[1][2] He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in The Likely Lads and its sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Jack Ford in When the Boat Comes In, Roy Figgis in Only When I Laugh, Trevor Chaplin in The Beiderbecke Trilogy, Arthur Gilder in Born and Bred, Jack Halford in New Tricks and the title character of Grandpa in the CBeebies programme Grandpa in My Pocket.
[7] Lacking funding for his fees, he worked in Lyons Corner House tearoom and West End restaurants, washing dishes at night and studying during the day.
[9] Before the sequel, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, began its run, Bolam appeared in films such as Half a Sixpence (1967), Otley (1969), and O Lucky Man!
[5] Bolam's co-star Rodney Bewes stated in 2005 that the two actors had not spoken since the film had been made, a period of over thirty years.
[10] Bolam denied there was a rift between the two men when Bewes died in November 2017, claiming that they "didn't talk for 40 years because of their busy schedules rather than resentment".
"[10][13] In 1976, Bolam returned to straight drama; he played Jack Ford in the BBC Television series When the Boat Comes In, which ran until 1981.
Another memorable role was alongside Timothy West and Sheila Hancock in the 2002 series of the BBC comedy-drama Bedtime, in which Bolam played the seemingly decent but actually crooked Ronnie Stribling.
In the mid-1980s, he co-starred in the original radio version of the romantic sitcom Second Thoughts, which ran for several series and was subsequently adapted for television with Bolam reprising his role.
[15] Bolam lives in Wisborough Green, West Sussex and Chiswick, London, with his wife, actress Susan Jameson (who co-starred with him in an early episode of The Likely Lads, When the Boat Comes In and New Tricks).