James Bolam
- 88 years old
- English
- Actor
Press clippings
Greg Davies' The Cleaner returning to BBC One for a third series
Greg Davies' crime scene comedy The Cleaner is returning to BBC One for a third series, with filming taking place later this year.
British Comedy Guide, 9th January 2024Inside the £40m showbiz showdown worthy of its very own sitcom
How the fight for control of an illustrious actors' charity - the Actors' Benevolent Fund - became a star-studded drama for the ages. At the heart of the dispute is a clutch of long-standing trustees, including Penelope Keith, Siân Phillips, James Bolam and Brian Murphy, who are bitterly aggrieved at being "ousted" from the ABF's governing council last year.
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph, 27th June 2023Marriage, BBC One review
Nicola Walker and Sean Bean triumph as a couple in a marital minefield.
Helen Hawkins, The Arts Desk, 15th August 2022How creators convinced James Bolam to be Likely Lad
Sitcom Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads is one of the most iconic comedies of all time - now creators Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have revealed in a new book how they wrote it and why star James Bolam nearly did not want to do it.
Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, The Daily Express, 14th September 2019The Likely Lads Blu-ray review
Although it breaks no new ground, and feels like two episodes of a situation comedy stretched out and filmed on a higher budget, The Likely Lads raises enough laughs to endear it to anyone who already enjoys the original sitcoms.
Greg Jameson, Entertainment Focus, 30th March 2019The Likely Lads forty-year feud
Of all the memorable TV sitcom theme songs over the years, it was the most melancholy, its words the most haunting: 'Oh, what happened to you, whatever happened to me? What became of the people we used to be?' Rodney Bewes, one half of the hit BBC show Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, who died yesterday aged 79, asked himself those questions every day of his life for 40 years. His acclaimed double act with co-star James Bolam had ended in an acrimonious telephone call in 1976, after an ill-judged joke sparked an almighty row between them.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 22nd November 2017How Andy Capp was inspired by the creator's father
The popular strip's 60th anniversary will be marked with a new exhibition of the character who became Willi Wakker in Germany, Andre Chapeau in France and Andy Cappello in Italy.
Jeremy Armstrong, The Mirror, 12th May 2017Fracked review
If the opportunity presents itself to see James Bolam and Anne Reid on stage together, you take it.
My Theatre Mates, 28th April 2017Fracked! review
Anne Reid stars as a reluctant activist, but the plum role goes to the fracking company's 'horribly recognisable' PR man.
Susannah Clapp, The Observer, 24th July 2016Fracked! - stage show review
There are numerous nice turns, including James Bolam as her long-suffering husband, whose glorious line 'Oh, God, another aromatherapist has set up in the village!' could easily have been uttered by the show's director Richard Wilson when he was playing Victor Meldrew on TV.
Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail, 23rd July 2016