James Lance's latest role alongside Stephen Fry in BBC Two's Absolute Power could have been made for him.

In the series about spin doctors, he is cast as a duplicitous charmer who is expert at persuading clients that what he is doing for them is always in their best interests.

Highlighting his propensity to inhabit characters who lack moral fibre, it continues the success he found as heroin addict Barney and his cheating brother Lachlan in The Book Group and as the mean and moody Matt in Teachers.

In the flesh, however, he is so unassuming, amenable and un-actorly.

"I got into acting because I liked the applause," says James, sipping on a cup of coffee in a busy caf in Kemp Town, Brighton. "I was in a school play when I was seven and afterwards I went home and told my mother that was what I wanted to do."

James was soon picked out to appear in a TV commercial and a BBC film, achievements which also had a downside.

He got the occasional good kicking at the school where he ended up after failing his 11-plus.

"I had my mates as well but it wasn't easy," he says.

James became determined to get out and by 13, he had been been accepted at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, which meant moving to stay with family friends in the East End.

"It was a complete culture shock and I loved it," he recalls.

James paid his way though school by more roles in commercials but, at 16, he was out on his own.

He says: "My first job was actually in Brighton at the Pavilion Theatre. It was the summer spectacular and I was working with Tony Monopoly, who was a kind of Australian Englebert Humperdink. The show closed after four performances."

Ever resourceful, James and his buddy decided to busk music hall numbers on the prom, dressed in straw boaters and dicky bows, and made enough money to stay for the summer.

James then moved back to London, where bouts of unemployment were punctuated with cameo roles in shows such as Smack The Pony, Absolutely Fabulous and Spaced, as well as more commercials and a role in the film Late Night Shopping.

Then came I'm Alan Partridge, in which he played sexy and intelligent Ben, and then Teachers.

Moving into the forefront after former lead Andrew Lincoln left the series, his shallow and unappealing character was given warmth and depth by the episode where he ended up snogging his friend, big and boozy Lindsay, played by Vicky Hall.

James says: "I was really pleased with that storyline. It was unexpected and it gave me a chance to show a bit of a sensitive side.

"It was ironic as well that two good mates decide they're in love with each other, particularly as I'm good mates with Vicky. It was weird, though, snogging after seven months working together."

Another friend James made on the set was Lincoln, who directed the last two episodes.

"I just love working with him. We got on really, really well."

Fond memories of James' first summer in Brighton prompted him to move here a few years ago, where he lives with his girlfriend Daisy Robertson.

She is producing Christmas, a play that runs at the Pavilion Theatre through December, before moving on to London's Bush Theatre.

Written by award-winner Simon Stephens, it tells the story of four East End men who meet up for a drink before Christmas. With a love of bad football and a faith in good jokes, the men pick at the scars of one another's regret.

While James has only a small role in the play, he is a founding member of Ape, the play's production company, he set up with Brighton husband and wife team Jo McInnes and Lee Ross last year.

Tape, their first production at the Brighton Little Theatre a year ago, had people queuing round the block to get tickets.

"We're very passionate about what we do," says James.

"Programming is becoming so formulaic and driven by ratings, it is difficult to do anything that really inspires.

"It might happen with shows like the Book Group but that's a rarity in this business."

This opinion is echoed by the other members of Ape, particularly Lee, who stars in Christmas, alongside Alan Williams, Paul Ritter, Bernard Gallagher and a rolling cast of cameo players that include Ralph Brown.

After appearing in 14 feature films, Lee became disenchanted with acting and gave up in 1996.

Setting up Ape, however, fired him up once again and he starred alongside James in Tape last year. Christmas has continued his renewed excitement.

"It's because it's such a brilliant play," says James. "There's no way of knowing which way the story will turn."