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<\/p>\nBen Miller, 59, is a London-born comedian, actor and children\u2019s author who came to prominence as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller (with Alexander Armstrong). He has also starred in the TV crime dramas Professor T and Death in Paradise. Miller lives in the Cotswolds with his wife, Jessica Parker, a film producer, and their two children, Harrison and Lana.<\/p>\n
As a child I was petrified of dogs. I\u2019d even make my mother pick me up and walk the other way in the street if we saw a dog. I was absolutely terrified and for no reason, as I\u2019d had no negative experiences with dogs. Consequently, the first thing I got into was mice when I was about eight. My first one was called Whiskey, then we had a black one called Jet and that had lots of multicoloured offspring, which was fun. I was constantly taking armfuls of mice down to the pet shop and getting a few bob for them. It was quite a good sort of little cottage industry. I was a junior mouse trader\/breeder\/impresario.<\/p>\n
What animal came next?<\/p>\n
Guinea pigs. I had a lot, including Peruvian ones, which had really weird long hair. <\/p>\n
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Miller with Samantha Womack and Alexander Armstrong in an ITV production of Cinderella in 2000<\/p>\n
ITV\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n
Did you not crave more of an emotional connection than mice and guinea pigs could offer?<\/p>\n
The mice were fun to watch but it\u2019s true, they weren\u2019t very tuned in to their human owners \u2014 but guinea pigs are. They recognise you and make that funny little warbling sound when they see you and crucially, they don\u2019t bite you, which mice tend to do.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Alexander Armstrong: \u2018Thanks to me, Jonathan Ross loves Mahler\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n When did you graduate to dogs?<\/p>\n We had lots of goldfish, which never lasted long, then I had a grass snake, a slow worm and lots of Moroccan tortoises, many of whom escaped \u2014 they\u2019re surprisingly quick. It wasn\u2019t until I had children that I eventually had dogs. My mum, who hated dogs and still does, had always stopped me getting one, so when I had my own family I suddenly felt that no one could stop me. Soon after my second son, Harrison, was born, we got our first dog, Ruby, a wheaten terrier who was glorious and then a black Russian terrier called Jet, who was amazing.<\/p>\n Miller with Jet, his black Russian terrier, in 2021<\/p>\n ITV<\/p>\n I believe Jet was the inspiration for your children\u2019s book How I Became a Dog Called Midnight? That\u2019s right. She was enormous. It felt like she might be driving the car when we weren\u2019t around or that, in fact, she was someone wearing a dog costume as she was such a massive creature, but very sweet-natured and gentle. Then after Jet, we got Stevie Nicks, who is a goldendoodle.<\/p>\n I understand she\u2019s a new mother of six puppies?<\/p>\n Yes, she gave birth five weeks ago to six gorgeous puppies, helped by me, my wife, Jess, my daughter Lana and a dog trainer called Zoe Roberts at Crucially Canine. It\u2019s been incredibly full-on.<\/p>\n What was the birth experience like?<\/p>\n You needed four people at least, because the newborn puppies aren\u2019t really able to keep themselves warm, so Lana did that crucial job. Then you need someone delivering the puppies and someone helping Stevie as she chewed the umbilical cord. It was an overwhelming and amazing experience, and the surprising thing was that the eggs don\u2019t all get fertilised at the same time, so some puppies are much older than others and are born more developed.<\/p>\n Stevie Nicks with her new litter<\/p>\n Were they all born healthy?<\/p>\n One of the puppies was pretty limp when it came out, so we were sort of, \u201cOh, my God, I hope this puppy doesn\u2019t die in front of my daughter\u201d, so we massaged it to remove any blockages from its airways and in the end it was fine, and all of them are doing well now.<\/p>\n Are they all named after other members of Fleetwood Mac?<\/p>\n The red-haired one is called Florence. One eats a lot, so he\u2019s called The Machine, then there\u2019s Basil, Mr Crisp, Princess Jasmine and finally Blue.<\/p>\n \u2022 Professor T review \u2014 Ben Miller\u2019s jailed sleuth evokes Paddington 2<\/a><\/p>\n Will you sell all of them or keep one or two?<\/p>\n There\u2019s still a chance we\u2019re going to keep them all, although various friends have thrown their hats in the ring, but whatever happens, the plan is definitely to keep Florence.<\/p>\n Prior to becoming a mum, was Stevie a well-behaved dog?<\/p>\n She\u2019s always been incredibly sweet-natured and smart, but she did go a bit nuts when she was pregnant as I don\u2019t think dogs know what\u2019s going on. She decided to use Harrison\u2019s carpet as her personal toilet for two days, so we had to replace that. The place was like a poo graveyard.<\/p>\n Dogs are innately empathetic. How valuable to your mental health has Stevie been?<\/p>\n She\u2019d make a great therapy dog. She\u2019s just calm, she\u2019s great company and very tactile. She\u2019s driven by affection, not food. She\u2019ll take her cuddle over a dog biscuit any day. If ever I\u2019m in the house on my own I\u2019m just always really glad to have Stevie around. <\/p>\n After your early dogless experience, has having dogs changed you psychologically?<\/p>\n Massively. I talk to Stevie sometimes like she\u2019s my therapist. I sometimes get more response from Stevie than I\u2019ve ever heard from a therapist. Rather than just sitting there passively taking notes, she just gets her head and puts it on my shoulder. She just gets it. Like a lot of dogs are, she\u2019s very attuned to human mood. Dogs spend a lot of time watching humans and learning everything they can about us, whereas humans don\u2019t spend an awful lot of time observing dogs. In fact, they don\u2019t spend an awful lot of time observing other humans<\/p>\n Armstrong and Miller found fame as a comedy double act in the 1990s<\/p>\n ALEX LENTATI\/EVENING STANDARD\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n Have you had much interaction with dogs in your acting life?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve worked with a few dogs who appear in shows but they tend to get tired quickly, but what\u2019s nicer is when people bring their dogs to the set, which people have done on Professor T. It makes the whole set so much more relaxing. I think humans are better humans around dogs.<\/p>\n Do you ever dress Stevie up?<\/p>\n Over the years she\u2019s been dressed as everything. Barbie, a nurse \u2014 she\u2019s worn a lot of outfits and wigs, and she always just puts up with it.<\/p>\n Will she breed again?<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t rule it out. What has been brilliant is that she\u2019s been such a great mum. I don\u2019t think you ever know whether dogs are going to be maternal when they have puppies, but she was brilliant, so knowing that, we might be tempted to do it again in a year or so.<\/p>\n![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/15514c26-7b4b-4f21-a00c-3c0fe79f70b9.jpg\")
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