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James Bolam - The Likely Lad of Bemrose School

Old Bemrosian James Bolam sports the classic troubled look which became his trademark in The Likely Lads comedy series

JAMES BOLAM is one of a number of ex-pupils of Bemrose Grammar School - on Uttoxeter Road, Derby - who achieved celebrity in television and the theatre. He has vast experience in many roles, but remains most closely identified with one of his earliest parts, that of Terry Collier in BBC television's iconic comedy series The Likely Lads.

James Christopher Bolam was born in Sunderland on 16 June 1935, but in 1948 his widowed mother moved to Derby and 13-year-old James entered the third year at the all-boys Bemrose Grammar School.

The school took its drama seriously, and James became involved in the productions there. However, on leaving Bemrose, he did not immediately take to the stage. Instead he began training as a chartered accountant with the Derby firm Lings in the Wardwick, where he was inclined to entertain colleagues with his penchant for mimicry.

After joining Derby Shakespeare Company and appearing at Derby Playhouse, he left Lings on 30 June 1955 to do his National Service. That signalled both the end of his brief accountancy career and his residency in Derby, for after completing his National Service he enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

He soon established a successful theatre career and was given regular parts in the 'kitchen sink' dramas depicting northern working-class life which were all the rage in the 1960s. He can be spotted in a number of films from early in his acting career - A Kind of Loving, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner and the Miss Marple thriller Murder Most Foul.

But like many actors setting out in the 1950s and 1960s he achieved his big breakthrough on television. Through his memorable partnership with Rodney Bewes as Bob Ferris he helped The Likely Lads become one of BBC's most popular comedy series. It ran from 1964 to 1966, and along with its sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? it became an enduring classic.

But there was much more to James Bolam than the laddish role of Terry Collier might suggest. As his career progressed he continued to accept comedy parts but also took on far more serious roles. He was Jack Ford in the long-running period drama When the Boat Comes, and in 2002 played the notorious serial killer Dr. Harold Shipman in a controversial ITV dramatisation.

Bolam has numerous other memorable roles to his name, but has never courted stardom in the way that countless far lesser actors have done. He remains a very private person, and according to one source in 2007 lives 'a quiet life' in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, with his wife. They have one daughter.

James Bolam is one of an unusually disproportionate number of Bemrose School pupils to make their names as actors or in some capacity in television. The school's traditional rival Derby School, for example, produced hardly any during the period from 1930 when Bemrose School first opened, although Derby School did produce a number of much earlier 'names' in Victorian and Edwardian drama. It may be that Bemrose School had a particularly strong drama department in the 1930s to 1950s era which helped pupils to fulfil their potential.

Perhaps you remember James Bolam from his time at Bemrose School or Lings accountants. To add to or comment on this story, just click on 'edit' or 'discussion' at the top of this page.

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County:  Derbyshire

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