English actor and political activist

Laurence Paul Fox (born 1978) is an English actor and political activist, who played the supporting role of DS James Hathaway in the British TV drama series Lewis from 2006 to 2015.

A grandson of the actors Robin and Angela Fox, and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Fox first appeared in The Hole (2001) and thereafter in numerous films, television features, and theatre productions. He is also a singer-songwriter and guitarist; his debut album, Holding Patterns, was released in February 2016.

Fox gained political recognition for his opposition to the George Floyd protests, and during the COVID-19 pandemic for his strong views against vaccination. After founding the Reclaim Party, Fox stood unsuccessfully in the 2021 London mayoral election in opposition to what he deemed "extreme political correctness". He gained 1.9% of the vote, losing his deposit.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Acting career
• 3 Views
  • 3.1 COVID-19
  • 3.2 Views on racial issues
• 4 Political ambitions
  • 4.1 Reclaim Party
  • 4.2 2021 candidacy for London mayor
• 5 Legal issues
  • 5.1 Defamation lawsuit
• 6 Personal life
• 7 Filmography
  • 7.1 Film
  • 7.2 Television
  • 7.3 Theatre
• 8 Discography
• 9 References
• 10 External links

Early life and education

See also: Robin Fox family

Laurence Fox was born in 1978 in Leeds, the third of the five children of James Fox and Mary Elizabeth Piper. His father, James, was the son of Robin Fox, a theatrical agent, who married Angela Muriel Darita Worthington, daughter of the playwright Frederick Lonsdale. Fox's siblings are Tom (born 1975), Robin (born 1976), Lydia (born 1979), and Jack (born 1985); Lydia and Jack are actors. Lydia Fox is married to actor Richard Ayoade. His uncles are the actor Edward Fox and the theatrical and film producer Robert Fox. The actors Emilia and Freddie Fox are his first cousins, being the children of Edward Fox.

At the age of 13, he was enrolled at Harrow School and was expelled a few weeks before his A-levels. He was unable to obtain a place at any university, due to a report about him from Harrow. After working as a gardener and as an office worker, he discovered that he preferred acting and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). During his time there, he appeared in numerous theatre productions, including the lead roles of Gregers Werle in Ibsen's The Wild Duck, Marcus Andronicus in *us Andronicus, and Stephen Daedalus in an adaptation of James Joyce's novel Ulysses. His first break into film was the horror-thriller The Hole (2001).

Acting career

Fox, who graduated from RADA on 1 July 2001, followed up The Hole by appearing in Robert Altman's film Gosford Park (2001). He then donned uniforms in a slew of film and television features, including roles as a German airman in Island at War (2004), an SS officer in The Last Drop (2005), and as British soldiers in the 2002 films Deathwatch and Ultimate Force, and in Colditz (2005). In the last made-for-television film, Fox played Capt. Tom Willis who, after an unsuccessful attempt to break out of a prisoner-of-war camp, is brought to Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle, one of the most infamous German POW camps for officers in World War II. Actor Kevin Whately caught Fox's performance in the last ten minutes of the film. The next day, at a meeting regarding a new project, Whately mentioned that Fox "would be worth taking a look at".

As a result, Fox was cast in the ITV detective drama Lewis as Detective Sergeant James Hathaway, who becomes the partner of Detective Inspector Robert Lewis, played by Whately. The pilot of this spin-off from Inspector Morse (1987–2000) was ITV's highest rated drama of 2006.

Fox has also portrayed Prince Charles, in Whatever Love Means (2005); Wisley, one of Jane Austen's suitors, in Becoming Jane (2007); and Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancellor of England in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, also released in 2007. In addition, in that year Fox was seen on ITV as Cecil Vyse in Andrew Davies's adaptation of A Room with a View based on E.M. Forster's 1908 novel.

On stage, Fox appeared in Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw at the Strand Theatre (now the Novello Theatre) in London in 2002, and John Ford's 17th-century play 'Tis Pity She's a * in 2005. Between 2006 and 2007 he starred in Treats by Christopher Hampton with his future wife, Billie Piper. In April 2007, Fox received a police caution after he was arrested for *ault when he punched a photographer outside the Garrick Theatre in London where he was performing in Treats. The caution remained on his record for three years. In 2013, Fox played Guy Haines in Strangers on a Train at London's Gielgud Theatre. On 9 May 2015, he read a letter written by a soldier three days prior to his death in the Second World War, as part of VE Day 70: A Party to Remember, an anniversary concert for VE Day.

Fox released his debut album Holding Patterns in 2016 through his own label Fox Cub Records. His second album A Grief Observed was released in 2019. Holding Patterns peaked at number 89 in the UK album chart.

In 2018, Fox joined the cast of the ITV series Victoria, playing Lord Palmerston, for its third season, which first aired on PBS in January 2019.

In November 2020, Fox was dropped by his talent agency Artists Rights Group after comments he made on the Question Time TV programme. He had been dropped by his previous managers Authentic Talent in March of the same year.

In 2021, Fox was hired to star as Hunter Biden in a Robert Davi directed biopic *led My Son Hunter along with Gina Carano and John James.

Views

In 2019, Fox told The Times that he had been "totally radicalised" by watching YouTube videos about "woke culture" and "political correctness".

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fox frequently criticised the British government's response to the pandemic and encouraged disobedience of the government's social distancing rules and other public health restrictions. During an interview on Good Morning Britain, Fox said "if the NHS can't cope, then the NHS isn't fit for purpose." The show's hosts, Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, condemned his comments. During a national lockdown in March 2021 Fox participated in an anti-lockdown protest. Fox was also visited by police after being reported for allegedly breaking rules during election campaigning, although no action was taken.

In April 2021 a video was recorded by an unnamed Durham University student of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer drinking at a party campaign gathering in Durham. The student was later reported as saying that they saw "something that I thought was an injustice and decided to film it because it made me angry." The video was forwarded to friends and then to anti-lockdown activists, including Fox, who uploaded it to his Twitter account. The video later came to be the cornerstone of the Beergate controversy.

Views on racial issues

Appearing as a panellist on the BBC's political debate programme Question Time in January 2020, Fox said that Meghan Markle was not a victim of racism and described an audience member who called him a "white privileged male" as racist. In March 2020, the actors' union, Equity, which had described Fox as "a disgrace to our industry" because of his views, withdrew the criticism and apologised for it.

In January 2020, Fox attracted media attention for stating that the depiction of a Sikh soldier in the film 1917 was "forced diversity," in spite of Sikh soldiers having fought on the Western Front in World War I. When interviewed on television, Fox explained: "I suppose it would have been less incongruous to me if he'd got on the truck to a whole regiment of Sikh soldiers" and reflected "I mean, as you’ve noticed, I say quite a lot of unfortunate things, but I think it’s really important that one is able to express one’s opinion." He followed by apologising on Twitter to "Fellow humans who are Sikhs," stating: "I am as moved by the sacrifices your relatives made as I am by the loss of all those who die in war, whatever creed or colour" and concluded "Please accept my apology for being clumsy in the way I expressed myself."

In September 2020, Fox said that he had been "cancelled" by fellow actor Rebecca Front, because she had blocked him on Twitter over his use of the All Lives Matter counter-slogan in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Fox later apologised for revealing this through tweeting a private text conversation between the two performers, in which Front had explained her reasons for blocking him.

In August 2021, Fox posted a tweet stating "Get kneeling, *" about the recent arrest of black footballer Benjamin Mendy on charges of rape and sexual *ault. The tweet was removed by Twitter and the account was temporarily locked for violating its rules against "hateful conduct."

Political ambitions

Reclaim Party

Main article: Reclaim Party

In September 2020, Fox attracted funding for a new political party, provisionally called Reclaim, and dubbed "UKIP for culture". It emerged in October 2020 that the party name had yet to be successfully registered with the Electoral Commission and that there was a naming conflict with the "Reclaim Project" of Manchester, an established charity in Manchester endeavouring to give opportunities to working-cl* children. The name Reclaim Party was approved in February 2021 as an iden*y mark for Brexit Express.

2021 candidacy for London mayor

In March 2021, Fox announced he would stand in the London mayoral elections, in order to "fight against extreme political correctness" and pledging to "end the Met's obsession with diversity and inclusivity." His candidacy was endorsed by Reform UK, who stood aside for him in the election, and Nigel Farage. In mid-April 2021 Fox was polling at around 1%, tied with Count Binface. The major source of Fox's campaign funds was Brexit backer Jeremy Hosking, who, in the first quarter of 2021, gave the Reclaim Party more than £1,000,000 in cash and services. Fox finished in sixth place with 47,634 votes (1.9%) in the mayoral election. He lost his £10,000 election deposit.

Legal issues

Defamation lawsuit

In October 2020, Fox announced he would boycott Sainsbury's because they "support racial segregation and discrimination" referencing the store establishing safe spaces for black employees, while asking others to do the same. Sainsbury's later clarified that the safe spaces were online support groups established in response to Black Lives Matter and were promoted as part of support for Black History Month. Feeling he was "falsely smeared as a racist", Fox replied to a number of tweets reacting to that announcement by calling their authors paedophiles. Two of those people, RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestant Crystal and Simon Blake, deputy chair of the LGBT rights charity Stonewall, both gay men, later announced they would sue Fox for defamation. Fox deleted the tweets and explained in further tweets that he wanted to teach people a lesson in calling people something which they are not.Crystal and Blake lodged a claim for defamation in the High Court in April 2021 and were joined in the legal action by actress Nicola Thorp, whom Fox also called a paedophile.

Personal life

Fox and actress Billie Piper started dating in 2006 while performing together in the stage play Treats, and were married on 31 December 2007. They have two sons, born in 2008 and 2012 respectively. In March 2016, Piper announced the couple had separated. On 12 May 2016, Fox and Piper were divorced.

On 10 January 2022, Fox's engagement to Arabella Neagle was announced in The Daily Telegraph.

Filmography

Film

Television

Some information in this table was obtained from Laurence Fox: Filmography, Internet Movie Database (IMDb), retrieved 16 March 2008.

Theatre

Some information in this table was obtained from the following websites: Laurence Fox, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, archived from the original on 3 February 2008, retrieved 18 March 2008; Laurence Fox: Other works, Internet Movie Database (IMDb), retrieved 16 March 2008.

Discography

Albums

• Holding Patterns (2016)
• A Grief Observed (2019)

Singles/EPs

• "Gunfight" (2012)
• "So Be Damned" (2013)
• Sorry for My Words EP (2013)
• "Headlong" (2015)
• "Rise Again" (2016)

References

External links

• Laurence Fox – official site
• Laurence Fox at IMDb
• Laurence Fox discography at Discogs
• Laurence Fox at Hello!

Notes:

Family tree of the Robin Fox family