared as television producer Jonathan Pope in Tony Jordan's series Moving Wallpaper on ITV1 and starred in Thank God You're Here. In 2010, he made his directorial debut with the film Huge.

In January 2011, he presented an episode of the BBC science series Horizon titled "What is One Degree?".

In 2011, he reprised his role as James Lester in the TV series Primeval. From November 2011, he played the role of Louis Harvey in The Ladykillers at the Gielgud Theatre.

On 23 July 2012, Miller began touring for his book, It's Not Rocket Science, from the Royal Society in London. He also appeared at the British Comedy Awards with Armstrong on Channel 4. In 2013, Miller took part in an episode of Room 101 and a Comic Relief special of game show Pointless. On 13 December 2014, he appeared in a Christmas edition of The Celebrity Chase.

From 2011 until the series three premiere in 2014, Miller starred in the BBC-French co-produced series Death in Paradise as Detective Inspector (DI) Richard Poole. A third series of Death in Paradise was commissioned for early 2014. On 9 April 2013 it was announced that Miller would be departing the series, to be replaced by actor Kris Marshall. Filming began in March 2013, and Miller left in May after completion of the first episode, in which his character was murdered.

Miller explained he had personal reasons for the change. "It was the job of a lifetime, but logistically I just didn't feel I could continue." He went on to say that "My personal circumstances just made it too complicated, but I will miss it like a lung. I love it here." Miller's wife had discovered she was pregnant after he had begun filming the first series. Their time apart caused strains on their relationship, and with his sons. He wanted to spend more time with his family.

In 2014, Miller appeared in a feature film version of Molly Moon. He also appeared with Billy Connolly and David Tennant in the film What We Did on Our Holiday.

Starring opposite Nancy Carroll and Diana Vickers, Miller played Robert Houston in the play The Duck House by Dan Patterson and Colin Swash. The show is a political satire based on the UK parliamentary expenses scandal.

On 6 September 2014, Miller guest starred in Doctor Who as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the third episode: "Robot of Sherwood".

In 2015, following the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, Miller starred as King John in Series 6 of Horrible Histories.

Since October 2015, Miller along with Ruth Jones and Will Close, appears in adverts for British supermarket Tesco as Roger with Jones as his wife Jo and Close as their son Freddie. In 2016, Miller co-presented the ITV entertainment series It's Not Rocket Science alongside Rachel Riley and Romesh Ranganathan.

In February 2016 Miller issued a book, accompanied by a lecture tour, entitled The Aliens are Coming!, examining the question "are we alone in the universe?".

Miller played the role of Murray in the six-part BBC sitcom I Want My Wife Back, starring alongside Caroline Catz. In 2016, he will appear in Channel 4 comedy Power Monkeys.

Production

Miller directed a television pilot that subsequently became the first episode of Steve Coogan's 2006 British BBC TV series Saxondale. He and Alexander Armstrong have formed a production company named Toff Media.

Awards

Miller was awarded a Judges' Commendation for his portrayal of Hamlet at the 1990 National Student Drama Festival. He co-wrote MindGym, winner of the first BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award for comedy in 1998, with Tim Wright and Adam Gee. He and Armstrong won a BCA Award for The Armstrong and Miller Show. In 2010 they also won a BAFTA for The Armstrong and Miller Show.

Personal life

Miller's first wife was Belinda Stewart-Wilson, who guest-starred with him in Series 3 of Primeval. The pair, who have a son Jackson, known as Sonny, born in 2006, divorced in 2011. Miller has another son, Harrison, born in late 2011 and a daughter born in June 2015, with his second wife production executive Jessica Parker, daughter of British musician Alan Parker, whom he married in September 2013.

On 20 February 2009, Miller appeared with Rob Brydon in an episode of QI (Series 6. 9). Brydon has often been mistaken for Miller, and as a joke they dressed in similar shirts for the episode and shared an on-screen narcissistic kiss. A talented musician, Miller plays the guitar and drums.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Murder Most Horrid	P.C. Watkins	TV series (1 episode: "He Died a Death")
1992	The Pall Bearer's Revue		TV series (1 episode: "Episode 3")
1993	French and Saunders		TV series (1 episode: "The Silence of the Lambs")
	Paul Merton: The Series	Various	TV series (6 episodes)
1995	You Bet!	Himself / various	TV series (series 8, show 6)
	Casualty	Daniel Murdoch	TV series (1 episode: "Trials and Tribulations")
	Look at the State We're In!	Marty	TV mini-series
	Sardines	Simon	TV film
1997	The Jack Docherty Show	Various	TV series
1997-2001	The Armstrong and Miller Show	Various Roles	TV series (27 episodes)
1999	Plunkett and Macleane	Dixon
	Hunting Venus	Gavin	TV film
	Passion Killers	Nick	TV film
	Coming Soon	Ben	TV film
	The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Daredevils of the Desert	French Officer	Video
2000	You Can't Dance		Short
	Tip of My Tongue	Dave	Short
	Cinderella	Dandini	TV film
	The Blind Date	Joe Maxwell
	There's Only One Jimmy Grimble	Johnny Two Dogs
2001	The Parole Officer	Colin
	Birthday Girl	Concierge
	Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible	Rebenor	TV series (1 episode: "Lesbian Vampire Lovers of Lust")
2002	Surrealissimo: The Trial of Salvador Dal	Yoyotte	TV film
	The Book Group	Martin Logan	TV series (2 episodes)
	Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Roland Moxley-Nemesis	TV film
2003	Johnny English	Angus Bough
	The Actors	Clive
2004	The Prince and Me	Sren
	Agatha Christie's Marple	Basil Blake	TV film
	Doc Martin	Stewart James	TV series (2 episodes: "The Portwenn Effect" and "Out of the Woods")
2004-06	The Worst Week of My Life	Howard Steel	TV series (17 episodes)
2005	Malice Aforethought	Dr. Edmund Bickleigh	TV film
	Starry Night		Short
	Doc Martin	Stewart James	TV series (1 episode: "Out of the Woods")
2006	Popetown	The Priest	TV series (10 episodes)
	Saxondale	Bernard Langley	TV series (1 episode: "Episode No. 1.6")
2007	Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance	Mr Jonathon
2007-11	Primeval	James Lester	TV series (30 episodes [credited for 36])
2007-10	The Armstrong and Miller Show	Various Roles	TV series (19 episodes)
2008-09	Moving Wallpaper	Jonathan Pope	TV series (18 episodes)
2008	Moving Wallpaper: The Mole	Jonathan Pope	TV series short (2 episodes: uncredited)
2009	Within the Whirlwind	Krasny
	The Catherine Tate Show	Ghost of Christmas Past	TV series (1 episode "Nan's Christmas Carol")
	QI	Himself	Comedy Panel Show (1 episode "The Future")
2010	4.3.2.1	Mr Philips
2011-14	Death in Paradise	DI Richard Poole	17 episodes
2011	Episodes	Himself	TV series (1 episode)
	Johnny English Reborn	Angus Bough	Scenes deleted
	Felix and Murdo	Various	One-off special on Channel 4 on 28 December with Alexander Armstrong
2013	Room 101	Himself	TV series (1 episode)
2014	What We Did on Our Holiday	Gavin McLeod	Cinematic Film, with David Tennant
	This is Jinsy	Chief Acco / Berpetta	TV series (1 episode)
	Doctor Who	Sheriff of Nottingham	TV series (1 episode: "Robot of Sherwood")
2015	Horrible Science	Professor McTaggart (voice)/various	10 episodes
	Asylum	Dan Hern	TV series (3 episodes)
	Ballot Monkeys	Kevin Sturridge
2016	It's Not Rocket Science	Co-presenter	With Rachel Riley and Romesh Ranganathan
	I Want My Wife Back	Murray	BBC One sitcom series
	Power Monkeys	TBC
2017	Tracey Ullman's Show	Rupert Murdoch	TV series