James Bolam

Bolam was born on 16 June 1935 in Sunderland, County Durham. His father, Robert Alfred Bolam, was from Northumberland, and his mother, Marion Alice Drury,{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/17/James-Bolam.html |title=James Bolam Biography (1938–) |publisher=Filmreference.com |date=16 June 1938 |access-date=29 October 2015}} from County Durham. After attending Bede Grammar School, Sunderland, Bolam attended Bemrose School in Derby.{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/bolamjames/bolamjames.htm |title=The Museum of Broadcast Communications – Encyclopedia of Television |publisher=Museum.tv |access-date=29 October 2015 |archive-date=2 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202234607/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/bolamjames/bolamjames.htm |url-status=dead }} Bolam trained as an articled clerk to a chartered accountant, before becoming an actor, and formally trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, where he won the gold medal and the Margaret Rawlings Cup.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mzvh|title=Desert Island Discs |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=1 February 2021}} Lacking funding for his fees, he worked in Lyons Corner House tearoom and West End restaurants, washing dishes at night and studying during the day.

Bolam's first professional engagement was at the Royal Court Theatre as an understudy to Ronnie Barker in Chekhov's "Platonov". He first appeared on screens in the early 1960s, initially in television shows such as Z-Cars and the Northern social realist films A Kind of Loving and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (both 1962), in the latter film as the best friend of the title character (played by Tom Courtenay).

It was The Likely Lads, with Bolam as Terry Collier and Rodney Bewes as Bob Ferris, which made Bolam a star during its 1964 to 1966 run and he adapted the scripts for a BBC Radio version soon afterwards.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/the-likely-lads-radio-series-1967-1968|title=The Likely Lads Radio Series 1967-9168|date=14 April 2020 |work=British Classic Comedy |access-date=1 February 2021}} He appeared with John Thaw in the Granada serial, Inheritance in 1967.{{cite news |url = https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/tv-preview-mill-when-bjork-met-attenborough-1566504 |title = TV preview: The Mill {{!}} When Björk Met Attenborough |date=27 July 2013 |work=The Scotsman}}

Before the sequel, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, began its run, Bolam appeared in films such as Half a Sixpence (1967), Otley (1969), and O Lucky Man! (1973). The revived series, chronicling the further adventures of Bob and Terry, lasted for two series broadcast in 1973 and 1974 and a 45-minute 1974 Christmas Eve special.

In 1975, Bolam appeared alongside the original cast in a further BBC Radio series adapted from the 1973 TV series and in 1976 there was a reunion in a feature film spin-off from the series, simply entitled The Likely Lads. Bolam's co-star Rodney Bewes stated in 2005 that the two actors had not spoken since the film had been made, a period of over thirty years. The rift, according to Bewes, developed through his indiscreetly telling a journalist that when Bolam's wife revealed she was pregnant, Bolam was so startled that the car he was driving mounted a pavement and almost crashed into a lamp post.{{cite web |title=What did happen to the Likely Lads? |url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/866712.what_did_happen_to_the_likely_lads/|work=The Northern Echo |date=7 August 2006 |access-date=15 November 2010}} Bolam denied there was a rift between the two men when Bewes died in November 2017, claiming that they "didn't talk for 40 years because of their busy schedules rather than resentment".{{cite news|last=Skopeliti|first=Clea|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/22/james-bolam-denies-feud-with-likely-lads-co-star-rodney-bewes|title=James Bolam denies feud with Likely Lads co-star Rodney Bewes|work=The Guardian|access-date=23 November 2017}}{{cite news|last=McCann|first=Graham|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/features/comedy_chronicles/strained-relationships-bewes-and-bolam/|title=Strained Relationships: Bewes and Bolam|work=comedy.co.uk|access-date=1 February 2021}}

Bolam is known for being guarded about his private life. He once remarked: "I'm having a man fix the track rods on my car. I don't want to know anything about him. Why should he want to know anything about me?"{{cite web|title=The first part of our A to Z guide to Sunderland|url=http://www.sunderlandecho.com/daily/The-first-part-of-our.5675982.jp|work=Sunderland Echo|date=24 September 2009|access-date=19 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318060617/http://www.sunderlandecho.com/daily/The-first-part-of-our.5675982.jp|archive-date=18 March 2010|url-status=dead}}

In 1976, Bolam returned to straight drama; he played Jack Ford in the BBC Television series When the Boat Comes In, which ran until 1981. Since then, he has mostly appeared in comedies and comedy dramas, including Only When I Laugh (as Roy Figgis) from 29 October 1979 to 16 December 1982, The Beiderbecke Affair (as Trevor Chaplin) in 1985, The Beiderbecke Tapes in 1987, Andy Capp (in the title role), The Beiderbecke Connection in 1988, Second Thoughts (as Bill MacGregor) from 3 May 1991 to 14 October 1994, Midsomer Murders, Pay and Display, Dalziel and Pascoe, Close and True, Born and Bred (as Dr Arthur Gilder), and New Tricks (as Jack Halford). Another memorable role was alongside Timothy West and Sheila Hancock in the 2002 series of the BBC comedy-drama Bedtime, in which Bolam played the seemingly decent but actually crooked Ronnie Stribling.

On radio, in 1978, he played Willie Garvin in a BBC World Service radio adaptation of the Modesty Blaise book Last Day in Limbo. He provided the voice for The Tod in the animated film version of The Plague Dogs (1982). In the mid-1980s, he co-starred in the original radio version of the romantic sitcom Second Thoughts, which ran for several series and was subsequently adapted for television with Bolam reprising his role. In the year 2000 he played Sir Archibald Flint in the Doctor Who audio play The Spectre of Lanyon Moor. He was also the narrator for the three-part football documentary Three Lions, which aired before Euro 2000 on BBC One. The three episodes were about England's National Team's history from the 1966 World Cup until before the Euro 2000 finals.

In 2002, Bolam played the serial killer Harold Shipman in Shipman, the ITV adaptation of Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie's book on the case, Prescription for Murder and Father Leonard Tibbings in Dalziel and Pascoe (Ser. 7, Ep. 1 'Sins of the Fathers').{{cite web|title= James Bolam credits|url= https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/james-bolam/credits/3030021176/ |work=tvguide.com |access-date=July 1, 2023}} He portrayed Harold Wilson, the former Prime Minister, in the 2006 BBC documentary The Plot Against Harold Wilson. He appeared in Frank Loesser's musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Chichester Festival Theatre during the 2005 summer season. He played the role of Grandpa in the Cbeebies show Grandpa in My Pocket. In 2009 he played Ken Lewis, CEO of the Bank of America, in the television dramatisation The Last Days of Lehman Brothers. His appearances on the London stage include Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell by Keith Waterhouse.{{cite web|title=The Stage Review|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/31700/jeffrey-bernard-is-unwell|work=The Stage|access-date=7 April 2011}}

Bolam lives in Wisborough Green, West Sussex and Chiswick, London, with his wife, actress Susan Jameson. They have one daughter.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

Bolam plays golf and is a member of the Stage Golfing Society.{{cite web|url=http://www.thestagegolfingsociety.co.uk|title=The Stage Golfing Society|access-date=1 February 2021}} In 2013 he campaigned against oil drilling near Wisborough Green,{{cite news|url=https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/politics/hundreds-of-villagers-vote-with-their-feet-objecting-to-celtique-energies-bid-to-explore-for-oil-between-wisborough-green-and-kirdford-1287220|title=Hundreds of villagers vote with their feet objecting to Celtique Energie’s bid to explore for oil between Wisborough Green and Kirdford|date=26 October 2013|work=Sussex World}} and later appeared in a 2017 video protesting against a proposed extension to oil drilling in West Sussex.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-4uy5BWHwo|title=This is a green and pleasant land and we don't want this|date=10 August 2017|via=YouTube}}

Bolam was appointed MBE in the 2009 Birthday Honours "For services to Drama".{{London Gazette|issue=59090 |date=13 June 2009 |page=14 |supp=y}}

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Category:1935 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century English male actors

Category:21st-century English male actors

Category:Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male musical theatre actors

Category:English male television actors

Category:Male actors from West Sussex

Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire

Category:People educated at Bemrose School

Category:People from Wisborough Green

Category:Male actors from Sunderland

Category:Actors from Chichester District