British actor Jamie Bamber knows when he attends another fan convention that 2004 sci-fi hit Battlestar Galactica is going to comprise the bulk of his appearance.
That’s despite having 68 other acting credits listed on IMDb.
A graduate of London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, his first screen credit is 1998’s period drama Hornblower, starring alongside Ioan Gruffudd. Yet while major credits have included Law & Order: UK, Peak Practice, Marcella, Strike Back, none comes close to his popularity through the sci-fi series.
“It’s probably the only truly genre thing that I’ve done. But obviously, it’s pretty proud and sort of large in the recent panoply of sci fi on TV. Even though we made it 20 years ago, people are still discovering it. The people who love it, share it with those that they know, their kids, nephews, friends and partners.
“It changed my life in so many ways. I feel so blessed to have been part of it. The people that I worked with are still my dearest, best friends. We’re a family. So I’ll never get tired of talking about it. Especially when a lot of the people I’m talking to are new viewers.
“But actually people do reference all the other stuff that I’ve done. Even the diehard BSG people who think perhaps I’m bored of talking about BSG will then spin off and go ‘I really love Hornblower or Band of Brothers.’ So it starts a conversation and it’s broader than just Battlestar.
“But Battlestar is the is the main point of interaction without a doubt.”
Bamber is appearing this weekend at Metro Comic Con, part of a fan industry which encourages CosPlay and offers a chance to meet your ido, albeit at a price. Tickets for the Melbourne event range from $42.50 for adults to $995 VIP. Autograph and Photograph tokens vary in prices.
Fan conventions are big business for organisers but also for the talent, especially after a year where writer and actor strikes impacted everybody’s schedules.
“I haven’t done very many recently. In the last last six or seven years, I can probably count them on one hand,” Bamber reflects.
“Obviously we work in a medium where we don’t have an immediate relationship with the audience. We’re not in the theatre, we’re not doing live performance. So you don’t get to meet your audience face to face, other than at events like this. So that’s where the love is shared.
“But there is also a financial element. It’s a tricky one, because you don’t want to be trading on love. When someone who is genuinely impacted by something that you’ve done and excited about meeting you, to then charge them for an autograph always feels strange to me. I’ve struggled with that in the past, which is why I don’t do very many.
“But I also have to say the life of an actor is precarious and it’s harder than it’s ever been, in terms of making a living even for someone like me, who’s worked in the most mainstream of commercial formats, which is American television. It’s really precarious and the strike that we had last year is all about the viability of a career as an actor. Because when you’re not working, in the old days there was a residual structure, which is gone, it doesn’t exist. And it doesn’t exist because of all these new media that we’ve introduced. That means new contracts which inevitably get planed away and all the edges get, sort of, rubbed off every time because it’s an opportunity for the producers to to make a better deal for the production company.
“I sort of pity younger actors starting now because it is far harder to make a living than it used to be. And yet there are opportunities. So these conventions, they do two things. They give you a shot in the arm, remind you why you do what you do, you get to meet the audience. But also they do paper over the gaps financially. You can make a bit of a living between projects, whilst you’re waiting for the right thing to come along, which allows you then to be a bit more selective about what you do. So I’m very grateful for them.
“It’s not something that I do very many of anymore. But when I do one, it’s because I need to and it is a reminder of why I do what I do.”
Fans have also changed over the years, armed with camera phones and social media accounts, which have become playgrounds for expression, as well as elaborate, competitive costumery.
“A lot of the people are self-creating YouTubers. The young people are really into that world. People who are big on TikTok – that wasn’t there when I started doing these events,” Bamber continues.
“There is cosplay tied up in it. You can dress up as somebody who makes you feel bigger than you are. There is a sort of wish fulfillment element of sci fi, of stories that do escape the immediate realm of our world. People do that for a reason, I guess.”
Bamber agrees that Sci-Fi also attracts a high proprotion of LGBTQIA+ fans where storytelling in future universes allow a freedom not bound by earthly law.
“I think that’s definitely true and sci fi has always been ahead of the game with that. There have always been significant cultural moments that have happened in the Sci Fi world that were acceptable to a very conservative viewing public, that wouldn’t have been acceptable if it was in everyday clothes, for some reason. I guess that goes back to Shakespeare. He set his plays and farflung times and places in Europe that he’d never been to, in order to say something about Elizabethan England that couldn’t be said.”
Bamber’s upcoming projects include The Wives filmed in Malta “…it’s a kind of a crazy hybrid between Bad Sisters and Desperate Housewives” more episodes of Beyond Paradise and an upcoming feature with Sienna Guillory and Jon Voight.
“It’s called Strangers- if it maintains its title- which was quite fun, playing a hitman with a Bonnie and Clyde kind of vibe.”
Meanwhile this weekend the focus, or at least most of it, is on Battlestar Galactica and his role as Maj. Lee “Apollo” Adama.
“As long as people want to talk about it, I’m happy to talk about.”
metrocomiccon.com.au July 13, 14 Melbourne.
links to content on ABC
TV Tonight
