
Best known for his roles in Last Tango in Halifax and Benidorm, Josh Bolt’s first screen roles were in the films The Be All and End All playing lead character Robbie Wallace, and BAFTA nominated Nowhere Boy playing Pete Shotton, childhood friend of John Lennon portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. We can currently see Josh appearing on our TV screens as Rob Dawson in Series 10 of Benidorm, alongside his on-screen family and his love interest Cyd. Catching up with him recently in London, we talked to Josh about his TV shows Last Tango in Halifax and Benidorm, what it’s like working alongside Sir Derek Jacobi and what the future holds.
You play Rob Dawson in Benidorm, what’s it like being part of such a popular series?
Itās lovely, itās an honour really. It is such a big group of people and we are all like a close knit of friends. I feel very privileged to be a part of the show. Iām very grateful to Derren (Litten), the writer, who is a brilliant writer and lovely man, I feel very lucky to be a part of that, especially something thatās ten years in. Some people love Benidorm, some people hate it, but I think when itās finished, it will be treated as one of those sitcoms like Only Fools or Bottom, especially after ten years I think itās earned its place, people will look back and go oh yes remember that, it was brilliant.
Did you watch the show before you were cast?
Yeah, itās so funny, it was my mum and sister’s favourite programme, they adored it, totally adored it, so when I told them Iād got cast in it, it was like Iād just won them a million pounds, they were literally screaming, my mum was crying, it was like a scene from Holby City! Theyāre obviously very proud of everything else Iāve done, but Iāve never seen a reaction like that, itās like Iād just won the lottery, they were so happy! Iād seen it, Iād seen bits of it anyway, because it had always been on in our house. Itās one of those things that Iād walk past and go ‘whatās this?’, much like Coronation Street or Emmerdale, my mum always has it on in the house. Itās weird now because Iām mates with most of them, because weāre all in the same group, so itās like oh thereās Danny doing stuff in Emmerdale!
How was it filming with your on-screen family?
Itās bizarre because when we arrived we were petrified because the Garvey family were the original family and they were brilliant, then they chose to leave after seven years so we were all sort of thrown in together. I remember there was me, Steve (Edge), Julie (Graham), the late Bobby Knutt and Honor (Kneafsey). The five of us were in this room together, we all had a couple of castings each, then we all read together, and literally within a week, we were flown out and suddenly in Benidorm, Iāve never known anything like it where five people clicked so easily. We became so close knit, the guy who played my grandad, the late Bobby, was way into his seventies, and me, Steve and Julie would look after him, make sure he wasnāt on his own, and me and Steve would cook him steaks or things like that, well Steve would… I canāt cook!
It did feel like a family, you had Bobby who was the grandad, who would fill that role as a grandparent, who would tell stories and jokes like grandparents do, then you had Steve and Julie who were the responsible middle-aged parents, I was the sort of idiot twenty year old who was like ‘ah look, a bar’ and then we had little Honor, who was just this beautiful little girl who was happy go lucky. So yeah, it did feel like a really big family, and still does even though weāve finished, hahaha!

Who would you say is the funniest cast member off screen?
Ohhhh Steve who plays my dad, heās the driest man Iāve ever met but heās just hysterical! His little comments are all the time, heās always got an observation, heās a writer as well and it shows, because the observations he makes⦠he doesnāt miss a trick, so there will constantly be little comments.
Do they close the filming area to the public?
Yes, they do, the hotel we film in is a working hotel, so you can go and stay there, a lot of families and couples turn up to just watch us. Basically, itās a tiny pool area, they put a rope across it, and fake hedges, but you can still see us clearly. The green room is outside Morgan’s Tavern where we film Neptune’s Bar. Thereās a big tent up and a walkway for us to get in and out, you can see people walk past and weāre just sat there drinking coffee and sweating in our evening wear at 30° in July! When weāre out in Benidorm in the evenings, weāre like creatures of habits on that job, we go to the same couple of bars and restaurants that we know, so a lot of people do see us and stop us.
How much did you enjoy filming Last Tango in Halifax as Raff?
I hold that job really dearly. Itās weird because Iāve grown up in stages over different jobs, and my life is sort of in different chapters of what jobs Iām doing. I started Last Tango when I was seventeen, we did the first series and instantly fell in love with it. My first day was me and Nicola Walker, who played my mum, just us two in a Land Rover in the middle of Sheffield, on a moor. We were on a low loader truck pretending to drive, me and Nic all day were just sat in a car together. I remember, we got picked up together in the morning and it was all very professional, and by the end of the day we were in the hotel bar eating sausage rolls, just crying laughing! Sheās one of the most amazing people Iāve ever met, not just as an actor but as a woman. Nicola Walker I hold very dearly because of that job.
Sir Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid and Sarah Lancashire, for me, the scenes Iāve shared with them, and watching them work alone is invaluable. I couldnāt have got any better training, watching them work, they make it look so easy and at seventeen/eighteen/nineteen I sat watching them and listening, just taking little things away from them. You canāt really, at seventeen, get any better than Derek Jacobi to listen to and learn from. I love that job a lot!
Who in the cast is most like their on-screen character?
Oooh thatās a good one, itās difficult because theyāre all such fabulous actors! Thatās a really tough one because theyāre all cast so well. Gillian does a lot of questionable things, and Nicolaās not like that at all, but she sort of has this energy about her that she shares with Gillian, sort of erratic, really enthusiastic inspiring energy that she shares with Gillian, whereas Sarah Lancashire shares the same traits as Caroline, who can be quite reserved, open and loving, but has a sort of stillness to her. Then thereās my uncle Deano in it as well, who plays Robbie, heās played my uncle about three times now, heās probably quite similar to him because heās a big gruff northern bloke and plays that really well. So yeah, I think thatās the answer, hahaha!
Whatās it like playing Derek Jacobiās grandson?
Heās probably the nicest man Iāve ever met, he is just so open and warm and lovely and supportive and just really wants you to do well. Heās just marvellous to watch because heās the lead, itās his show, heās number one on the cast list and thatās how I think every leading man should aspire to be. He leads from the front, heās always on time, he knows his lines, nothing is ever too much trouble for him, and heās just lovely. Itās how I would like to be or be thought of.

While filming the first series, did you know it would be renewed?
No, we had no idea. Obviously Sally Wainwright is probably the countryās best writer, I would go out there and say, sheās just amazing, she makes it look so easy. You know itās a brilliant script because the lines come so easily, it just comes naturally and so we knew we had something special. Just to be a part of Sallyās work was amazing, and then obviously the cast that came with it, but I donāt think we realised when we were doing it how much of a hit it would become. We all said goodbye and got really upset on the last day. I said goodbye to Nicola and Derek and gave them a big hug, and was like, ‘hopefully weāll see each other again’, then four years later weāre still going, so no, we didnāt know at all.
If they were to film another series, would you like to be involved?
1000%, yeah! The special we did in 2016, which was a two-part Christmas special, was brilliant, but it felt like the opening of another series, it just started going and then finished, because obviously Sallyās so busy, I think sheās doing another Happy Valley. I know for a fact that a lot of us would do it, itās just a case of when Sally can write it. Iād love to do another one of those definitely, itās just so lovely.
How different is it filming as a series regular opposed to a one-off project like Grantchester?
You know what, itās so nerve-racking because you can do the lead in something or be part of a regular cast and then you get these jobs like Grantchester or Scott & Bailey and itās so different. You donāt know anyone, you just turn up for three or four days and have to stand looking at James Norton being all beautiful and brilliant! Luckily, on that particular job, James and Robson Green were so welcoming and they made it so easy. Weirdly on that job, the director Iād worked with before, the cameraman Iād worked with before, the lighting guys Iād worked with before⦠it was really lovely but a weird coincidence, where I did actually know a lot of people. One of my close mates, Lorne MacFadyen, who plays Phil Wilkinson, Robson Greenās policeman friend, also played Bobby Moore in Tina and Bobby on TV and he was there as well, and it was his first job after drama school. It is really nerve-racking because you just have to turn up and be really good, hahaha! Not that you donāt have to do that when youāre in something like Last Tango or Benidorm, but thereās definitely a pressure off.
I think the most nerve-racking thing was a thing I did called Ghost Hunters, it was literally one day with Rafe Spall. Thereās a brilliant opening scene where I just turn up and then shoot myself in the head on Rafe Spallās doorstep, but obviously trying to get that emotional pitch right while stood looking at Rafe Spall was really difficult, and again you donāt know anyone. Also, how nice do you be, because you donāt want to look like a weirdo, haha. Do you go around saying hello to people and shaking peopleās hands or do you just keep yourself to yourself? But then you donāt want to look like a ‘oh heās full of himself’ so itās a tough one. Yeah, Iāve sort of answered that, hahaha!

What do you remember most from your time on set of Nowhere Boy as Pete?
Being totally in love and in awe of Aaron Taylor-Johnson! Heās just amazing, hahahaha! Heās just so dreamy, hahahaha! I was fourteen and he had been cast as John Lennon. Sam Taylor-Wood, the director, called me in, I think Iād had about eight recalls at this point, and I went to Ealing Studios and sat with her and Nina, the casting director. Aaron and I did a couple of scenes, and I remember watching him and, itās going to sound so clichĆ©, but you know when people have just got (I hate using this word) The X Factor, theyāve got āitā, whatever āitā is, heās got it, heās just so good and so charismatic. I remember pretty much all of my scenes were with him as I was his best mate, so I was able to spend a lot of time with him. I really admired him because he was, at the time, so focused on being this A-list superstar, and obviously we all want to be that, but he was blinkered to do it and heās done it. Iām still a bit in awe of him, I just think heās brilliant.
Also, that job was just great as well because Samās a brilliant director, Kristin Scott Thomas was wonderful, Anne-Marie Duff was wonderful, David Morrissey was wonderful⦠it was just really nice. To be in Ealing Studios as well, turning up for work every morning and looking at these pictures of Sir Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier, and on set, it was like wow. Being thrown on the side of a bus with Aaron, that was my first day of filming, it was me and Aaron strapped on to this double decker bus, and we were driven from Liverpool city centre to Woolton village, which is about fifty minutes away. Sam kept the cameras rolling. There was one of us either side and we were just gripping on. I was petrified but Aaron, of course, sat there with a rollie, being all cool, but I was fourteen and like a cat just gripping on!
Out of all the characters you have played so far, which has been the most fun to play?
Thatās a brilliant question. I did a two-part drama about five/six years ago called The Crash. There was a lovely group of people – James Burrows, whoās just joined Coronation Street as Kym Marshās son, Sacha Parkinson, who was in Coronation Street, and Lily Loveless, who was in Skins. There were seven of us all under the age of twenty-five in a massive flat in the west end of Glasgow for two months. We all gelled so quickly, it was just such a laugh because we were all so young and so passionate and hungry to do well. It was a really supportive cast of people and I had really great fun playing this guy called Brian who was a little brother. Sadly I went through the windscreen of a car! I spent four days filming in a field on the side of a road in Glasgow, covered in mud, cinnamon blood and sugar glass all over me, so that was quite fun to do. I donāt know why thatās fun to do but it was quite cathartic to go through a windscreen and then just be covered in mud! Yeah, probably that, I think.
What is the biggest challenge of having an acting career?
I think consistency is really difficult. I have been very lucky in ten years to do loads of wonderful things. I think itās happened about three times now in my career where Iāve gone from job to job to job, and then have had nothing for like a year-and-a-half sometimes two years, and that is a real struggle. Iāve learnt not be complacent and to continue to want to strive to do it because Iāve seen so many brilliant people who have just given in because itās just so difficult.
What was your first ever audition like?
It was Much Ado About Nothing in the Liverpool Playhouse. It was me and about twenty other guys who were my age, which was about nine to eleven. We all had to go in and it was a workshop style thing, we all had to play games because we were so young. It was a simple memory test, we were paired up and the director would take us away and make us learn things about each other, so it was, ‘whatās your name?’, ‘Connor,’ ‘where are you from?’ ‘Huyton,’ then youād have to go and speak in front of everyone. We were given a really small piece to read, which was actually quite relaxing, obviously at the time you didnāt know any different.

Had you always wanted an acting career and what do you think you would be doing now if you weren’t acting?
I sort of just fell into it totally when I was eleven. I got sent to an open audition for a play and doing that play for two months just totally inspired me to become an actor. I just fell in love with the idea of it and I was totally mesmerised by the grown-ups that were in the show. Itās got to a point where I donāt know what else Iād do, hahaha. This has just been my life for the last ten years. I actually wanted to be a chef when I was about six or seven, which is hysterical because I canāt cook⦠I literally canāt even boil pasta!
I would have loved to have been in a band I think. I used to be really good at playing guitar and now I still play it a little bit, but nowhere near as good as I was, so probably play guitar. I could never see myself doing a normal job or a sort of mature job, haha. So probably in a band maybe, yeah, hahaha!
How do you spend your time in breaks from filming?
Try and get another job, hahahaha! A lot of time is spent just auditioning, sometimes itās really busy, sometimes itās not, itās quite bizarre, and I donāt think people realise that. As an actor, youāre on the television, youāre on a film or youāre on stage, brilliant, but, for example, Benidorm started last night, I filmed last May finished in June, Iāve done bits since but I havenāt had a full job since. This industry is so brutal, it is literally just, āhereās your sides, youāve got a day or two days max, your meetingās at such and such, go and do itā. Fortunately, I live with one of my best mates who’s also with my agent, so weāve got each otherās backs in the sense that we both sort of just sit and work on each otherās scripts. The rest of my downtime is spent seeing family and friends because I donāt get to see them that often, listening to a lot of music as well and watching films.
Are there any projects you’ve got coming out this year or that you’re currently working on that you can tell us about?
Thereās a film I finished the end of last year called A Good Woman Is Hard To Find by a brilliant director called Abner Pastoll, this is his second feature film. Iāve got a really small part in it but itās such a good part. The lead lady in it is called Sarah Bolger whoās about to become massive, sheās an Irish actress whoās about twenty-six. Sheās done so many American things and sheās just finished the Sons of Anarchy prequel, so I think sheās about to become massive. Iāve got a really nice scene in that where I play an Irish drug dealer and quite rightly meets the consequences of that. Itās really quite a graphic scene of me getting⦠well, I canāt really give it away but I think you know where Iām going, hahaha!
Also, Iām a massive Doctor Who fan, huge, and Nicola Walker, from Last Tango, played my favourite doctor Paul McGann’s companion in the online audiobooks. She put me in touch with the team who do that, so I did a Tom Baker one a couple of years ago and, really luckily, I did a John Hurt one at the end of 2015 just before he died, playing his companion and that was amazing to be part of. I mean, regardless of being a Doctor Who fan, just sitting in the booth with John Hurt for two weeks was great. Iāve just done another one of them with Alex Kingston which is the River Song Diaries so I think thatās out in summer.
Now Iām just back to the grind, itās bizarre, itās been really quiet in the last year but January picked up a bit because itās pilot season. Itās really difficult, thereās a lot of American stuff going but the American stuff is even worse than trying to get a job in the UK because there are a hundred young lads going for a part. Pilot season there are hundreds and thousands, itās not just the UK. Itās funny because me and all my mates are all going for the same pilots, so Iām just waiting and seeing what comes up next.
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This interview sums up Josh Bolt……easy going,even when the going gets tough…love the lad.He,s going places…
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