Career
This showed his to bring socially relevant stories to the screen. He was sought after by other film makes such as John Pilger, Antony Thomas and Ken Loach to Adrian Cowell, Michael Grigsby, Charles Stewart, Brian Moser, John Willis and John Walsh. Leaving school at 16, James found a job in the post room at ATV"s London offices.
Within a few years he was an assistant film editor and, moving to ATV"s Elstree studios.
Keen to work solely on documentaries, he returned to Elstree in 1972. He became a producer, then executive producer, and Controller of features for Central in 1991.
In this role, James worked on the Independent Television film, Antony Thomas"s Death of a Princess (1980), which depicted the public execution of a Saudi Arabian princess and her lover for committing adultery. The drama caused an international incident with the Saudi government.
James also edited Ken Loach"s television film adaptation of Barry Hines" book The Gamekeeper (also 1980), which blurred the lines between drama and documentary.
He received a television Craft British Academy of Film and Television Arts nomination for editing these films.