Two decades ago, he stole the show on the Royle Family as the adorable baby David, but 22 years later, James Matthew-Hughes is all grown up. The child star landed the role of David and Denise Best's baby boy, who was born on Christmas Day, in 1999 and went on to appear in series three of the hit BBC sitcom with episodes covering his character's christening day and first birthday.
James went on to become a musical theatre actor and has starred in a number of stage shows, Mirror Online reports. James played the role for a year and it was later taken on by Harry Cash in 2006 for the reunion episode of the show The Queen of Sheba.
Following his stint on the show as a baby, James went on to get a degree in theatre arts in later life and has starred in musicals such as Crazy for You and Me And My Girl at the London Palladium. While his CV boasts the ability to do a variety of accents, James can also dance jazz, tap, ballet and period dance and is a classically trained singer.
The Royle Family ran from 1998 to 2000 when Caroline Aherne announced she would not be starring in or writing any further episodes. There was a possibility the show could have continued without her, but one cast member made sure that would not be the case.
Ricky Tomlinson pulled out to make sure the comedy series would definitely finish while it was at its peak. However, six years later Caroline and Craig wrote a one-off special and then went on to make another four up until 2012.
After the tragic death of Caroline back in 2016, many of the cast have insisted they would not want to have an on-screen reunion without her.
"Not for me, if it’s not broke don’t try and fix it", said Ricky on Loose Women in 2020. "She was wonderful. How many people of my age love going to work? How many people can't wait to get up and go to work in the morning and have a laugh? That's what it was like."
Ricky shared a special bond with his on-screen daughter. Recalling their days on set in Manchester, Ricky previously explained his fondest memory was the 1999 Christmas Special in which Denise went into labour and Jim was left to comfort her.
He found the scene with Caroline particularly poignant for two reasons, explaining: "I think it was so special to her because she didn’t have children. "And it was so special to me because my own girl, my Kate, was born on Christmas Day.
"And that’s why the tears were real. The cameraman was the son of Corrie character Stan Ogden and at the end he was crying and said: 'That’s it. We don’t need another take.' It just stands out in my mind."
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