Cast & creator
Alun Armstrong
Best known for Married... with Children, Great Performances, Play for Today
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.
Also known as: Alan Armstrong
88
film credits
88
television credits
176
1965–2025 · acting roles
6.9
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (176)
Showing 176 of 176 credits
Married... with Children
Trevor
1987
Great Performances
Thénardier
1971
Play for Today
1st Docker
1970Play for Today
Mr Briggs
1970
BBC Play of the Month
Lightborne
1965
Tales from the Crypt
Inspector Herbert
1989
New Tricks
Brian Lane
2004
Inspector Morse
Superintendent Holdsby
1987
Breeders
Jim
2020
ScreenPlay
Willy
1986
Braveheart
Mornay
1995
The Sweeney
Peter Jenner
1975
Penny Dreadful
Vincent Brand
2014
Sleepy Hollow
High Constable
1999
The Mummy Returns
Baltus Hafez
2001
Van Helsing
Cardinal Jinette
2004
New Scotland Yard
Ray Davies
1972
The BBC Television Shakespeare
Provost
1978
Frontier
Lord Benton
2016
Justice
Bob Graham
1971
Public Eye
Vince Gregson
1965
Screen One
Det Supt Frank Burroughs
1989Screen One
Evans
1989Screen One
Charlie Foster
1989
Centre Play
Richard Clewes
1973
BBC2 Play of the Week
Brodovich
1977BBC2 Play of the Week
Mikhalevich
1977
Sherwood
Gary Jackson
2022
The New Avengers
Private George Harris
1976
Thriller
Mike
1973
The Hollow Crown
Northumberland
2012
The Storyteller
Troll (voice)
1988
Remembers…
Self
2022
Enemy at the Door
Louis Mendoza
1978
Our Friends in the North
Austin Donohue
1996
Garrow's Law
John Southouse
2009
Bleak House
Inspector Bucket
2005
The Jim Henson Hour
The Troll (archive audio)
1989
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
Scaife
1973
A Bridge Too Far
Cpl. Davies
1977
Villains
Terence 'Tel' Bolden
1972
Patriot Games
Owens
1992
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
Caliban (voice)
1992
Father Brown
Joe
1974
Little Dorrit
Ephraim Flintwinch
2008
The Saint
Inspector Teal
1997Second City Firsts
Ken
1973
David Copperfield
Dan Peggotty
1999Premiere
Quinn
1977
A.D.
Gamesmaster
1985
The Choral
Herbert Trickett
2025
Porridge
Spraggon
1974
A Sharp Intake of Breath
Arthur Clegg
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Terry
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Jackson
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Brian
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Simon Wilson
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Albert
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Wilson
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Jack Dyson
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Alec
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Frank Grant
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Barry
1977A Sharp Intake of Breath
Les Buckley
1977
Messiah
DCI Charlie McIntyre
2001
Year of the Rabbit
Chief Inspector Hugh Wisbech
2019
Prime Suspect 1973
Clifford Bentley
2017
Split Second
Thrasher
1992
Krull
Torquil
1983
Six Days of Justice
P.C. Williamson
1972
After the Flood
Alan Benson
2024Sharing Time
Luke
1984
Eragon
Uncle Garrow
2006
Between The Sheets
Peter Delany
2003Romance
Weaver
1977
Oliver Twist
Magistrate Fang
2005
Black Beauty
Reuben Smith
1994
Proof of Life
Wyatt
2000
Oliver Twist
Mr. Fleming
1999
Tom Jones
Squire Western
2023Armchair 30
Glazier
1973
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
1982Sporting Scenes
Bernie
1973
Dark Angel
George Stot
2016
The Duellists
Lieutenant Lacourbe
1977
The French Lieutenant's Woman
Grimes
1981
Armchair Thriller
Trahearne
1978
An Awfully Big Adventure
Uncle Vernon
1995
Bedtime
Neil Henshaw
2001
Get Carter
Keith
1971
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Hiram Grewgious
2012
In the Red
DCI Frank Jefferson
1998
Van Helsing: The London Assignment
Cardinal Jinetta (voice)
2004
Stanley and the Women
Rufus Hilton
1991
White Hunter, Black Heart
Ralph Lockhart
1990
Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years
George Mole
2001
Blue Ice
Osgood
1992
Underworld
1997
Paradise Found
Camille Pissarro
2003
The Stars Look Down
Joe Gowlan
1975The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
Bert Baxter
Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary in Concert
Monsieur Thenardier (1985 Cast)
2010
A Passionate Woman
Donald (1980s)
2010
Possum
Maurice
2018
Murder in Eden
Sgt McGing
1991
Harrison's Flowers
Samuel Brubeck
2000Goggle Eyes
Gerald 'Goggle Eyes' Faulkner
1993
Millions
Saint Peter
2005
Get Lost!
Neville Keaton
1981The Life and Times of Henry Pratt
Uncle Teddy
1992
This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper
Asst. Chief Const. George Oldfield
2000
It's All About Love
David
2003
Onegin
Zaretsky
1999
Sparkhouse
Richard Bolton
2002
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Singer
1985
MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday
Capshaw
1994
Brazen Hussies
Jimmy Hardcastle
1996
Funny Cow
Lenny
2018
Goodbye Cruel World
Roy Grade
1992
Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story
Ernest Whitehouse
2008
London Kills Me
John Stone
1991
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire
Maxwell Randall, The Green Baize Vampire
1985
Les Misérables: 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Monsieur Thénardier
1995Extinct
Himself - Narrator
2001
The Childeater
Stefano
1989
Asunder
Self - Narrator (voice)
2016
G:MT Greenwich Mean Time
Uncle Henry
1999
With or Without You
Sammy
1999
Strictly Sinatra
Bill
2001
Golden Years
Sid
2016
Breaking the Code
Mick Ross
1996
The Chester Mystery Plays
Lightborne
1976
This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper
Asst. Chief Const. George Oldfield
2000
The Storyteller: The True Bride
Troll (Voice)
1988
Freedom of the Dig
Quinn
1978
The Destruction of Troy and the Adventures of Odysseus
1998
Only Make Believe
Michael Biddle
1973
All Day on the Sands
1979
A Night on the Tyne
Willy
1989
When I'm Sixty-Four
Jim
2004
Number One
Blackpool Police Sergeant
1985
American Friends
Dr. Weeks
1991
The Eyes Have It
Mike
1973The Girls Who Came to Stay
Bob Jenkins
2006
Measure for Measure
Provost
1979
The House
Mr. Smeth
1984
The Widowmaker
Dad
1990
The Likely Lads
Tommy
1976
Aristocrats
Lord Holland
1999
Doggin' Around
Charlie Foster
1994
Risking It
Richard Clewes
1977
The Dinner Party
Jim
2007
Sorry About Last Night
Mickey
1995
The 14
Tommy
1973
Witness Against Hitler
Pastor Harold Poelchau
1996Score
George
2001
Carrie's War
Mr. Samuel Evans
2004
Number 27
Murray Lester
1988
Our Day Out
Mr. Briggs
1977
Breaking The Codes
2020
The Tempest
Caliban
1993
Sticky Wickets
Evans
1990
Looking After Number One
Dick
1990
The Sex Victims
George
1973
Nineteen96
Det. Supt. Frank Burroughs
1989
Out of Innocence
Detective Callaghan
2019
Liza
Mikhalevich
1978
That Summer of White Roses
Zemba
1989
Inquisition
Martin
2002My Little Eye
Dad
Easy Go
First docker
1974Fear of God
Trahearne
1980
Shooting the Chandelier
Brodovich
1977
7 Up 2000
Himself - Narrator
2000
Mr Moon's Last Case
Narrator
1983