Joe Armstrong
Biography
Joe Armstrong is an English actor, best known for his roles in the television series Robin Hood, Happy Valley, and The Village. He has also starred in films such as Darkest Hour and The Hollow Crown. Armstrong was born in Hammersmith, London, England, in 1978. He is the son of actor Alun Armstrong. He has an older brother, Tom, and a younger brother, Dan, who was in the band Clock Opera. He attended Elliott School in Putney from 1993 to 1997. He then studied at the University of Bristol, where he acted in The Brecht Project—a collection of scenes from the works of Bertolt Brecht—in 1998 and Women Beware Women in 1999. Armstrong's first major television role came in 2006, when he was cast as Allan A Dale in the BBC series Robin Hood. He remained with the series for all three seasons, which aired from 2006 to 2009. In 2014, Armstrong starred in the BBC series Happy Valley as Ashley Cowgill, a police officer who is investigating a murder in a small Yorkshire town. The series was a critical and commercial success, and Armstrong's performance was praised by critics. In 2017, Armstrong starred in the BBC series The Village as Bairstow, a newcomer to a small English village who is hiding a dark secret. The series was also a critical and commercial success, and Armstrong's performance was praised by critics. Armstrong is currently filming the upcoming television series The Undeclared War, a six-part thriller series for Channel 4. He will play the role of Daniel Granger, a computer analyst who is recruited by the government to help with a cyberwarfare operation.
Known For & Full Filmography31 Titles
Drama Series - 1997, 16 episodes • as David Cooke
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.
Drama Series - 2011, 16 episodes • as Nick Shelton
Twisted tales run wild in this mind-bending anthology series that reveals humanity's worst traits, greatest innovations and more.
Drama Series - 2002, 16 episodes • as Tom Jackson
As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.
Drama Series - 2004, 16 episodes • as Joe Ryan
A motley group of London con artists pull of a series of daring and intricate stings.
Drama Series - 2001, 16 episodes • as Jason Murphy
A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases.
Drama Series - 2002, 16 episodes • as Darren
DS Barbara Havers is assigned to work with the upper-crust DI Thomas Lynley to solve murders.
Drama Series - 2024, 16 episodes • as Alexander Dosman
When ex-soldier Maya sees her murdered husband on a secret nanny cam, she uncovers a deadly conspiracy that stretches deep into the past.
Drama Series - 1984, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
Drama Series - 2014, 16 episodes • as Ashley Cowgill
Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild.
Movie - 2017, 2h 15m • as John Evans
In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.
Drama Series - 2006, 16 episodes • as Allan
Robin of Loxley returns to England after 5 years of fighting in the crusades alongside King Richard. After losing his estates and being branded an outlaw, he takes on the title of Robin Hood and assembles a ragtag band of outlaw companions. Together they steal from the rich and give to the poor - all the while avoiding and outwitting their enemies Sir Guy of Gisborne and the evil Sheriff of Nottingham.
Drama Series - 2019, 16 episodes • as Dean Metcalf
Family Liaison Officer Lisa Armstrong becomes a little too emotionally involved with a case (to the point where she might compromise it) concerning a pair of missing Morecambe twins to whose distraught parents she is assigned.
Drama Series - 2012, 16 episodes • as Hotspur
A series of British television films featuring William Shakespeare's History Plays.
Drama Series - 2018, 16 episodes • as Gildas
An epic drama set in 43AD as the Roman Imperial Army – determined and terrified in equal measure - returns to crush the Celtic heart of Britannia - a mysterious land ruled by warrior women and powerful druids who can channel the powerful forces of the underworld. Or so they say.
Drama Series - 2019, 16 episodes • as Samuel Washington
Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, 1832. Anne Lister attempts to revitalize her inherited home, Shibden Hall. Most notably for the time period, a part of her plan is to help the fate of her own family - by taking a wife.
Drama Series - 2013, 16 episodes • as Bairstow
The Village is a BBC television drama created and written by Peter Moffat. Consisting of two six-episode series—the project intended as a 42-hour televised epic—the first series covers 1914 to 1920; the second continued the story into the 1920s. However, it was not commissioned for a third series. An epic drama charting the turbulent times experienced by one English village throughout the 20th century; births, deaths, political events and rebellions are among the events that occur during the time. Bert Middleton lives across the entire 100-year period, and his story from boyhood to old age forms the crux of the story, seen via flashbacks as Bert is interviewed in the present day by a documentarian working on a project about the second eldest man in the United Kingdom and his village.
Drama Series - 2002, 16 episodes • as Max Roche
Investigators Rose Linden and Marion Maloney, of the Criminal Justice Review Agency, take on claims of miscarriages of justice, assessing whether there are grounds to reopen old cases.
Drama Series - 2004, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Ripley Holden is a small-time entrepreneur desperate to make it big with his new state-of-the-art amusement arcade. The opening extravaganza is overshadowed by the find of a dead body on the premises. DI Carlisle is called in and quickly finds he has more on his mind than murder, when he falls in love with Ripley's long-suffering wife.
Drama Series - 2009, 16 episodes • as Danny Sparks
The lives, loves and highs and lows of four members of the Women's Land Army working at the Hoxley Estate during World War II.
Drama Series - 2025, 16 episodes • as DCI Davies
A 1950s true crime drama about Ruth Ellis, the last woman in Britain to be hanged. This startling story reveals hidden truths about Ruth's murder of her lover, the legal case surrounding it and those who were also complicit.
Drama Series - 2007, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Party Animals presents Westminster from the ground up – the young researchers and advisors shouldering huge responsibility in a frantic, high-stakes world. It's no wonder their personal lives are so messy. Sons of an ex-Labour MP, Scott and Danny Foster have politics in their blood.
Drama Series - 2016, 16 episodes • as Joe Nattras
The story of Victorian serial killer Mary Ann Cotton, a poisoner whose methods leave no visible scars, allowing her tally of victims to mount, unsuspected by a Victorian society unable to conceive of a woman capable of such terrible crimes. Traveling around the North East, she insinuates herself into unsuspecting families, marrying and creating new families of her own - before killing them, taking their money and moving on.
Movie - 2016, 2h 15m • as Thomas Mallinson
To Walk Invisible takes a new look at the extraordinary Brontë family, telling the story of these remarkable women who, despite the obstacles they faced, came from obscurity to produce some of the greatest novels in the English language.
Drama Series - 2003, 16 episodes • as Richard Lloyd
Between the Sheets is a 2003 British six-part miniseries. A carnal, comedic drama based around the love life and sexual hang-ups of several different couples all linked in some way. Emotional, touching, and sometimes humorous, the story follows these couples as they're forced to face their demons.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • as Donald (1950s)
1950s period drama based on the true story of a housewife and mother whose life is turned upside down by a handsome Polish man at her local dance hall.
Drama Series - 2012, 16 episodes • as Dr Ben Somers
Public Enemies explores the relationship between 28-year-old Eddie, recently released on life licence from prison after serving 10 years, and his probation officer, Paula, returning from suspension following a shocking crime committed by an offender under her supervision.
Movie - 2014, 2h 15m • as Răzvan Orodel
A Romanian police officer teams up with a small crew of bank robbers to pull off a heist by convincing everyone at the scene of the crime that they are only filming a movie.
Drama Series - 2004, 16 episodes • as Tinley
Joe Keyes ignores a woman in distress in his rush to get home to his family. His decision to remain a passer-by has terrible consequences.
Movie - 2009, 2h 15m • as Norman Heatley
A historical drama that tells the story of the development of penicillin in the 1930's/40's, by a group of scientists in Oxford at The Dunn School of Pathology
Movie - 2007, 2h 15m • as Chas
On the same day a notorious crime kingpin Jimmy Vincent is released from prison, there is a daring armored car diamond heist of diamonds using his m.o.
Movie - 2018, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
During World War I, a Czech civilian is forced into the Austrian army. Everywhere he goes, everything he is ordered to do becomes a disaster for the Austrians. Is Schwejk astoundingly stupid or deviously defiant?