''The Armstrongs'' is a British documentary television series broadcast on BBC Two in the UK. The Armstrongs is an access-all-areas insight into the unorthodox and sometimes ruthless business antics that are routine at "U-Fit",

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

's third-biggest double glazing company. The show is narrated by actor

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...

. This was the second TV outing for the Armstrongs. The first was in a one-off documentary in 2003 called "The Office Christmas Party", which showed the preparations for U-Fit's Christmas party. There is some discussion as to whether it is a true fly-on-the wall documentary, a fictional comedy with an elaborately constructed presence on the internet, or a mixture of the two. In July 2014, Ann Armstrong announced on Facebook that she and John had split up.

Overview

Driven by the desire for profit, management team John and Ann Armstrong are constantly spying on their unwieldy sales force with CCTV cameras and phone taps. But motivating the team is an uphill struggle and John and Ann must resort to ever-more desperate measures to boost sales. Despite their best endeavours, their plans backfire with alarming frequency. However, woe betide anyone who gets in the way of their dream of becoming multi-millionaires. The idea is a kind of all-too-real-life version of

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series o ...

, set in

. Ann is the more talkative of the two, a mixture of starry-eyed optimist and petty disciplinarian. John mostly just swears a lot and criticises Ann's schemes for improving the company – such as hiring a Zimbabwean motivational guru called Basil Mienie (pronounced 'meanie').

The Armstrongs: The Movie

A film length special was made for Christmas in 2006. It was compiled from material from the series.

External links

*
U-Fit Business Website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrongs, The BBC television documentaries 2006 British television series debuts 2006 British television series endings