Moira Armstrong

Biography

Born in Crieff in 1930 and raised in north-east Scotland, Moira Armstrong is a Scottish television director whose career has expanded over nearly fifty years. Her credits include episodes of Armchair Thriller (based on the novel Quiet as a Nun), The Onedin Line, Lark Rise to Candleford, Where the Heart Is, The Bill, Midsomer Murders, Something in Disguise, The Wednesday Play, and Adam Adamant Lives!, the biographical serial Freud (1984) as well as the television film The Countess Alice (1992). She also directed Sunset Song, the 1971 adaptation for television of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel, notable not only for being the first drama to be recorded in colour by BBC Scotland but also featuring its first nude scene. Armstrong (with Jonathan Powell) won the 1980 BAFTA Best Drama Series/Serial award for Testament of Youth (1979). In 2024 and 2025 many of her TV work was repeated as part of a retrospective of vintage drama on BBC4, with Armstrong invited to introduce several of the productions alongside fellow cast and crew.

Directed

1. Midsomer Murders (1997) — Director
2. Agatha Christie's Marple (2004) — Director
3. The Bill (1984) — Director
4. Lark Rise to Candleford (2008) — Director
5. Great Performances (1971) — Director
6. A Christmas Carol (1977) — Director
7. Boon (1986) — Director
8. A Village Affair (1995) — Director
9. The Last Detective (2003) — Director
10. Play for Today (1970) — Director
11. Peak Practice (1993) — Director
12. BBC Play of the Month (1965) — Director
13. Z-Cars (1962) — Director
14. The Onedin Line (1971) — Director
15. Budgie (1971) — Director
16. Adam Adamant Lives! (1966) — Director
17. Hazell (1978) — Director
18. The Wednesday Play (1964) — Director
19. Body & Soul (1993) — Director
20. Screen One (1989) — Director
21. Armchair Thriller (1978) — Director
22. Testament of Youth (1979) — Director
23. Hadleigh (1969) — Director
24. The Broker's Man (1997) — Director
25. Breakout (1997) — Director
26. Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962) — Director
27. The Shadow of the Tower (1972) — Director
28. Freud (1984) — Director
29. The Girls of Slender Means (1975) — Director
30. ITV Playhouse (1967) — Director
31. The Play on One (1988) — Director
32. The Troubleshooters (1965) — Director
33. The Guardians (1971) — Director
34. No Bananas (1996) — Director
35. Where the Heart Is (1997) — Director
36. Clay, Smeddum and Greenden (1976) — Director
37. Softly, Softly (1966) — Director
38. Bluebell (1986) — Director
39. Shoulder to Shoulder (1974) — Director
40. ScreenPlay (1986) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Remembers… (2022) — Self