Sue Johnston
Biography
Susan Johnston, OBE (nÊe Wright; born 7 December 1943) is an English actress known for playing Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982â1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family (1998â2000, 2006, 2008â2010, 2012), Grace Foley in the BBC drama Waking the Dead (2000â2011), Gloria Price in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2012â2014) and Miss Denker in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2014â2015). 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.
Known For
Top 40 Movies
Fackham Hall
2025
Imagine Me & You
2006
Downton Abbey: A New Era
2022
Brassed Off
1996
Preaching to the Perverted
1997
Bitter Harvest
1992
Help
2021
Face
1997
The Royle Family: The New Sofa
2008
Walk Like a Panther
2018
Golden Years
2016
The Royle Family: Joe's Crackers
2010
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
2016
The Turn of the Screw
2009
The Royle Family: Behind the Sofa
2010
The Royle Family - Down the Back of the Sofa
2023
Lapland
2011
The Cure
2019
Measure for Measure
1994
Death on the Tyne
2018
Robbo: The Bryan Robson Story
2021
New Year's Day
2000
Stuffed
2025
The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One
2015
The Things You Do for Love: Against the Odds
1998
Big Winners
2025
Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy
2023
The Virgin Mary
2002
The Royle Family: Barbara's Old Ring
2012
The Big Snow of '47
2024
Brookside: The Lost Weekend
1997
The Golden Egg Cup
2009
Ricky Tomlinson Remembers... The Royle Family
2023
World Cup 1966: Alfie's Boys
2016
Shannon Matthews: What Happened Next
2017