Sue Johnston

Susan Johnston (née Wright), OBE (born 7 December 1943) is a BAFTA nominated English actress known for playing Sheila Grant in the soap opera Brookside (1982–90), Grace Foley in Waking the Dead (2000–11), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family (1998–) and Gloria Price in Coronation Street (2012–). In December 2011, she played Eileen Lewis in the BBC one-off episode Lapland, a role which she is currently playing for a series, Being Eileen. --- Johnston was born in Warrington, Lancashire, (now Cheshire) and grew up in Prescot, Lancashire (now Merseyside). 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. 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 (Ricky Tomlinson) and re-marriage to Billy Corkhill (John McArdle). 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 gave a tour de force performance in the three-part award winning drama Goodbye Cruel World, in which she portrayed a woman coming to terms with a muscle-wasting illness. She was supported by Alun Armstrong as her husband and Jonny Lee Miller. --- She has one son Joel, from her previous marriage to David Pammenter. She has one grandchild. In 1970, Johnston was sexually attacked at the age of 27 which led to her storyline in Brookside as Sheila Grant where she was raped. In 1967, after her marriage to first husband Neil, she became pregnant at the age of 24. She suffered a miscarriage shortly after.