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, Michael 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.

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 Penelope. 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 worked as an encyclopaedia salesman,^[4] before joining 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 Magdalene Church in 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. He returned to the role for a Christmas special in 2019 and again for the show finale in 2024.^[5]

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.^[6] 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 Slater 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".^[7]

It was announced that Lamb would join the cast of New Tricks as Ted Case in series 12.

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

In September 2023, Lamb appeared in the Channel 5 drama series The Inheritance, appearing alongside Samantha Bond, Jemima Rooper, Gaynor Faye, Robert James-Collier and Adil Ray.^[8]

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 Zeffirelli - 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!.^[9] He became the 6th celebrity to be voted out of the jungle in the 2016 series.^[10]

Personal life

Lamb's first marriage was to Anita Wisbey, with whom he had a daughter, Vanessa Lamb (born 1969).^[11] Lamb stated on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! that Vanessa has a daughter. Lamb's second marriage was to Linda Martin, with whom he has a son, radio DJ and television presenter George Lamb (born 1979).^[11]

Lamb was in a relationship with Clare Burt from 1996 to 2014. They had two daughters, Eloise Alexandra (born 1998), and Eva-Mathilde (born 2003).^[11] As of 2017, Lamb resided in Cornwall, and was in a relationship with artist Marie Hugo.^[11]

Lamb's autobiography Mummy's Boy was published in 2011.^[12] In 2025 he published his debut novel All Wrapped Up.^[13]

Awards and nominations

Lamb won the award for Best Villain at the 2010 British Soap Awards.^[14]

Bibliography

• Lamb, Larry (2011). Mummy's Boy (autobiography). Coronet Books. ISBN 978-1444715279.
• Lamb, Larry (2025). All Wrapped Up (novel). Softwood Books. ISBN 9781838173562.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. ^ Lamb, Larry (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". No. 785361058039037952.
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. ^ Aitken, Catriona (11 April 2025). "Never say never on Gavin & Stacey film - Larry Lamb". BBC News. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
5. ^ "James Corden: Gavin and Stacey is returning for final episode". BBC News. 3 May 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
6. ^ "Larry Lamb inspired by 'evil' dad". Metro. 2 December 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
7. ^ "Schools – Teachers – Off By Heart Shakespeare: As You Like It "All the world's a stage"". BBC. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
8. ^ Robinson, Abby (4 September 2023). "The Inheritance cast: Meet the characters in Channel 5 drama". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
9. ^ 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
10. ^ "Larry's long-lost daughter hope". The Bolton News. 5 December 2016. p. Main-8. Retrieved 6 June 2024. – via Newspapers.com.
11. ^ "'Retirement? Not with young kids on the go. I'll be working until I conk out'". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 27 May 2017. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
12. ^ Lamb, Larry (3 March 2011). Mummy's Boy: My Autobiography. Coronet Books. ISBN 978-1444715279.
13. ^ "Softwood Books: All Wrapped Up (novel) by Larry Lamb 2025". waterstones.com. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
14. ^ "Villain of the Year – British Soap Awards 2010 – Pictures – Tvradio". Retrieved 8 July 2011.

External links

• Larry Lamb at IMDb
• Larry Lamb at Biogs.com