Larry Lamb has revealed that turning to poetry has helped him confront his own mortality after he made the decision to 'semi-retire' from acting. The 78-year-old actor, famed for roles in EastEnders and Gavin & Stacey, has decided to slow down in recent years and focus on his first love: poetry.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Larry shared that he returned to writing poems after a 40-year break, and it has allowed him to verbalise his thoughts about death. He mused: 'I'm writing about all different things, about getting to be an old man and facing the fact that death is not so far away anymore, it's getting closer all the time. It helps me to be realistic about mortality and having said goodbye to immortality.'
He added: 'I've got two jobs on this year so it's not like I'm stopping acting, I'm just really enjoying being a semi-retired actor who's writing poetry. The stuff that I've written comes right from my soul. There's no need to be trying to be anybody else.'
Reflecting on his career, Larry continued: 'I've spent 50 years being an actor. I'm here as Larry Lamb, not as Archie Mitchell, not as Mitch Shipman, not as the 500 other people I've played over the years. So doing poetry for people is like laying your heart out on the line, it's fabulous. You're not saying anybody else's script. This is me representing me.'
He also reflected on his long career: 'I've had the most extraordinary life, so there are highlights in every corner of my life. Then all of a sudden, right when I'm pushing the wrong side of 70, I get this amazing burst of good fortune with Gavin & Stacey erupting into people's lives. Of all the bad guys I've played, and the heavies, and gangsters and nasty businessmen, I finished up playing dear old Mick Shipman, who half the population of this country would like to have as their dad!'
Despite the show's success, Larry has ruled out a return to the series. The Christmas finale in 2024 was billed as the final episode, but fans hoped for a spin-off. Larry poured cold water on those hopes: 'I think if there was going to be a spin-off it would have happened already. They don't wait around for spin-offs, it comes off something that's live. So it's a bit late.'
He added: 'The actors who were in it, we were always the last ones to know. There'd be all this going on and then all of a sudden you get a phone call saying, "Look, are you gonna be free?" So the people to ask those questions are the two geniuses that created it [James Corden and Ruth Jones] and they've both got such big lives now, I don't think they'd have time. It would take them a year or two to get it written, get it approved, get it set up, and then the next big thing you've got to sort out is getting everybody together. So I think it's a bit late for a spin-off.'
Larry has also ruled out a return to I'm A Celebrity... South Africa. He appeared in the Jungle in 2016 but wouldn't take on more Bushtucker Trials, quipping: 'Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. I got out of that one really well! I absolutely loved it but it's not one I'd go and do again.'
There's also no chance of getting him back on Strictly Come Dancing after he competed in the Christmas special in 2022. 'That's enough of that!' he laughed. 'I had one dance and I had three weeks to learn one dance. You've got to know your limitations. And I was fortunate in that Nadiya [Bychkova] was training me, and Nadiya could teach a tree to dance beautifully! I was very lucky.'
Larry revealed he'd reached out to Nadiya after she was one of six professionals axed this year in a cast 'bloodbath', and they have kept in touch since 2022. 'We've just had a couple of little exchanges,' he explained. 'She wasn't banging on about anything, I was just surprised. But you know, this business changes, all of a sudden people are not doing what they were doing for years before. But she is the ultimate teacher. Extraordinary.'
Now, Larry is gearing up for his appearance at the Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words next month. Inspired by the opening lines of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, this year's theme, 'The Age of Wisdom and Foolishness', explores how words shape our understanding of the world amid technological advancement, economic uncertainty, and evolving global conversation.
Across more than 40 events, audiences will hear from bestselling authors, renowned journalists, and influential thinkers on topics such as politics, current affairs, fiction, memoir, journalism, and history. Larry is set to appear with Gyles Brandreth for a live recording of his podcast, Rosebud, reflecting on childhood memories and the experiences that shaped his life and career.
Speaking about their friendship, Larry said: 'We've met around the business over the last three or four years several times, and we always had time to have a joke with each other and really enjoyed each other's company. So we're going to do this podcast in front of an audience, and I'm really looking forward to it, I think he is as well!'
Larry added: 'The lineup this year is absolutely extraordinary and it's not just about literature, it's not just about books, it's about politics. It's about getting people in that are commenting on things that are going on that are so important to us all right now.'
