Sue Johnston


Susan Johnston, OBE is an English actress known for playing Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family, Grace Foley in the BBC drama Waking the Dead, Gloria Price in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and Miss Denker in the ITV drama Downton Abbey. She won the 2000 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress and was nominated for the 2000 BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance for The Royle Family.

Early life

Johnston was born in Warrington, Cheshire, and grew up in Prescot, Merseyside. She is the daughter of Fred and Margaret Jane Wright. She was educated at Whiston Infants School, Eccleston Park Junior School and Prescot and Huyton Grammar School for Girls which she left aged 17 after one year of her A-level course, having decided to become an actress.
After working as a Higher Grade tax inspector, when her boyfriend was one of the pop group The Swinging Blue Jeans, she worked for Brian Epstein. From the age of 21, Johnston attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Acting career

Johnston made her television debut, aged 38, with a minor recurring role on Coronation Street in the summer of 1982. She played the role of Mrs. Chadwick, the wife of a bookmaker.
From 1982 to 1990, she appeared as Sheila Grant in the soap opera Brookside. She appeared in the show's first ever episode on 2 November 1982 – aired on the day that Channel 4 went on air – and her last episode was aired in September 1990, when the character was written out of the series following her divorce from Bobby Grant and remarriage to Billy Corkhill.
Since then she has appeared in many drama series and films, including Inspector Morse, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Brassed Off and My Uncle Silas. In 1992, Johnston appeared in the three-part award-winning drama Goodbye Cruel World, in which she portrayed a woman coming to terms with a muscle-wasting illness.
Johnston may be best known as Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy series The Royle Family, appearing with her former on-screen husband in Brookside, Ricky Tomlinson, from the show's inception in September 1998 until it ended at Christmas 2000. She also appeared in a one-off special which aired in October 2006. From 2000 to 2011, she starred in the television series Waking the Dead, in which she played the role of psychological profiler Grace Foley, alongside Trevor Eve.
In 2004, she appeared in one episode of the series, Who Do You Think You Are?, in which she traced her family tree.
She starred in Jennifer Saunders's comedy drama Jam & Jerusalem on BBC One, alongside Joanna Lumley, Maggie Steed and David Mitchell. The first series aired in 2006, the second series began on New Year's Day 2008 and the third in August 2009. Also in 2008, she played Affery Flintwinch in the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit. In May 2008 it was confirmed Johnston would return as Barbara Royle for another episode of The Royle Family, which aired on Christmas Day 2008 on BBC One. The show returned for further Christmas specials in 2009, 2010 and 2012. She shared a role with Billie Piper in the television adaptation of A Passionate Woman which aired on BBC One on 11 April 2010.
On 2 April 2012, Coronation Street series producer Phil Collinson announced Johnston had joined the soap opera as Gloria, the mother of Stella Price. She made her first screen appearance on 5 September 2012. It was announced in June 2013 that Johnston would leave the soap opera in 2014 to pursue other acting roles. She departed on 21 February 2014.
In December 2011, she played Eileen Lewis in the BBC one-off drama Lapland, a role which she reprised in 2013 for a series, Being Eileen.
In May 2014 it was announced that Johnston would guest star in the fifth series of the period drama Downton Abbey. She played Denker, a lady's maid to the Dowager Countess, played by Dame Maggie Smith.
In 2018 Johnston played Ivy-Rae in the BBC drama series, Age Before Beauty and in August 2019, she played Joan in the second series of Hold the Sunset.

Personal life

Johnston has campaigned on behalf of the Labour Party and has been a long-time gay rights campaigner. She is a supporter of Liverpool F.C. and St Helens R.F.C..
In 1967, she married her first husband Neil Johnston and became pregnant at the age of 24. She suffered a miscarriage shortly after and the couple later divorced but she kept his surname as her professional name. She has one son, Joel, from her second marriage to David Pammenter. She has two grandchildren.
Despite playing the role of heavy smoker Barbara Royle in The Royle Family, Johnston gave up smoking in 1978, but had to smoke low-tar cigarettes while playing the role.This was because the cast and crew including herself could not stand the smell of herbal cigarettes. In fact, in most episodes of The Royle Family Johnston's character Barbara when lighting a cigarette did not actually inhale. She also very seldom put the cigarette to her lips. In the final two Christmas specials Barbara was not seen smoking at all. Sue Johnston is strongly opposed to smoking.
Johnston was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Birthday Honours. In November 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by University of Chester at Chester Cathedral.
In 1989 Johnston, assisted by Lesley Thomson, published her first book, a memoir titled Hold on to the Messy Times. In 2011, she published another memoir titled Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother.
In 1970, Johnston was sexually attacked at the age of 27 which inspired her storyline in Brookside as Sheila Grant, where she was raped.
In her autobiography, Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother, she states that she was originally going to be called Margaret Jane Wright, after her mother and grandmother, but her father thought that it would be best to call her Susan.

Filmography

Film
TitleYearRoleDirected by
Brassed Off
1996
Vera
Mark Herman
Preaching to the Perverted
1997
Esmeralda
Stuart Urban
Face
1997
Alice
Antonia Bird
New Year's Day
2001
Mrs. Fisher
Suri Krishnamma
Imagine Me & You
2005
Ella
Ol Parker
500 Miles North
2011
Stein
Luke Massey
Golden Years
2016
Nancy
John Miller
Walk Like a Panther
2018
Gladys
Dan Cadan

Television
TitleYearRoleNotes
Coronation Street1982Mrs. Chadwick3 episodes
Brookside1982–1990Sheila GrantSeries regular
Goodbye Cruel World1992Barbara GradeMiniseries – 3 episodes
Medics1992–1995Ruth Parry29 episodes
In Suspicious Circumstances1992Edith RosseEpisode 2.2 – "Maundy Money"
Inspector Morse1992Mrs. BaileyEpisode 6.4 – "Absolute Conviction
Screenplay1992Miriam JohnsonEpisode 7.4 – "Bitter Harvest"
A Touch of Frost1992Phyllis BowmanEpisode 1.3 – "Conclusions"
Full Stretch1993Grace Robbins6 episodes
Luv1993Terese Craven18 episodes
Performance1994Mistress OverdoneEpisode 4.2 – "Measure for Measure"
Into the Fire1996LynMiniseries – 3 episodes
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates1996Helga AllowbyEpisode 2.2 – "Poison Pen"
Crime Traveller1997Kate Grisham8 episodes
Verdict1998Hazel De Vere Q.C.Episode 1.3 – "The Doctor's Opinion"
Duck Patrol1998Val Rutland6 episodes
The Jump1998Maeve Brunos4 episodes
The Royle Family1998–2000
2006–2012		Barbara RoyleAll 25 episodes
Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll1999Irma BrookesMiniseries
Waking the Dead2000–2011Dr. Grace Foley9 seasons – 92 episodes
My Uncle Silas2001–2003Mrs. Betts9 episodes
Cutting It2004Caroline FerradayEpisode 3.4
The Street2006Brenda McDermottEpisode 1.2 – "Stan"
Little Dorrit2008Affery FlintwinchMiniseries – 7 episodes
Jam & Jerusalem2006–2009Sal Vine3 seasons – 16 episodes
A Passionate Woman2010Betty2 episodes
Sugartown2011Margery3 episodes
Gates2012Miss Hunter5 episodes
Coronation Street2012–2014Gloria PriceSeries regular, 169 episodes
Being Eileen2013Eileen Lewis7 episodes
Downton Abbey2014–2015Miss Denker8 episodes
Rovers2016Doreen
Kiri2018Celia GraysonGuest role – 1 episode
The Good Karma Hospital2018VirginiaSeries 2
Age Before Beauty2018Ivy-Rae
Hold the Sunset2019Joan
The Cure2019Isabella Bailey
The Cockfields2019Sue3 episodes

Television film
TitleYearRoleNotes
The Things You Do for Love: Against the Odds1998Pat Phoenix
Score2001Maggie
Happy Together2002Val
The Turn of the Screw2009Sarah GroseBroadcast on BBC One
Lapland2011Eileen Lewis

Additional credits