James made six films for Hardcash, almost all of which won major awards: Prime Suspects, Dying for the President, Children of the Secret State, Beneath the Veil, Unholy War (all Channel 4 Dispatches), and a short film on gang warfare in El Salvador for Channel 4 News.

Prime Suspects won the RTS International Current Affairs Award for 2000. Beneath the Veil won the same award two years later, as well as RTS 'Programme of the Year', and in addition the Bafta for Current Affairs and the News and Docs Emmy for Investigative Journalism (2001). For his outstanding photography, James won the RTS craft award for the same film.

Unholy War, which James directed as well as shot, won the 2001 News and Docs Emmy for Coverage of a Continuing News Story.