# Sue Johnston
**Sue Johnston** (born Susan Wright, 1943) is an English actress best known for playing Sheila Grant in the [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4) soap opera *Brookside* (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy *The Royle Family* (1998–2012), and Dr Grace Foley in the BBC police procedural *[Waking the Dead](https://www.edgepedia.org/waking-the-dead-tv-series)* (2000–2011)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/bio/) • [2](https://entertainment.ie/person/sue-johnston/). She won the 2000 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress for *The Royle Family* and was appointed OBE in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to drama and to charity[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/bio/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1943, Warrington, Cheshire, England; birth name Susan Wright[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/bio/) |
| Breakthrough role | Sheila Grant in *Brookside*, cast for day one of the series and of Channel 4 in 1982; she left in 1990[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html) |
| Signature comedy role | Barbara Royle in *The Royle Family* (1998–2012); 2000 British Comedy Award winner and 2000 BAFTA TV Award nominee[2](https://entertainment.ie/person/sue-johnston/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/) |
| Long-running drama role | Dr Grace Foley, forensic psychologist in *Waking the Dead*, 2000–2011, 92 episodes[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/) |
| Other notable roles | Gloria Price in *Coronation Street* (2012–2014); Miss Denker in *Downton Abbey* (2014–2015)[2](https://entertainment.ie/person/sue-johnston/) |
| Honors | OBE, 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to drama and charity; Honorary Fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University (2004)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/bio/) • [6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston) |
| Recent work | Marion in *Truelove* (2024), a 2025 BAFTA TV Award nomination for Supporting Actress; Sue in the BBC comedy *Ann Droid* (2026)[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy) |
## Early life and training
Johnston was born in [Warrington](https://www.edgepedia.org/warrington) and brought up in Whiston, the daughter of Fred and Margaret Wright[6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston). She attended an all-girls' grammar school, Prescott & Huyton Grammar School, and dated her decision to act to a school production of *The Tinderbox* at 16[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html) • [6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston). Her parents were unpersuaded; her father wanted her to go to university, an opportunity he had never had, and later told an interviewer that he had equated acting with prostitution[6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston) • [8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/sue-johnston-my-dad-equated-acting-with-prostitution-2351906.html).
She left school at 17 and took an office job, which IMDb records as tax inspector[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/bio/) • [9](https://bbc.com.im/programmes/m002yjrn). The job put her near Liverpool's Cavern Club, where she became a regular in the Merseybeat years: she saw [The Beatles](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-beatles) in their earliest lineups, worked in [Brian Epstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-epstein)'s record shop, and attended [Paul McCartney](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-mccartney)'s 21st-birthday party[9](https://bbc.com.im/programmes/m002yjrn) • [4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html). Her first professional job was in 1965 at the Theatre Royal, St Helen's[10](https://www.bigredbook.info/sue_johnston.html), and the experience inspired her to apply to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, which she called "two of the best years of my life"[6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston).
## Theatre-in-education
After graduating she carried props and drove the van for David Hare and Tony Bicat's Portable Theatre Company, with Hare directing her in Genet's *[The Maids](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-maids)* and his own *Slag*, before finding her real footing in theater-in-education, performing in schools rather than theaters[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html). She worked at the Cockpit in London, the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, and the Bolton Octagon, devising environmental plays for 11 years and calling it "perfect happiness"[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html) • [11](https://rts.org.uk/sites/default/files/television_april24.pdf). She later described children as her formative audience: "Kids can see right through you – and will say! That's what makes good drama, isn't it?"[7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy).
## Brookside
A short stint of three episodes in ITV's *Coronation Street* led to her audition for *Brookside*, and she won the role of Sheila Grant when her son Joel was three[6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston). *Brookside* was a new soap opera first broadcast on Channel 4's launch night in November 1982, and Johnston was in it from day one[10](https://www.bigredbook.info/sue_johnston.html) • [4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html).
On the page, Sheila began as a sketched "Northern woman of a certain type"; the writers built storylines around Johnston's playing style, giving the character rape, homelessness, post-natal depression, bereavement, and divorce[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html). The show's realism made it Channel 4's top-rated program, and Sheila, a strong suffering mother, became a gay icon[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html) • [12](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/interview-sue-johnston-fame-and-misfortune-1168755.html). Johnston herself found the traumatic plots a release: "It was like drama therapy. You could go in, have a good weep and a good scream, and go home feeling light"[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html). In 2018 she said that playing the rape storyline had helped her talk about an assault she had experienced in her own life[13](https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2018-11-28/sue-johnston-rape-storyline-helped-me-talk-about-my-own-assault).
Fame was an adjustment; she said in 2026 that at 38, "suddenly I was a celebrity. I didn't want to be!"[7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy). She left the show in 1990, after eight years, saying she had grown bored and could not see where the character would go next[6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston) • [12](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/interview-sue-johnston-fame-and-misfortune-1168755.html).
## After the soap
Leaving *Brookside*, Johnston starred with her on-screen husband John McArdle in Jim Cartwright's stage play *To* at Edinburgh, and the producer of *Goodbye Cruel World*, Tony Marchant's BBC2 drama about motor neurone disease, cast her from that performance; the role brought a BAFTA nomination[12](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/interview-sue-johnston-fame-and-misfortune-1168755.html) • [6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston). Film roles followed, including Vera, the wife of a sacked miner, in *[Brassed Off](https://www.edgepedia.org/brassed-off)* (1996), and parts in *Face* (1997) and *Preaching to the Perverted* (1997)[14](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/sue-johnston/).
**The Royle Family.** In 1998 she became Barbara Royle, the put-upon, chain-smoking mum in [Caroline Aherne](https://www.edgepedia.org/caroline-aherne)'s sitcom, again opposite [Ricky Tomlinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/ricky-tomlinson), who had played her husband Bobby Grant in *Brookside*; the pair later counted 40 years as an on-screen married couple[6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston) • [11](https://rts.org.uk/sites/default/files/television_april24.pdf). She described the show's success as resting on believability: "to not actually act, to be real and truthful"[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/sue-johnston-my-dad-equated-acting-with-prostitution-2351906.html). In 2000, Johnston received the British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress, and her work also earned her a nomination for that year's BAFTA TV Award in the Best Comedy Performance category.[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/)
From 2000 to 2011 she played forensic psychologist Dr Grace Foley in *Waking the Dead*, 92 episodes across 11 years[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy). Other credits include *Little Dorrit* (as Affery Flintwinch), *Jam & Jerusalem*, *The Street* (2007 Broadcasting Press Guild Award nomination for Best Actress), Gloria Price in *Coronation Street* (2012–2014), and Miss Denker in *Downton Abbey* (2014–2015)[2](https://entertainment.ie/person/sue-johnston/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/).
## Recent work
In recent years Johnston has appeared in a run of television about old age: [Ben Wheatley](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-wheatley)'s comedy-horror *[Generation Z](https://www.edgepedia.org/generation-z-tv-series)* (2024), in which she played a pensioner turned zombie, the Channel 4 miniseries *Truelove* (2024), about old friends who decide to help each other die, and *Ricky, Sue & a Trip or Two*, a 2024 More4 travel series with Tomlinson[7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy) • [11](https://rts.org.uk/sites/default/files/television_april24.pdf).
Her *Truelove* performance brought a 2025 BAFTA TV Award nomination for Supporting Actress[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/). In 2026 she stars as the title character's namesake, a recently widowed woman whose son buys her a second-hand humanoid care robot named Linda, in *[Ann Droid](https://www.edgepedia.org/ann-droid)*, the BBC comedy created by and co-starring [Diane Morgan](https://www.edgepedia.org/diane-morgan)[7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy).
## Personal life
Johnston was married to Neil Johnston from January 1967 to 1969, and to the actor and director David Pammenter from 1976 to 1980, with whom she has a son, Joel; Pammenter left when she was pregnant, and she raised Joel as a single parent, for which *Brookside*'s five-day-a-week schedule meant financial independence[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/bio/) • [6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston) • [4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html). She remained single after her second divorce in 1980[15](https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/sue-johnston-loneliness-old-age-ann-droid/).
She is a devoted Liverpool FC supporter, wants "You'll Never Walk Alone" played at her funeral, and wears a pin commemorating the victims of the [Hillsborough disaster](https://www.edgepedia.org/hillsborough-disaster)[8](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/sue-johnston-my-dad-equated-acting-with-prostitution-2351906.html) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy). She was made a Freeman of the city of Liverpool in 2024[9](https://bbc.com.im/programmes/m002yjrn).
## Recognition
Beyond her OBE and LJMU fellowship, her recorded honors include the 2007 Broadcasting Press Guild Award nomination for Best Actress for *The Street*, a 2010 Crime Thriller Award (Dagger) nomination for Best Leading Actress for *Waking the Dead*, and a shared 2017 Actor Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for the *Downton Abbey* cast[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/). She received an Honorary Fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University in 2004, presented as "Merseyside's favourite actress"[6](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston).
## References
1. [Sue Johnston – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/bio/)
2. [Sue Johnston – About, Entertainment.ie](https://entertainment.ie/person/sue-johnston/)
3. [Sue Johnston – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/awards/)
4. [Show People / Life after the pale-pink jumper: Sue Johnston, The Independent (1994)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/show-people-life-after-the-palepink-jumper-sue-johnston-1423594.html)
5. [Sue Johnston – IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426855/)
6. [Sue Johnston OBE – Honorary Fellowship oration, Liverpool John Moores University](https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/fellows/honorary-fellows-2004/sue-johnston)
7. ['Suddenly I was a celebrity. I didn't want to be!' Sue Johnston on fame, loneliness and her new robot pal, The Guardian (2026)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jul/03/sue-johnston-interview-fame-loneliness-ann-droid-diane-morgan-comedy)
8. [Sue Johnston: 'My dad equated acting with prostitution', The Independent (2011)](https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/sue-johnston-my-dad-equated-acting-with-prostitution-2351906.html)
9. [Sue Johnston – Tracks of My Years, BBC Radio 2](https://bbc.com.im/programmes/m002yjrn)
10. [This Is Your Life: Sue Johnston](https://www.bigredbook.info/sue_johnston.html)
11. [A right Royle road trip, Television magazine, Royal Television Society (April 2024)](https://rts.org.uk/sites/default/files/television_april24.pdf)
12. [Interview: Sue Johnston: Fame and misfortune, The Independent (1998)](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/interview-sue-johnston-fame-and-misfortune-1168755.html)
13. [Sue Johnston: rape storyline helped me talk about my own assault, ITV News Granada (2018)](https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2018-11-28/sue-johnston-rape-storyline-helped-me-talk-about-my-own-assault)
14. [Sue Johnston – Actress, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/sue-johnston/)
15. ['There's a loneliness that creeps in when you're old and on your own': Sue Johnston on isolation and Ann Droid, Woman & Home (2026)](https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/sue-johnston-loneliness-old-age-ann-droid/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames H to K*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license