Sue Johnston
Birthday: Born in 1943-12-07 in Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK
Deathday: Alive
Susan Johnston, OBE (née Wright; born 7 December 1943) is an English actress known for playing Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family (1998–2000, 2006, 2008–2010, 2012), Grace Foley in the BBC drama Waking the Dead (2000–2011), Gloria Price in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2012–2014) and Miss Denker in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2014–2015). 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.
TV Credits
Jam and Jerusalem
Character: Sal Vine
Jam and Jerusalem is a British sit-com that aired on BBC One from 2006 to 2009. Written by Jennifer Saunders and Abigail Wilson, it starred Sue Johnston, Jennifer Saunders, Pauline McLynn, Dawn French, Maggie Steed, David Mitchell, and Sally Phillips. Earlier episodes also starred Joanna Lumley and Doreen Mantle. On BBC America the first series was aired as Clatterford. The show centres on a Women's Guild in a fictional small West Country town called Clatterford St. Mary. It first aired on 24 N...
The One Show
Character: Self - Guest
A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One....
Brookside
Character: Sheila Grant
The ground-breaking soap set in a housing estate on the outskirts of Liverpool....
Strictly Come Dancing
Character: Self
A dance competition where celebrities compete to be crowned the winner. Who is kicked out of the competition each week is decided by the judges scores and viewer votes. Are today's celebrities fleet of foot or do they have two left feet?...
Today
Character: Self
Today is a daily American morning television show that airs on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television and in the world, and is the fifth-longest running American television series. Originally a two-hour program on weekdays, it expanded to Sundays in 1987 and Saturdays in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to three hours in 2000, and to four hours in 2007. Today's dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until the la...
Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll
Character: Irma
Ellie and Arden Brooks seem to be destined to play out their lives behind a Manchester chip shop counter. Mercilessly put down by their strict grandmother, the swinging sixties have yet to impact upon their fun-starved, sexually repressed lives. But it's 1965 and times are changing - fast!...
A Touch of Frost
Character: Phyllis Bowman
Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch....
Crime Traveller
Character:
Detective Jeff Slade teams up with scientist Holly Turner, whose late father has created a time machine that can travel back several hours. Together they solve mysteries using the device. In the beginning of episodes (before they travel back in time), things happen because they DID travel back in time, and they are constantly working to avoid paradoxes. This approach to time-travel is unusual in sci-fi movies, and keeps the plot twisted....
The Paul O'Grady Show
Character:
The Paul O'Grady Show is a British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format was originally devised by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV before moving to Channel 4, where the show was produced by Olga TV. The programme is a teatime chat show consisting of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, and occasionally viewer competitions....
Inspector Morse
Character: Mrs. Bailey
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses....
Who Do You Think You Are?
Character: Self
A British genealogy documentary series in which celebrities trace their ancestry, discovering secrets and surprises from their past....
The Royle Family
Character: Barbara Royle
British comedy series focusing on the lives of a working-class family in Manchester who love the TV....
Waking the Dead
Character: Dr. Grace Foley
A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases....
Little Dorrit
Character:
Amy Dorrit spends her days earning money for the family and looking after her proud father who is a long term inmate of Marshalsea debtors' prison in London. Amy and her family's world is transformed when her employer's son, Arthur Clennam, returns from overseas to solve his family's mysterious legacy and discovers that their lives are interlinked....
The Street
Character:
Anthology drama following the lives and passions of neighbors on a northern English street....
Medics
Character:
Medics was a British medical drama series first broadcast on ITV on 14 November 1990. The show ran for five series with a total of 40 episodes. The show came to end on 24 November 1995. It follows the everyday lives and loves, trials and tribulations of the doctors, nurses, patients and administrative staff of a large teaching hospital in the north-west of England near the city of Manchester....
Cutting It
Character: Caroline Ferraday
Allie Henshall and Gavin Ferraday are partners in love and business. They own Henshall Ferraday hair salon, where Allie's sisters Darcey and Sydney work alongside them. As Allie and Gavin consider taking over a vacant property across the road, they are rocked by the news that a rival hairdresser has bought it. To make matters worse, Allie discovers that the new salon, Blade Runner, is run by her ex, Finn, and his wife, Mia Bevan. Finn fathered the child Allie claimed to have aborted. He left her...
Duck Patrol
Character: Val Rutland
Duck Patrol is a British television comedy series that originally aired in 1998. Produced by LWT for the ITV network, it centered around a river police station by the River Thames. The script for the pilot episode 'Of Ducks and Men' was re-filmed with some changes to supporting cast and main cast uniforms, and retitled as 'Flying Colours' which then became the first episode of the following series....
A Passionate Woman
Character: Betty (1980s)
1950s period drama based on the true story of a housewife and mother whose life is turned upside down by a handsome Polish man at her local dance hall....
Timeshift
Character: Self - Narrator
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past....
Sugartown
Character:
Comedy drama revolving around a small seaside hamlet in the north of England, as a former resident returns with big plans for the community's re-development....
Performance
Character: Mistress Overdone
An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances....
Would I Lie to You?
Character: Self
A comedic panel show featuring team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell plus two guests per side, hosted by Rob Brydon (formerly Angus Deayton). Each person must reveal embarrassing facts and outrageous lies during a series of different rounds including "Home Truths", "This Is My..." and "Quickfire Lies". It is up to the opposing team to tell tall tales from fantastic facts....
Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule
Character: Self
Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule is a panel show that sees Harry Hill presiding over two teams tasked with saving planet earth from alien invasion! Each team must find clips, people, basically anything that is fun or funny enough for Harry to place in a capsule which, in the event that we're invaded by aliens, we can present to them to demonstrate earthlings are good fun and therefore worthy of saving. Over a series of rounds, the two teams of two present Harry with fun stuff which Harry must adju...
Rovers
Character: Doreen
Established in 1884, Redbridge Rovers F.C. are one of the oldest club's in England - and one of the worst. A sitcom that introduces us to the characters who gather within the social club of a non-league football club....
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Character: Helga Allowby
Instead of spending her golden years lying down, the indomitable Hetty Wainthropp found her calling late in life. Combining common sense, her husband, and her pocketbook, this senior sleuth takes on all the cases the police deem too minor....
Downton Abbey
Character: Miss Denker
A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. ...
Gates
Character: Miss Hunter
Gates is a British comedy television series shown on the Sky Living channel. The first series of 5 episodes ran from 14 August to 11 September 2012. The show was originally due to be broadcast on Sky One but was delayed in order to launch on Sky Living as part of the channel's push into more female skewed comedy. The Show was filmed in Enfield, North London in August 2011 therefore making the show heavily delayed from its initial broadcast....
Generation Z
Character: Cecily
Flesh-eating baby-boomers get a taste for teenagers in Ben Wheatley's darkly comic, outlandishly gory, zombie-horror satire....
Being Eileen
Character: Eileen Lewis
Being Eileen is a BBC "heart-warming" comedy-drama which began as a new six-part series on 4 February, and ended on 11 March 2013. Originally titled Lapland, it was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 24 December 2011. Although initially a single 75-minute episode which was set in Lapland, Finland, it was announced to having a series renamed Being Eileen, consisting of six 30 minute episodes, due to the success of the single episode. The series, written by Michael Wynne, feature...
Age Before Beauty
Character: Ivy-Rae Regan
Bel, after spending the past 18 years as a homemaker, steps in to save the family business in a failing family run beauty salon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Family feuds and bitter rivalries, professional and personal, escalate in the salon amongst the Botox, fillers and facelifts....
Kensington Palace: Behind Closed Doors
Character: Narrator
An intimate look at the palace that has been a private home to the royal family for more than 300 years....
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
Character: Self - Participant
Antiques experts accompany celebrities on a road trip around the UK searching for treasures and competing to make the most money at auction...
My Uncle Silas
Character: Mrs. Betts
In 1901, a middle-class schoolboy whose parents are working abroad spends his summer in Bedfordshire with his great-uncle Silas. Though 60 years old, Silas relishes life—he’s a womanizer, drinker, and a poacher. At the prompting of his long-suffering housekeeper, Mrs. Betts, he takes on the occasional odd job....
Ricky, Sue & a Trip or Two
Character: Herself
Actors Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston are celebrating four decades on screen together in an all-new More4 series visiting landmark places from their lives and the special destinations the pair have always wanted to see together....
The Cockfields
Character: Sue
Simon is taking girlfriend Donna back home to the Isle of Wight for the very first time. Can he survive a long birthday weekend with his biological and extended family without losing his cool, or his girlfriend?...
Truelove
Character: Marion
A group of old friends reunited at a funeral make a drunken pact. Rather than let each other suffer a slow and painful decline they would engineer a dignified death. But what starts out as a fanciful idea soon morphs into shocking reality....
Loose Women
Character: Self
A panel of four women discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs to celebrity gossip....
The Responder
Character: Madge
Under pressure, fraying at the edges. In relentless night-time Liverpool, copper Chris is paired with a rookie. Will they save or destroy each other?...
Time
Character: June Cobden
Guilt, violence and impossible choices – what does it take to survive? Tense, gritty and heartbreaking – Jimmy McGovern's award-winning prison drama, with an all-star cast....
Parkinson
Character: Self
Michael Parkinson returns for a second run of his iconic talk show....
DNA Journey
Character: Self
Celebrities are given a unique insight into their lives using innovative DNA science and technology to trace their ancestors....
Taskmaster
Character: Self
Greg Davies is the Taskmaster, and with the help of his ever-loyal assistant Alex Horne, they will set out to test the wiles, wit, wisdom and skills of five hyper-competitive comedians. Who will be crowned the Taskmaster champion in this brand new game show?...
Movie Credits
Imagine Me & You
Character: Ella
During her wedding ceremony, Rachel notices Luce in the audience and feels instantly drawn to her. The two women become close friends, and when Rachel learns that Luce is a lesbian, she realizes that despite her happy marriage to Heck, she is falling for Luce. As she questions her sexual orientation, Rachel must decide between her stable relationship with Heck and her exhilarating new romance with Luce....
Help
Character: Gloria
Sarah seems to have found her calling working in a Liverpool care home where she has a special talent for connecting with the residents. Then, in March 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic hits....
Preaching to the Perverted
Character: Esmeralda
A computer wizard infiltrates a London sex club to get evidence for a shutdown, but falls for the proprietress....
Brassed Off
Character: Vera
A Yorkshire coal mine is threatened with closure and the only hope is for the men to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competition. They believe they have no hope until Gloria appears carrying her Flugelhorn. At first mocked for being a woman, she soon becomes the only chance for the band to win....
Face
Character: Alice
Ray is an aging ex-socialist who has become a bankrobber after seeing the demise of socialism in 1980s Britain. Teaming up with a gang of other has-beenish crims, he commits one bank job too many. The gang dissolves in a murderous flurry of recriminations....
Robbo: The Bryan Robson Story
Character: Self
Robbo is a remarkable feature film that tells the story of one of England and Manchester United’s greatest ever midfielders. From a working class kid in the North East of England to a national treasure honoured by the Queen, this new film gives a previously unseen insight into the man they call ‘Captain Marvel’....
The Turn of the Screw
Character: Sarah Grose
A young governess, Ann, is sent to a country house to take care of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Soon after her arrival, Miles is expelled from boarding school. Although charmed by her young charge, she secretly fears there are ominous reasons behind his expulsion. With Miles back at home, the governess starts noticing ethereal figures roaming the estate's grounds. Desperate to learn more about these sinister sightings she discovers that the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of her ...
Downton Abbey: A New Era
Character: Gladys Denker
The Crawley family goes on a grand journey to the south of France to uncover the mystery of the dowager countess's newly inherited villa. Meanwhile, a Hollywood director seeks to film his latest production at Downton....
Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy
Character: Self
The unique life and talent of Caroline Aherne is celebrated in a new Arena film, featuring unseen photographs and contributions from a cast of her lifelong friends, including Steve Coogan, John Thomson, Craig Cash and producer Andy Harries....
The Big Snow of '47
Character: Self - Narrator (voice)
Houses buried under snow. Rivers frozen solid. World War II bombers dropping bread to isolated villages. How did Brits survive the snowiest winter ever recorded - and could it happen again? A host of familiar faces including John Craven, Amanda Barrie, Timothy West and Neil Kinnock share their childhood memories of the icy winter of '47 and explain why it remains unparalleled to this day....
Tourettes: I Swear I Can't Help It
Character: Narrator (voice)
A documentary featuring several individuals with Tourettes Syndrome and how they are able to cope with the condition....
500 Miles North
Character: Stein
To claim a huge inheritance, two estranged brothers must travel to the wilds of Scotland in an old camper van to spread their father’s ashes. James and John haven’t spoken in ten years; John is now a thrusting executive with a wandering eye, James, a lonely, socially maladjusted, alcoholic. It’s only the sudden death of the father who rejected them as children, that draws them back together. Their father’s letters and the people they meet, start to heal old wounds, helping them come to terms wit...
Lapland
Character: Eileen Lewis
Recently widowed Eileen Lewis,son Pete and his wife Mandy and daughter Paula with her spouse Ray,plus the grandchildren, leave Birkenhead to spend Christmas in Lapland....
Golden Years
Character: Nancy
Fate, the pensions crisis and a steadfast refusal to accept the injustice of old age have contrived to force law abiding, retired couple, Arthur and Martha Goode into a life of crime....
Shannon Matthews: What Happened Next
Character: Self - Narrator
The disappearance of Shannon Matthews was a story that gripped and then appalled Britain. Nine years on, this documentary examines her kidnapping and why people close to the case believe the police should reopen their investigation. Featuring the insight of some of those closest to the case, the programme charts the impact on an innocent girl caught in the lies and greed of those who were supposed to be caring for her...
Downton Abbey 3
Character: Gladys Denker
Plot details under wraps....
Measure for Measure
Character: Mistress Overdone
Modern dress adaptation of Shakespeare's play....
The Cockfields Christmas Special
Character:
It's 27th December and Simon and Esther pay a flying visit to Ray and Sue. They can only stay for the day as Simon is so busy with work. Sue wishes they'd stay longer....
New Year's Day
Character: Mrs. Fisher
Two 17-year-old boys mark the new year by doing twelve dangerous but exciting tasks set for them by their friends....
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
Character: Barbara Royle (archive footage) (uncredited)
Documentary celebrating the British sitcom and taking a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. We enjoy a trip through the comedy archive in the company of the people who made some of the very best British sitcoms. From The Likely Lads to I'm Alan Partridge, we find out the inspiration behind some of the most-loved characters and how they reflect the times they were living in....
Walk Like a Panther
Character: Gladys
A group of 1980s wrestlers are forced to don the lycra once last time when their beloved local pub is threatened with closure....
Death on the Tyne
Character: Colleen
Draper's Tours are taking Mildred and her care home friends on an overnight ferry trip from North Shields to Amsterdam, where things will quickly turn turbulent as the passengers and crew begin to get bumped off one-by-one. Throughout it all, Terry is still desperate to pop the question to Gemma, even if the circumstances are less than romantic....
Bitter Harvest
Character: Miriam Johnson
A young black British woman goes to the Dominican Republic as an aid worker. When she goes missing, her parents make an emotional journey to piece together her story....
Diana and the Paparazzi
Character: Narrator (voice)
Marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris in August 1997, this documentary reveals how Diana learned to manipulate and control the photographers who pursued her ever since she started seeing the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, in the early '80s. Contributions from tabloid editors, royal photographers, Diana's friends, and former Press Attaché and her royal bodyguard....
Barbara's Old Ring
Character: Barbara Royle
Christmas is coming but Barbara is not happy. Not only has she lost her wedding ring but Jim has won on a scratch card she found down the back of the sofa whilst looking for the ring and has kept quiet about his hundred pounds winnings. Nor is he especially sympathetic about Dave's impotency problem, though the entire Royle family unite to help recently widowed Joe from next door enjoy a restaurant-style evening in their house with the equally scatty Philomena, whom he has met through a want ad....
The New Sofa
Character: Barbara Royle
Festive special edition of the hit family sitcom. Inspired by Nigella Lawson, Denise decides to cook Christmas dinner for the family. Jim provides the yuletide log and, much to his dismay, Dave's mum and dad are invited to join the festivities....
The Cure
Character: Bella Bailey
The story of an ordinary woman who exposed one of the worst hospital care scandals in the history of the NHS. Based on the inspiring real-life story of Julie Bailey....
World Cup 1966: Alfie's Boys
Character: Self
A retelling of England's only World Cup victory, fifty years later, placing special emphasis on the work of manager Sir Alf Ramsey....
The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One
Character: Self
The Nation’s Favourite Beatles Number One tells the stories behind some of the greatest Beatles songs ever. With interviews from Beatles’ insiders including musicians, friends, fellow performers and celebrity fans, we’ll hear about the stories behind the Fab Four’s best-loved hits...
The Queen of Sheba
Character: Barbara Royle
Tension mounts in the Royle household as the family contemplates the prospect of becoming fully laminated throughout. Dr Mahmoud prescribes new medication for Nana in the form of yellow tablets; coincidentally they turn out to be the same colour as the tablets that Joe was prescribed for the swelling when he got his bits stuck in his zip. Meanwhile, a mysterious ginger visitor reminds Nana of her favourite musical....
The Things You Do for Love: Against the Odds
Character: Pat Phoenix
Sue Johnston stars in this intimate drama exploring the life of Coronation Street star Pat Phoenix. Follow her affair with fellow actor Tony Booth in the 50s that ended in heartbreak, and what eventually happened to the pair years later....
Joe's Crackers
Character: Barbara
It is Christmas Day in the Royle household and Barbara is up to her eyes in it, as Jim is out of action following an unfortunate incident in the precinct while Dave and Denise are feeling the effects of the recession the most, and worry that Anthony's lavish gifts will eclipse their gift of a fridge magnet....
The Golden Egg Cup
Character: Barbara Royle
Jim and Barbara have received the gift of money from their children - but what to do with it? Barbara wants to finally go abroad, while Jim favours buying an HD satellite box....
The Royle Family: Behind the Sofa
Character: Self
Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash discuss the creation of The Royle Family, with a look behind the scenes at the production of the show and interviews with the cast....
The Virgin Mary
Character: Self - Presenter
In BBC ONE's The Virgin Mary, dramatic reconstructions and stunning visual effects are combined with the latest findings from historians and New Testament scholars to recreate the story of this remarkable woman. Presented by actress Sue Johnston, The Virgin Mary explores the history behind the miraculous Bible story to reveal the living, breathing mother of Christianity. The picture that emerges is very different from that of popular belief – the serene young woman, dressed in blue silken robe...
Liverpool FC: One Night in May
Character:
Sky One UK documentary showing events leading up to, during and after Liverpool Football Club's historic fifth European Cup victory, where the team fought back from 3-0 at half time, to win the game on penalties....