He studied at Huncote Community Primary School. Later, at Brockington College in Enderby he studied music, while playing the cello at school and in local orchestras, as well as learning the flute. She went on to study music and acting at Pattison College in Coventry, where her education also included dance and acting.
Dissatisfied with his professional career, he enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) to further his acting studies where, after completing the three-year program, he returned to the stage as a supporting actor in the theater productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company, “Macbeth” and “The Duchess of Malfi”, as well as “Hamlet” and “Four Alice Bakers” with the Birmingham Repertory Theater company. He also landed a number of small film and television roles.
In 2002 she got her first major role on the small screen, playing John standring in the BBC drama “Sparkhouse”; He then had different roles in the television productions “Between the Sheets”, “Cold Feet” and “Ultimate Force”.
In 2004 he appeared he won his first leading role as John thornton, the owner of a textile factory, in the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s “North and South.”
His first major film role was in the independent film “Frozen.”
In 2006, Armitage got the role of Guy de Gisborne on the BBC series “Robin Hood”. Other prominent roles for British television were the Harry Kennedy in “The Vicar of Dibley”; Ricky deeming in the detective drama “George Gently” with Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby; Percy courtenay in “Miss Marie Lloyd – Queen of The Music Hall” or Philip Durrant in the television adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel “Ordeal by Innocence.”
Armitage is also well known for his interpretations of Lucas North in “Spooks” and John porter in “Counterattack”.