Why voicing Danger Mouse beats being Bond
Alexander Armstrong is supplying the voice of the rebooted Danger Mouse. He tells Phil Harrison why it’s such a thrill
Alexander Armstrong is excited. We suspect it’s probably a default setting anyway. Holding court in a hotel function room in central London, the 45- year-old comic is immediately welcoming, embodying the effortless warmth that makes him such a perfect fit for show-hosting gigs like Have I Got News For You and Pointless. But today, his good cheer is particularly pronounced. His dream gig has landed in his lap at last.
“I haven’t cared this much about getting a part for so long,” says Armstrong.
He’s smiling but he’s clearly not joking. And why would he be? Being chosen to be the verbal embodiment of Britain’s favourite rodent secret agent is a true honour. In 2001, Danger Mouse was voted the nation’s third-favourite children’s TV show of all time in a Channel 4 poll. Only The Simpsons and The Muppet Show beat it. However, while this suggests that Danger Mouse is a surprisingly big deal, it also begs the question: do we really need more episodes? As Armstrong is keenly aware, such enterprises are not without their risks. Change too much and you’ve scribbled all over the Mona Lisa. But fail to give the new series a unique selling point and viewers might just as well watch the originals on YouTube. As Danger Mouse’s nemesis Baron Greenback never quite understood, with great power comes great responsibility. Is there anything much to add to what was already a brilliantly madcap, gently bonkers and charming show?
“I deliberately haven’t re-watched all of the old ones,” says Armstrong. “It had to be my voice. I thought the less I watched of the old ones, the better it would be. It would be exhausting if you were trying to do it in a voice that wasn’t yours. But funnily enough, mine and David Jason’s voices have similar timbres anyway.”
Indeed they do. And the same goes for Penfold’s new verbaliser, Kevin Eldon and his precursor Terry Scott. Both new leads have perfectly captured the original show’s finely calibrated mixture of earnestness and mischief. Mercifully, the Danger Mouse of 2015 isn’t hunting for ISIS or reckoning with a recalcitrant Vladimir Putin surrogate. But there are some enjoyably contemporary touches.
“It’s full of modern gadgets. Danger Mouse has an iPatch now,” Armstrong chuckles. “The world has changed but the satisfaction of having the world saved still very much exists! Once Danger Mouse and Penfold have managed to get things back to normal, there’s a tremendous sense of relief. Even if the job has been done by a mouse and a myopic hamster, that’s fine!” There’s even a touch of satire. In the opening episode we pass “The Gherkin” and then another similarly shiny, mirrored monstrosity called “The House of Cards”.
But this cheerfully raised eyebrow at London’s relentless upwards expansion feels of a piece with the original show. Danger Mouse was always a touch more worldly and more surreal than your average kids’ cartoon. For Armstrong, this unpredictable edge was a major part of the appeal.
“‘It was always a loose cannon. It would barrel off in whatever direction it wanted. Part of its genius was its anarchy really – it’s barking mad in places. And adults love all that so children pick up on it too. It’s a fabulous formula.”
Hitting upon a fabulous formula has become something of an Alexander Armstrong speciality. A look at his career to date indicates a man gifted in many areas; from music to acting to comedy. But half an hour spent in his company suggests that, above all, he’s a supremely contented individual. Could he push himself harder? Probably. Does he feel driven to? Probably not. Pointless is a perfect example. It’s hard to imagine that Armstrong ever really saw himself as a daytime TV quiz show host. And yet, almost by stealth, Pointless has become a fixture and a much-loved one too. It’s a perfect formula thanks to a sturdy format and also Armstrong’s relaxed, urbane charm. “Pointless is such a virtuous circle of a show,” he explains.
“We love making it. I think that comes across and it’s one of the reasons people love watching it. And we get almost universally really, really lovely people coming on. I think the people who go on have a good day.”
Part of the reason for this is the show’s admirable sense of proportion – a quality which is surprisingly rare in the sometimes frenetic world of prize-driven quiz shows. There are enviable sums of money on offer, but nothing life-changing.
“No one’s devastated if they lose,” reflects Armstrong, before going on to wryly ponder the opportunities a
Pointless victory could open up. ‘If you win, you could stretch to a weekend in Scotland. Staying at a very nice place though! Standard-class return. A glass of vintage whisky. Just one, though.”
So among all this Pointlessness, what of the comedy? The acting? Can we expect any more from Armstrong’s once very fertile partnership with Ben Miller, for example? Armstrong is noncommittal. “We’ve both moved out of London now but we live quite close to each other. The problem, I suppose, is finding time. To do a sketch show properly, you’ve got to give it pretty much a full year. You can outsource it, and our return to BBC1 was originally couched like that. But we realised that we’ve got to be writing it. We have had various ideas for things with longer narrative arcs and we did a sitcom pilot for Channel 4 that we really loved. But it didn’t get taken up.”
Additionally, writing sketch comedy is clearly a pressurised and timeconsuming business.
“The first series of any sketch show is a joy. But around the time of the third, it becomes really hard work. I suppose it’s because each time you start back at square one and, no matter how much goodwill you’ve earned in the previous sketch, the audience is forever wiping the board clean.”
He’s clearly still got his eye on the competition, however, enthusing about Channel 4’s sketch show
Cardinal Burns and “the exquisite indulgence of throwing the kitchen sink at a small, whimsical idea.”
Which is where we came in really. A secret-agent mouse and his timid hamster sidekick? Ideas don’t come much smaller and more whimsical than that. But it’s amazing where they can lead. So Armstrong is probably justified in bridling – albeit very gently and amiably – at the notion of creative itches yet to be scratched.
Danger Mouse has certainly scratched his Bond itch. “Honestly! Thanks to Danger Mouse, I now no longer have the yearning to play Bond. I’ve got that out of my system.”
A shame, because he’s probably smooth enough to pull it off. But for now, Damian Lewis and Idris Elba can rest easy. Alexander Armstrong has found his secretagent niche.
‘It’s barking mad in places. And adults love all that so children pick up on it too. It’s a fabulous formula’