Larry Lamb

Lawrence Douglas Lamb (born 1 October 1947) 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.

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.

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.

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 Magdalene Church in Addiscombe.

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.

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. 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: • 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!. 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.

Lamb resides in Cornwall.

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