An Olivier award-nominated actor and cameraman left brain damaged after a hit-and-run incident said he dreams of appearing on screen again.
James Robinson, 35, who appeared on Hollyoaks and Crossroads and worked behind the camera on a freelance basis, was left with a serious brain injury and in a wheelchair after being hit at speed as he crossed a road in Clapham Junction.
Doctors told him he may never perform or work as a cameraman again, but he said: “I just won’t quit. Doctors told me I was lucky to be alive because of the speed I was hit at, but the fact I am alive means I won’t give up on my dreams.”
The father-of-one was knocked down by a man in a Ford Puma on November 15 last year at the junction of Northcote Road and Battersea Rise, close to his home.
His head smashed through the windscreen, and he was left with a fractured leg, shattered knee cap and dislocated shoulder and jaw.
Ten months on, he has been through intensive physical rehabilitation, which means he can walk again, and he is working with neurological specialists to help his mental recovery.
The actor, who is struggling with his short-term memory, said bleeding on his brain meant he had lost the ability to learn as many as 65 pages of script a day.
But he said: “I’m confident I will be able to get back to being an active father and working again.”
The driver who hit him, Earl Walfall, 34, of Battersea, was found guilty of careless driving and failing to stop at an accident scene. The case has been adjourned for sentencing until October 6. Mr Robinson is taking legal action against Walfall’s insurers through lawyers Irwin Mitchell to secure funds to help with his recovery.
Mr Robinson was nominated for the Olivier Award as a teenager as part of the cast of Richard III at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End.
