A biography for Lennie Jameshasn’t been written yet.
“In the kids' home I was in, there was very little change of staff. People stuck around, and they stuck around because they were being paid enough to stay there and raise their families. If you're not supporting the people looking after the kids, you're not supporting the kids, and you might as well chuck them all in the bin.”
“I was dreading all of the ghost stories of working on American television, not in the least, the length. In Britain, a series is six episodes of an hour drama, maybe sometimes eight, but never twenty-two, so I was petrified of that.”
“All the great shows owe a lot to 'Hill Street Blues.'”
“I'm part of that generation that grew up watching TV, and being an actor was all about being on TV or being in films.”
“I went to an all boys' school in South London and the only god was sport.”
“I love writing but don't get a huge amount of time to do it.”
“We did four months on 'Line of Duty' from beginning to end, and that would be a long theater run.”
“I've written virtually as long as I've acted, it wasn't a sudden transition. I acted in my first play when I was 16 and I wrote my first play when I was 17.”
“I'm not setting 'Jericho' up to be anything other than what it is, which is, you know, a piece of good, well thought-out, well put-together TV and entertainment.”
“I like to come home regularly and, when I do, I need something to do on Saturdays. I can't think of anything better than the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.”
“The breadth of work that's possible is wider and deeper for someone who looks like me in the States than it is in the U.K.”
“I read the 'Guardian,' because it's a bit like having an argument with a mate. We mostly have the same sensibilities, but where we disagree, it's infuriating.”
“I was focused on either being a social worker or physiotherapist. That was the direction I was going until I met a girl who wanted to be an actress, and I wanted to be close to the girl, so I followed her into an audition.”
“I'd really like to go Sydney. I've been to Australia a few times, but I have never been there.”
“There was a point when I thought I would primarily be a writer, but the acting seems to have got in the way. So when I do get a chance, I jump at it.”
“I like arriving somewhere and taking a left when someone tells you to go right. When all the tourist signs are pointing one way, it's exciting to go the other.”
“The death penalty in the U.S. has become a political tool - and it should never be that.”
“I became politicised in my mid teens, at the time of ska and 2 Tone and the Anti-Nazi League, when I'd get dressed up for a night out in my white socks and loafers, and the last thing I'd hear is, 'Have a good night - be careful of the police.'”
“If you look in real life, it is very hard to describe people as good people, bad people, heroes or villains. People aren't bad people. They all have their justifications.”
“'The State Within' demands a certain intelligence from its audience. It doesn't just wash over you - it asks for commitment. And that's a really good thing.”