In 1985, at the age of 12, he made his television debut in the children's TV series Your Mother Wouldn't Like It. He has also appeared in several other programmes, including Peak Practice, The Bill, Heartbeat and Touching Evil. He also appeared on the big screen in 1998, in British director Shane Meadows' first feature film, Twenty Four Seven, where he played the character 'Wolfman' Knighty. James will be returning to the stage after an absence of 15 years to star in "Our Style is Legendary", a new play about Nottingham in the 1980s, premiering at the Tristan Bates Theatre in 2011.