# Ricky Tomlinson
**Ricky Tomlinson** (born Eric Tomlinson, 26 September 1939, in Bispham, Blackpool, Lancashire) is an English actor, comedian, and musician best known for playing Bobby Grant in the soap opera *Brookside*, DCI Charlie Wise in *[Cracker](https://www.edgepedia.org/cracker-british-tv-series)*, and Jim Royle in the sitcom *The Royle Family*, the last giving him the catchphrase "My arse!"[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866870/bio/) • [2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson) • [3](https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/ricky-tomlinson-from-solitary-confinement-to-national-treasure-1832811) Before acting he was a plasterer and trade unionist who was jailed in the [Shrewsbury](https://www.edgepedia.org/shrewsbury) builders' strike case; his conviction was overturned in 2021.[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html) • [2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Eric Tomlinson, 26 September 1939, Bispham, Blackpool, Lancashire, England[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866870/bio/) |
| Pre-acting career | Plasterer and trade unionist; one of the "Shrewsbury Two", jailed for "conspiracy to intimidate" during the 1972–73 builders' strike[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html) |
| Conviction overturned | The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the Shrewsbury convictions to the Court of Appeal in May 2020; the convictions were overturned in March 2021[2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson) |
| Signature TV roles | Bobby Grant in *Brookside* (1982–1988, 77 episodes), DCI Charlie Wise in *Cracker*, Jim Royle in *The Royle Family* (1998–2012)[3](https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/ricky-tomlinson-from-solitary-confinement-to-national-treasure-1832811) • [2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson) |
| Notable films | Ken Loach's *Riff-Raff* (1991) and *Raining Stones* (1993), *Hillsborough*, *Mike Bassett: England Manager* (2001)[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ricky_tomlinson) |
| Autobiography | *Ricky* (2003), negotiated for an £800,000 advance and reported to have sold a third of a million copies[6](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/08/media.pressandpublishing) • [3](https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/ricky-tomlinson-from-solitary-confinement-to-national-treasure-1832811) |
| Awards | British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor (1999); Stockholm Film Festival Best Actor for *Nasty Neighbours* (1999); National Television Award, Most Popular Comedy Performer (2001)[7](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/ricky-tomlinson/bio/3000468411/) |
## Early life and the building trade
Tomlinson grew up in Liverpool, where his family moved after his birth in [Blackpool](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackpool); he has lived in the city nearly all his life.[2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson) His father was a baker who worked nights, and money was short; after passing the 13-plus exam he wanted to study shorthand and typing at a commercial college but felt the choice was closed to him by his background, so he trained instead as a plasterer.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html) He also played the banjo in bands in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including The Guitanjos and Hobo Rick & The City Slickers, and turned down a trial for Scunthorpe United.[9](https://www.blackpooltimeline.co.uk/ricky-tomlinson-becomes-a-royle/) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/08/media.pressandpublishing)
His politics moved from a brief membership of the National Front in 1968, which he later called a mistake and a search for a scapegoat, to committed trade union activism.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/oct/05/features.review17) In 1972 he joined the flying pickets in the first national builders' strike, which sought a minimum wage of £30 a week and the abolition of the unregulated casual "Lump" labor scheme.[2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson) • [11](https://www.thecnj.com/review/2008/102308/feature102308_03.html)
**The Shrewsbury case.** Tomlinson was one of 24 building workers arrested in [North Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-wales) and charged with offenses including conspiracy; with Des Warren he became one of the "Shrewsbury Two". He was sentenced in 1973 for "conspiracy to intimidate" after refusing to testify against fellow strikers.[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html) • [12](https://www.expressandstar.com/whats-on/ricky-tomlinsons-career-in-pics-6498058) Sources differ on the sentence: Rotten Tomatoes states he was sentenced to six years and served two, while the *Independent* and *Guardian* describe a two-year sentence.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ricky_tomlinson) • [4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html) • [13](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/dec/27/ricky-tomlinson-interview-im-a-whingeing-scouser) All agree he served two years.
In prison, much of it in solitary confinement across a series of establishments, he refused prison uniform, went on hunger strike for 22 days, and read Robert Tressell's *[The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-ragged-trousered-philanthropists)*, given to him by a sympathetic prison governor; he also discovered poetry, Radio 4, and classical music.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/08/media.pressandpublishing) • [4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html) On release in 1975 he found himself blacklisted by the building trade.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html)
## Route into acting
Unable to work as a builder, Tomlinson turned to stand-up comedy and banjo busking under the name Hobo Rick, earned his Equity card, and answered an advertisement placed by the film director [Roland Joffé](https://www.edgepedia.org/roland-joffe) for an actor with trade-union experience.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html) He was cast in Joffé's *Play for Today* drama *United Kingdom*, broadcast in December 1981, playing the lead to rave reviews.[3](https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/ricky-tomlinson-from-solitary-confinement-to-national-treasure-1832811) Watching that broadcast, the *Brookside* writer Andy Lynch recommended him for the role of Bobby Grant, a part he played from the soap's inception in 1982 until 1988, appearing in 77 episodes.[3](https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/ricky-tomlinson-from-solitary-confinement-to-national-treasure-1832811) • [9](https://www.blackpooltimeline.co.uk/ricky-tomlinson-becomes-a-royle/)
He left *Brookside* after objecting to plans to make Bobby corrupt, saying he would have been "selling out my class".[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html) [Ken Loach](https://www.edgepedia.org/ken-loach) then cast him as a builder in *Riff-Raff* (1991), reviving his career, and he followed with the BBC oil-rig drama *Roughnecks* and the role of Chief Superintendent Charlie Wise investigating his predecessor's murder in [Jimmy McGovern](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmy-mcgovern)'s *Cracker*.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html)
## The Royle Family and later work
The writer-performer [Caroline Aherne](https://www.edgepedia.org/caroline-aherne) had long wanted to write a comedy about a family who did nothing but watch television, and decided Tomlinson would be perfect as her father; she told him so when she bumped into him at an awards dinner in Manchester.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html) *The Royle Family*, written by Aherne with [Craig Cash](https://www.edgepedia.org/craig-cash), ran from 1998 to 2012 and made Jim Royle, the armchair-bound, wise-cracking paterfamilias, Tomlinson's defining role.[2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson) He was reunited with [Sue Johnston](https://www.edgepedia.org/sue-johnston), who had played his wife Sheila in *Brookside* and played Barbara Royle; the pairing spanned 40 years of on-screen marriage and was later celebrated in the More4 travel series *Ricky, Sue & a Trip or Two*.[14](https://rts.org.uk/sites/default/files/television_april24.pdf) A 2012 Christmas special drew 7.7 million viewers on Christmas night, beating *Doctor Who*, *Downton Abbey*, and *Call the Midwife*.[4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html)
His film work includes Ken Loach's *Riff-Raff* and *Raining Stones*, Jimmy McGovern's *Hillsborough*, in which he played John Glover, the father of one of the disaster's victims, the title role in the mockumentary *Mike Bassett: England Manager* (2001), and Leopold Durant in *[The 51st State](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-51st-state)*.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html) • [15](https://www.nmplive.co.uk/ricky-tomlinson) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ricky_tomlinson) Later television included *Nice Guy Eddie*, *Clocking Off*, *Great Night Out* (2013), and [BBC Three](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-three)'s *In the Flesh*.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ricky_tomlinson) • [4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html)
## Justice campaign, writing, and recognition
Tomlinson always maintained that the Shrewsbury trial was politically motivated, and campaigned for decades with the surviving Shrewsbury 24 defendants.[12](https://www.expressandstar.com/whats-on/ricky-tomlinsons-career-in-pics-6498058) • [16](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/ricky-tomlinson) In May 2020 the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the convictions to the Court of Appeal, which overturned them in March 2021, 47 years after the sentencing.[2](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson) • [17](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/03/30/ricky-tomlinson-on-irish-annie-prison-and-life-in-his-80s-ive-had-me-little-rough-patches-but-listen-dont-we-all/)
His autobiography *Ricky* appeared in 2003 after his partner, the social worker Rita Cumiskey, whom he married in 2003, negotiated an £800,000 advance through a four-publisher bidding contest; the book sold a third of a million copies.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/08/media.pressandpublishing) • [3](https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/ricky-tomlinson-from-solitary-confinement-to-national-treasure-1832811) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866870/bio/) He remains a banjo player and released the album *Music My Arse* in 2001, and in 2008 donated £1 million to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.[7](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/ricky-tomlinson/bio/3000468411/) • [4](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html) He has three grown-up children from his first marriage, to Marlene Clifton.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866870/bio/) • [8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html)
## References
1. [Ricky Tomlinson biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866870/bio/)
2. [Ricky Tomlinson artist page, SD Entertainment](https://sdentertainment.co.uk/artists/ricky-tomlinson)
3. [Ricky Tomlinson: From solitary confinement to national treasure, Yorkshire Post](https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/ricky-tomlinson-from-solitary-confinement-to-national-treasure-1832811)
4. [Ricky Tomlinson's Great Night Out, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-tomlinson-s-great-night-out-i-sit-in-front-of-the-tv-all-the-time-shouting-8443219.html)
5. [Ricky Tomlinson Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ricky_tomlinson)
6. [Ricky Tomlinson gets £800,000 for life story, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/08/media.pressandpublishing)
7. [Ricky Tomlinson Biography, Celebrity Facts and Awards, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/ricky-tomlinson/bio/3000468411/)
8. [A working-class hero, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-workingclass-hero-637628.html)
9. [Ricky Tomlinson Becomes a Royle, Blackpool Timeline](https://www.blackpooltimeline.co.uk/ricky-tomlinson-becomes-a-royle/)
10. [His Royle shyness, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/oct/05/features.review17)
11. [Review Feature: Ricky Tomlinson, The Morning Star / CNJ](https://www.thecnj.com/review/2008/102308/feature102308_03.html)
12. [Ricky Tomlinson's career in pics, Express & Star](https://www.expressandstar.com/whats-on/ricky-tomlinsons-career-in-pics-6498058)
13. [Ricky Tomlinson: 'I'm a whingeing scouser', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/dec/27/ricky-tomlinson-interview-im-a-whingeing-scouser)
14. [Ricky, Sue & a Trip or Two, RTS Television magazine](https://rts.org.uk/sites/default/files/television_april24.pdf)
15. [Book Ricky Tomlinson, NMP Live](https://www.nmplive.co.uk/ricky-tomlinson)
16. [Ricky Tomlinson, The Guardian topic page](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/ricky-tomlinson)
17. [Ricky Tomlinson interview, The Irish Times](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/03/30/ricky-tomlinson-on-irish-annie-prison-and-life-in-his-80s-ive-had-me-little-rough-patches-but-listen-dont-we-all/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Soap operas and continuing serials › British and Australasian soaps and characters › British soap actors and production people*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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