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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.
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 worked as an encyclopaedia salesman, 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.
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.
In 2008, Lamb began playing Archie Mitchell, the father of Ronnie Mitchell 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 , 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.
In 2016, he appeared in the sixteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Who is Larry Lamb? Everything you need to know about the I'm A Celebrity 2016 contestant He became the 6th celebrity to be voted out of the jungle in the 2016 series.
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 Truro, and was in a relationship with artist Marie Hugo.
Lamb's autobiography Mummy's Boy was published in 2011. In 2025 he published his debut novel All Wrapped Up.
| 1978 | Superman | 1st Reporter | |
| 1983 | Superman III | 2nd Miner | |
| 1984 | Flight to Berlin | Specialist Dale Sizemore | |
| My Friend Washington | Ben Carlson | Original title: Mon ami Washington | |
| 1985 | Shadey | Dick Darnley | |
| Underworld | Roy Bain | ||
| 1986 | Ubac | Larry | |
| 1987 | 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 | ||
| 2001 | Home Sweet Home | (voice) | Documentary film |
| 2004 | Deadlines | Paul Baker | |
| Fakers | Harvey Steed | ||
| 2009 | General McKee | ||
| 2011 | Two Minutes | William | Short films |
| 2013 | Verona | Capulet | |
| 2014 | Rose, Mary and Time | Barney's Dad | |
| Beachcomber | Stephen | ||
| 2015 | Meet Pursuit Delange: The Movie | Sam Walters | |
| The Briny | Peter | Short film | |
| 2017 | The Hatton Garden Job | Brian Reader | |
| Mr. Harris | |||
| 2019 | Brighton | Derek | |
| 2021 | Me, Myself and Di | Clifford | |
| 2022 | Old Windows | Harry | Short film |
| Hounded | Gregory | ||
| 2025 | The 7th Man | Narrator |
| Series 2; episode 6: "Trap" |
| Series 2; episode 12: "Hazell and the Public Enemy" |
| Episode 5: "Horsenap" |
| Series 2; episodes 7–10: "Dead Man's Kit: Parts 1–4" |
| Episodes 1–13 |
| Series 4; episode 2: "Wild Justice" |
| Series 1–3; 78 episodes |
| Episode 3: "A Gift of Tongues" |
| Episode 11: "The Damask Collection" |
| Series 4; episode 6: "If Money Be the Food of Love, Play On" |
| Television film |
| Mini-series; episodes 1–4 |
| Series 1; episode 7: "Northwest Passage to Acock's Green" |
| Television film. Alternative title: The Great Paper Chase |
| Series 2; episode 1: "The Devil's Disciple" |
| Episode: "Harry's Kingdom" |
| Mini-series; episodes 1–3 |
| Mini-series; Parts I & II. Original / UK title: Pursuit |
| Series 2; episode 6: "Lord of the Files" |
| Television film |
| Series 6; episode 2: "Broke" |
| Series 3; episodes 12 & 13: "Highland Fling: Parts One & Two" |
| Series 1; episode 12: "Nobody's Fireproof" |
| Television film |
| Series 1 & 2; 15 episodes |
| Series 4; episodes 9 & 10: "Death Scene: Parts 1 & 2" |
| Television film |
| Series 6; episode 7: "Doggin' Around" |
| Mini-series; episodes 1 & 2 |
| Series 3; episode 3: "Dead Male One" |
| Series 2; episode 2 |
| Mini-series; episodes 6 & 7: "1979" & "1984" |
| Episodes 1–10 |
| Episode 2: "The One You Love" |
| Television film |
| Mini-series; episodes 1–6 |
| Mini-series; episodes 1 & 2 |
| Series 16; episode 3: "Fearful Lightning" |
| Series 14; episode 7: "Everybody Hurts" |
| Episode: "The End of Law" |
| Series 4; episode 4: "Who Killed Cock Robin?" |
| Series 20 & 21; 20 episodes |
| Mini-series; episodes 1–5 |
| Series 3; episodes 3–6 |
| Series 10; episodes 5 & 6: "Body of Work: Parts 1 & 2" |
| Series 5; episode 3: "The Cell" |
| All 22 episodes |
| 154 episodes |
| All 6 episodes |
| Series 12; episodes 2–10 |
| Series 1; episode 1: "Dirty Dancing" |
| Series 7; episode 1: "The Finale" |
| All 4 episodes |
| Series 3; episode 17: "Getaway" |
| All 4 episodes |
| All 6 episodes |
| Series 3; episode 4: "Prisoners of the Past" |
| Mini-series; episodes 3 & 4: "Vastarinta" & "Petos" |
| Episodes 1–6 |
| 4 episodes |
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