Larry Lamb

Lawrence Douglas Lamb (born 1 October 1947)[1] is an English actor and radio presenter. He played Archie Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Mick Shipman in the BBC comedy series Gavin & Stacey and Ted Case in the final series of the BBC drama New Tricks. He also appeared on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2016.

For other uses, see Larry Lamb (disambiguation).
Larry Lamb
Born
Lawrence Douglas Lamb

(1947-10-01) 1 October 1947
Edmonton, Middlesex, England
Occupations
  • Actor
  • radio presenter
Years active1975–present
Spouses
Anita Wisbey
​
​
(m. 1969; div. 1970)​
    Linda Martin
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1979; div. 1996)​
    Partners
    • Clare Burt (1996–2016)
    • Marie Victorine (2016–present)
    Children4, including George

    Early life

    Lamb was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, to Jessie White and Ronald Douglas Lamb, the eldest of four including his brother, Wesley, and a sister. Lamb had a turbulent childhood; he was verbally abused by his father and often had to keep his parents from fighting.[2]

    In 2011, Lamb participated in the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered that he is descended from a line of proprietors of a well-known travelling menagerie, Day's Menagerie, and a lion tamer named Martini Bartlett.[3]

    Lamb attended Edmonton County School and on leaving school he worked as a lorry driver's mate (assistant) for at that time the UK's largest Waste Paper Merchant J & J Maybank. Later, he joined the oil industry, which resulted in his working in Libya and Canada, where he attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. This developed his amateur interest in acting to a professional level, and he performed at Canada's Stratford Festival in 1975–1976. Lamb is distantly related to Edward Buckton Lamb (1806–1869), a Victorian architect who designed St Martin's Gospel Oak and St Mary Addiscombe.

    Career

    Acting

    After returning to Britain from Canada, Lamb became a regular cast member, along with Kate O'Mara, in the BBC's North Sea ferry-based soap Triangle (1981–83), in which he played Matt Taylor, the ship's Chief Engineer.

    Other credits include The New Avengers, The Professionals, Fox, Minder, Lovejoy, Get Back, A Touch of Frost, Our Friends in the North, Taggart, Casualty, Kavanagh QC, Spooks, Midsomer Murders, and The Bill.

    Between 2007 and 2010, Lamb appeared in Gavin & Stacey playing Gavin's father, Michael "Mick" Shipman.

    In 2008, Lamb began playing Archie Mitchell, the father of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders. He based his portrayal of Archie on his own father.[4] He left the show in April, 2009, but returned in July the same year, around the same time that Danniella Westbrook returned to her role of Archie's niece, Sam Mitchell. Archie was killed off in a murder story line at Christmas, 2009. In 2009, Lamb starred alongside Liam Cunningham in Blood: The Last Vampire, in the role of General McKee. On 19 February 2010, Lamb appeared with his son, George Lamb, in EastEnders Live: The Aftermath, after Stacey Branning was revealed to be Archie's killer in the closing moments of the 25th-anniversary live episode.

    In April, 2011, BBC Learning launched "Off By Heart Shakespeare", a school-recital contest for secondary school pupils. For the project, Larry took on the role of Jaques from the play As You Like It, and delivered the speech: "All the world's a stage".[5]

    It was announced that Lamb would join the cast of New Tricks as Ted Case in series 12, taking over from Gerry Standing, played by Dennis Waterman.

    Lamb's films include Buster and Essex Boys. In 1983, he had a small speaking role in Superman III.

    Theatre

    Theatre work includes:

    • Educating Rita as Frank - Dir. Jeremy Sams - Chocolate Factory
    • The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder as Maurice - Dir. Sarah Frankcom - National Theatre
    • Fool for Love as Old Man - Dir. Lindsay Posner - Apollo West End/NIMAX
    • The Price as Victor - Dir. Sean Holmes - Tricycle/Apollo West End/National Tour
    • Hamlet as Claudius - Dir. Steven Pimlott - RSC
    • The Prisoner's Dilemma as The Professor - Dir. Michael Attenborough - RSC
    • Art as Marc - Dir. Rachel Kavanaugh - Wyndhams West End
    • Inherit the Wind as Drummond - Dir. Dan Crawford - King's Head
    • Nine as Guido - Dir. David Leveaux - Donmar
    • The Sisters Rosensweig as Kantlowitz - Dir. Michael Blakemore - Old Vic/Greenwich
    • Butterfly Kiss as Teddy - Dir Steven Pimlott - Almeida
    • Lulu as Rodrigo - Dir. Jonathan Kent - Almeida
    • La Musica as Him - Dir. Joseph Blatchley - Hampstead
    • Making It Better as The Husband - Dir. Michael Rudman - Hampstead/Criterion West End
    • A Madhouse in Goa as Niko/Oliver - Dir. Robert Alan Ackerman - Hammersmith/Apollo West End
    • Greenland as Brian - Dir. Simon Curtis - Royal Court
    • Insignificance as The Ball Player - Dir. Max Stafford-Clark - Royal Court
    • Seduced as Raul - Dir. Les Waters - Royal Court
    • Filomena as The Plumber - Dir. Franco Zefirelli - Lyric West End]
    • Comedians as George McBrian - Dir. Mike Nicholls - Music Box/Broadway

    Other work

    In 2013, Lamb began presenting a regular Sunday morning show on LBC. He is an occasional reporter for the BBC programme The One Show. Lamb took part in Gareth's All Star Choir in 2014, as part of the BBC's Children in Need appeal.

    In 2016, he appeared in the sixteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.[6] He became the 6th celebrity to be voted out of the jungle in the 2016 series.


    Personal life

    Lamb has a daughter Vanessa Lamb (born 1969) with his first wife Anita Wisbey. He is also the father of radio DJ and television presenter George Lamb, from his second marriage to Linda Martin. Lamb split up with his partner, Clare Burt, with whom he has two daughters: Eloise Alexandra (born 1998), and Eva-Mathilde Lamb (born 2003). Lamb has one granddaughter from his daughter Vanessa, as revealed on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

    Lamb's autobiography Mummy's Boy was published in 2011.[7]

    Lamb resides in Cornwall.

    Awards and nominations

    Lamb won the award for Best Villain at the 2010 British Soap Awards.[8]

    Filmography
    Film
    Year Title Role Notes
    1978 Superman Reporter 1
    1983 Superman III Miner 2
    1984 Mon ami Washington English title: My Friend Washington
    Flight to Berlin Specialist Dale Sizemore
    1985 Shadey Dick Darnley
    Underworld Roy Bain
    1987 Ubac Larry
    Hearts of Fire Jack Rosner
    1988 Buster Bruce Reynolds
    1998 Place Vendôme Christopher Makos
    2000 Essex Boys Peter Chase
    One of the Hollywood Ten Will Geer
    2004 Deadlines Paul Baker
    Fakers Harvey Steed
    2009 Blood: The Last Vampire General McKee
    2011 Two Minutes William Short Film
    2012 Rose, Mary and Time Barneys Dad Short Film
    2017 The Hatton Garden Job Brian Reader Based on the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary
    2017 Rise of the Footsoldier 3 Mr. Harris
    2019 Brighton Derek
    2021 Me, Myself and Di Clifford
    2022 Hounded Gregory
    Television

    References
    1. Lamb, Larry [@larrylamb47] (10 October 2016). "It's such a joy to get these birthday greetings but to put everyone in the clear my DOB was 01/10/47 not 10/01 ..but many thanks anyway!!LL" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
    2. Colin Daniels and Paul Millar (20 June 2010). "Larry Lamb: 'I ran away from my daughter'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
    3. "Who Do You Think You Are?". National Fairground Archive. University of Sheffield. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
    4. "Larry Lamb inspired by 'evil' dad". Metro. 2 December 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
    5. "Schools – Teachers – Off By Heart Shakespeare: As You Like It "All the world's a stage"". BBC. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
    6. Who is Larry Lamb? Everything you need to know about the I'm A Celebrity 2016 contestant Archived 1 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
    7. Lamb, Larry (3 March 2011). Mummy's Boy: My Autobiography. Coronet Books. ISBN 978-1444715279.
    8. "Villain of the Year – British Soap Awards 2010 – Pictures – Tvradio". Retrieved 8 July 2011.
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