Lawrence Douglas Lamb (born 1 October 1947) is an English actor and radio presenter. He played Archie Mitchell in the

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 ...

soap opera ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'', 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.

Early life

Lamb was born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, 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. In 2011, Lamb participated in the

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. 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, before joining the oil industry, which resulted in his working in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

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 The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

ferry-based soap ''

Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

'' (1981–83), in which he played Matt Taylor, the ship's chief engineer. Other credits include '' The New Avengers'', '' The Professionals'', '' Fox'', '' Minder'', ''

Lovejoy ''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six ser ...

'', '' Get Back'', '' A Touch of Frost'', '' Our Friends in the North'', '' Taggart'', '' Casualty'', '' Kavanagh QC'', '' Spooks'', '' Midsomer Murders'', and ''

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 ...

''. 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. In 2008, Lamb began playing Archie Mitchell, the father of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell in ''

''. He based his portrayal of Archie on his own father. 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". 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, Rob James-Collier and Adil Ray.

Theatre

Theatre work includes:

Other work

In 2013, Lamb began presenting a regular Sunday morning show on LBC. He is an occasional reporter for the

programme '' The One Show''. Lamb took part in ''Gareth's All Star Choir'' in 2014, as part of the

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

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

Personal life

Lamb's first marriage was to Anita Wisbey, with whom he had a daughter, Vanessa Lamb (born 1969). 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). 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). As of 2017, Lamb resided in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, and was in a relationship with artist Marie Hugo. Lamb's autobiography ''Mummy's Boy'' was published in 2011.

Awards and nominations

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

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Larry Lamb at Biogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Larry 1947 births English autobiographers English expatriates in Canada English expatriates in Libya English male film actors English male television actors English male soap opera actors Living people Actors from the London Borough of Enfield St. Francis Xavier University alumni People from Edmonton, London