Oliver James was educated at Eton College followed by a degree in Social Anthropology at Cambridge University (1973-6) followed by a psychology degree and Child Clinical Psychology training at Nottingham University (1977-9). He worked as a Research Fellow at Brunel University (1979-82) before joining the staff of the Cassel Hospital in Richmond as a clinical psychologist (1982-7). He published several academic papers about the organization of therapeutic communities.

In 1982 he made his first TV series, for Granada for the ITV network, about childcare (Under Fives). He did two further educational series, one for Channel 4 (Sex With Paula, 1987), one for the ITV network (Men On Violence, 1988, for LWT). He originated, and was Associate Producer of, the ITV First Tuesday documentary about The Man Who Shot John Lennon.

He was the interviewer and producer of the 44 interviews in Room 113 for the two series of the BAFTA-award winning Network 7 youth programme on Channel 4. Audience research revealed Room 113 was the most popular slot in the programme and the interviews were described by Chris Dunckley in the Financial Times as 'The most frank since John Freeman's Face-to-Face in the Fifties`.

In 1990 he produced a documentary for Channel 4 about the Mail on Sunday and in 1992 he contributed three films, two as Producer and one as Producer-Presenter, to the BBC2 Crime and Punishment season. Rape, for 40 Minutes, recorded the meeting of a rapist and a rape victim. Prisoner XYY/334422, also for 40 Minutes, plumbed the psychology of an imprisoned psychopath. Wot U looking at?, for the science strand Horizon, posited an an unproven explanation for why the poor are more violent than the rich and why violence has been rocketing since 1987 in the UK.

In 1995 he produced, directed and presented a forty minute Late Show documentary for BBC2, Prozac Diary, in which artists took the drug to see how it affected their work. In 1997, he produced and presented The Chair, a 7-part interview series for BBC2, including one in which Peter Mandelson MP famously shed a tear.

In 1998 he was the presenter of a 2-part series about his book, New Britain on the Couch, for channel 4, followed in 2000 by presenting a one-off documentary about infidelity, Affairs of the Heart. In each of 2004, 2005 and 2006 he has presented a series of programmes about childcare for This Morning, titled Through The Eyes of the Child.

He has published six books relying heavily on anecdotal evidence(see below).

He currently writes a column every Saturday in the Family section of The Guardian.He has written columns for The Sun, the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Express, The Independent and most recently, The Observer magazine. He has also written for several magazines, including Options, Family Circle, Adbusters and Business Life (British Airways). He is a regular contributor to Psychologies Magazine. He also contributes regularly to the Comment page of The Guardian, as well as occasional articles for the other broadsheets, daily and Sunday. He has contributed articles to scientific journals including the Journal of Epidemiology, Community Health and The Psychologist.