IF James Lance had a nickname it should be the Somerset Kid.

The reasons are he loved living in the county when he grew up in Westbury-sub-Mendip in the 1980s, running in the fields when he was a youngster and he loved building a tree house.

His ideal job in acting today would no doubt be to appear as Father Robinson in a film version of Swiss Family Robinson as he could build the biggest tree house ever.

He has put ideas of tree houses on the back burner for the moment, but watch this space, to appear in his latest film The Bookshop.which was released on June 29.

It stars in the lead roles, Emily Mortimer as Florence Green, Patricia Clarkson as Violet Gamart and Bill Nighy as Edmund Brundish.

The film is set in 1959, and centres around Florence Green, a middle-aged widow, who decides to open a bookshop in the small coastal town of Hardborough, Suffolk.

The location chosen is the Old House, an abandoned house said to be inhabited by ghosts.

Florence manages to start her business, which grows for about a year after which sales slump.

Mr. Brundish, the mysterious man in the house at the top of the hill, is Florence’s best client. The ambitious Mrs. Gamart intends to set up an arts centre in the Old House.

Mrs. Gamart’s nephew, an MP, sponsors a bill empowering local councils to buy any historical building that has been left uninhabited for five years.

Speaking about how he became an actor and his role in this film, James said: “I always wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember.

“I was probably eight-years-old when I saw Peter Shaffer’s production of Othello which was amazing.

“I did a school production of Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat, I was one of the brothers and I got a laugh.

“I did my first proper acting job when I was ten-years-old and from then I have not known anything different.

“I do not know if I am different as this is all I have known since I was 10-years-old.

“Being an actor is amazing as it gives me the opportunity every day to do something different and being someone different.

“What I enjoyed when on stage doing Jeeves and Wooster with John Gordon Sinclair was getting a woofer of a laugh-that is an amazing experience to hear 1,000 people all laughing away. That is something else

“I do have a lot of freedom as I do not know what I am doing any day, even minute to minute.

“For instance in this film, The Bookshop I play Milo North who is a really fascinating character.

“I read the novel before doing the film and it was fascinating to be able to play a character who had been on the page for so long.

“It was a thrill to be playing a character from the literary world.

“It was like this when I played Bertie Wooster in the West End.

“When I thought of Bertie Wooster I thought of Hugh Laurie, who was perfect in the role.

“What I had to do was read the novel and look around to find something which I could put into the character of Bertie.

“It was either me pouring myself into this role or pouring it into me.

“This was a mix of all of those elements.

“When I read it (The Bookshop) I had an idea of what it (the character) could be like but then it can all change when working with a director like Isabel Coixet who also wrote the screenplay.”

One of the locations which James was pleased will be showing The Bookshop is the Wells Film Centre which is one he knows well.

In true Troy McClure fashion you may also recognise James from such tv series as I’m Alan Partridge, People Like Us, Spaced, Smack the Pony, Book Group and Absolutely Fabulous.

He said: “I feel very grateful to have worked on these shows.

“People still come up to me and quote lines from I’m Alan Partridge. They say how much they loved in but it was 20 years ago.

“It must be one of the most quoted series. Steve Coogan is a comedy genius.”

Looking to the future, James said he hopes to keep getting interesting roles and as an actor he is open to do most roles.

He added: “I do enjoy nice characters.”