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Josh Bolt

English actor (born 1994)

Joshua Ryan Bolt (born 2 May 1994) is an English actor best known for his roles as Raff Greenwood in Last Tango in Halifax and Rob Dawson in Benidorm. Other credits include the titular character in Just Henry (2011), Dunbar in George Clooney's miniseries Catch-22 (2019) and Lt. Pappy Lewis in Tom Hanks' Masters of the Air (2024).

01Early life

Joshua Ryan Bolt was born in Halewood, Liverpool on 2 May 1994. He grew up in Halewood and attended Halewood College before dropping out of school six months into his A-levels to pursue acting full-time.

02Career

Bolt began acting at the age of 11 and was cast in his first theatre production, Much Ado About Nothing at Liverpool Playhouse, after one of his teachers encouraged him to attend an open audition. He joined YULA Drama School not long after, which led to his casting as Robbie Wallace in the 2009 film The Be All and End All, which, in turn, attracted the attention of a casting director and landed him the role of Pete Shotton in Nowhere Boy. Bolt was cast in the lead role of ITV1's Just Henry in summer 2011. He then joined the second series of Accused.

In 2012, Bolt joined the nascent cast of Last Tango in Halifax, where he played Raphael "Raff" Greenwood. The first series won best drama at the 2013 BAFTA Television Awards and filming for the second series began in June 2013. Bolt later reprised his role for the third (2014), fourth (2016) and fifth (2020) series. Bolt's early guest appearances include as Adam on Lewis and a short arc as Frasier Kane in the ninth series of Shameless. He played Brian Harris in the BBC Three drama The Crash and Daniel in the third series of Scott & Bailey. In 2013, he appeared in The Heart of Nowhere, a film directed by Charlie Fink to coincide with Noah and the Whale's final album.

Bolt joined the cast of Benidorm series eight in 2015 as Rob Dawson. In December 2015, he appeared as soldier Thomas Macquillanin ITV1's Harry Price Ghost Hunter. In 2016, he guest starred in the second series of Grantchester and as Reburrus in Barbarians Rising. In November, he filmed a two-part Christmas special of Last Tango in Halifax. In 2018, Bolt reprised the role of Rob Dawson in the tenth series of Benidorm. The following year, he played Donal in the film A Good Woman Is Hard to Find and Dunbar in the Catch-22 miniseries of the same name. Around this time, he was also featured in the Luka State's music video for "Kick in The Teeth." In 2025, he appeared in Andrew Gower's music video "Closer."

In addition to acting onscreen, Bolt has also held several roles in audio dramas. In 2016, he voiced Kalan, a companion of the War Doctor, in the third series of the audio drama The War Doctor. This was followed by "Dethras" (2017), wherein he played a companion of the Fourth Doctor, and two episodes of The Diary of River Song (2017) as River's cyborg companion Spod. He also voiced Antonio in Elena Ferrante's The Story of a New Name adapted for BBC Radio 4 by Timberlake Wertenbaker.

03Personal life

In 2021, following mental health struggles during the COVID-19 lockdown, Bolt organised a hike up Ben Nevis to raise money for three charities: Whitechapel Centre in Liverpool, Young Person's Advisory Service, and the Scottish Association for Mental Health. He recruited 95 other people, settling on a group of 96 to honour the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

04Filmography

Film

YearFilmRoleNotesRef
2009The Be All and End AllRobbie Wallace
Nowhere BoyPete Shotton
2013Heart of NowhereFloydShort film
2019A Good Woman Is Hard to FindDonal

Television

YearTitleRoleNotesRef
2011Just HenryHenry Dodge
2012ShamelessFrasier Kane3 episodes
Accused Dom Cartwright
2012-2020Last Tango in HalifaxRaff GreenwoodMain role, 24 episodes
2013LewisAdam Tibitt
The CrashBrian Harris
Scott & BaileyDaniel Gallagher1 episode
2015Harry Price: Ghost HunterThomas Macquillan
2016-2018BenidormRob DawsonMain role
2016GrantchesterRory Crompton
Barbarians RisingReburrus
2018The Quarter: TeaserToddShort
2019Catch-22DunbarMiniseries
2020AnthonyMichael BartonTV film
2023Van der ValkGert Hoist
2024Masters of the AirLt. Winifred "Pappy" LewisMiniseries
EllisDI Archie Dent
LudwigAdam Newsum
2026The Blame

Radio/Audio

YearTitleRoleProductionNotesRef
2016The War DoctorKalanBig Finish ProductionsSeries 3: Agents of Chaos
2017The Fourth Doctor AdventuresPhilipSeries 6, number 4: "Dethras"
The Story of a New NameAntonioBBC Radio 4
2018The Diary of River SongSpodBig Finish ProductionsSeries 4, number 1 ("Time in a Bottle") and 2 ("Kings of Infinite Space")
Watch videos about Josh BoltExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Josh Bolt, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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