James Holmes (born 1965) is a West Midlands-born

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

of stage and television. He is best known for playing Clive in the 2009

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

sitcom '' Miranda''.

Education

Holmes trained at

The Poor School The Poor School and Workhouse Theatre was a drama school situated in King's Cross, London, United Kingdom. The Poor School was created in 1986 by former Royal Central School of Speech and Drama vocal coach Barbara Caister in response to the nee ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, then did a

Youth Training Scheme The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was the name in the United Kingdom of an on-the-job training course for school leavers aged 16 and 17 and was managed by the Manpower Services Commission. The scheme was first outlined in the 1980 white paper ''A N ...

working in the props department of the

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Career

Holmes has appeared in over 40 television and theatre productions since 1984. He has been featured in various off- West End and regional shows, including a run as Lady Bracknell in ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1893) and ''An Ideal Husban ...

'' for the New Players Theatre, and various parts in

Catherine Tate Catherine Tate (born Catherine Jane Ford, 5 December 1969) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC Two, BBC sketch comedy series ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007), as well as bein ...

's theatre comedy show. His other roles include a helpful Citizen's Advice volunteer in two episodes of the TV series ''

Psychoville ''Psychoville'' is a British psychological horror- thriller black comedy mystery television series created and written by and starring ''The League of Gentlemen'' members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton for the BBC. It debuted on BBC Two ...

'', and a performance as food critic Floyd Ackerman in ''

Dani's House ''Dani's House'' is a British children's comedy series broadcast on CBBC and starring Dani Harmer. The first series premiered on 26 September 2008, and its fifth series concluded on 19 July 2012. It has received several awards and nominations ...

''. Holmes also played as Roy Silver alongside

Penelope Keith Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith (''née'' Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and '' To the ...

in the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

adaptation of M C Beaton's

Agatha Raisin Agatha Raisin is a fictional detective in a series of humorous mystery novels, originally written by Marion Chesney using the pseudonym M. C. Beaton. Chesney's friend Rod W. Green took over as writer with ''Hot to Trot''. The books are publish ...

series, appeared in ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' in 2006, and in "

The Six Thatchers "The Six Thatchers" is the first episode of the fourth series of the British television programme '' Sherlock'', and the eleventh episode overall. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC First, PBS and Channel One on 1 January 2017. Plo ...

", the first episode of the fourth season of '' Sherlock'', in 2017. In 2019 he played Thomas Snell in the

ghost story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

'' Martin's Close'' for the

References

External links

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The Poor School Acting Training and Short Courses, King's Cross, London
British male stage actors Living people Place of birth missing (living people) British male film actors British male television actors 20th-century British male actors 21st-century British male actors Male actors from the West Midlands (county) 1965 births {{England-actor-stub