Susan Johnston (née Wright; born 7 December 1943) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family (1998–2012), Grace Foley in the BBC drama Waking the Dead (2000–2011), Gloria Price in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2012–2014), Miss Denker in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2014–2015) and Sue Bevan in the BBC sitcom Ann Droid (2026–present)
In 2000, for her work on The Royle Family, Johnston won the British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress and was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Performance. In 2025, she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work on Truelove.
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Early life
Johnston was born on 7 December 1943 in Warrington and grew up in Prescot, both then in Lancashire.
After working in the glass industry and as a Higher Grade tax officer, when her boyfriend was one of the pop group The Swinging Blue Jeans, Johnston worked for Brian Epstein. From the age of 21, she attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Career
She began her career on stage in 1965 at the Theatre Royal, St Helen's, and she worked predominantly in theatre during the 1970s, including with Theatre in Education at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Johnston made her television debut in 1982, with a minor recurring role on Coronation Street, portraying 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 debut episode on 2 November 1982 – broadcast on the first day 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 remarriage to Billy Corkhill (John McArdle).
Johnston went on to appeared in several drama series and films, including Inspector Morse, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Brassed Off and My Uncle Silas. In 1992, Johnston appeared 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 the subject of This Is Your Life in 1998.
Johnston played Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy series The Royle Family, appearing from 1998 until 2012, alongside her former on-screen husband in Brookside, Ricky Tomlinson.
From 2000 to 2011, she starred in the television series Waking the Dead, in which she played the role of psychological profiler Grace Foley, alongside Trevor Eve.
In 2002, Johnston presented the documentary The Virgin Mary, in which she examined a hypothetical life story of the historical Mary.
In 2004, she appeared in one episode of the series, Who Do You Think You Are?, in which she traced her family tree.
She starred in Jennifer Saunders's comedy drama Jam & Jerusalem on BBC One, alongside Joanna Lumley, Maggie Steed and David Mitchell. The first series aired in 2006, the second series began on New Year's Day 2008 and the third in August 2009. Also in 2008, she played Affery Flintwinch in the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit. In May 2008 it was confirmed Johnston would return as Barbara Royle for another episode of The Royle Family, which aired on Christmas Day 2008 on BBC One. The show returned for further Christmas specials in 2009, 2010 and 2012. She shared a role with Billie Piper in the television adaptation of A Passionate Woman which aired on BBC One on 11 April 2010.
Personal life
Johnston is a supporter of the Labour Party and has been an outspoken gay rights campaigner. She is a supporter of Liverpool F.C. and St Helens R.F.C.
In 1967, she married her first husband Neil Johnston and became pregnant at the age of 24. She suffered a miscarriage shortly after and the couple later divorced, but she kept his surname as her professional name. She has one son, Joel, from her second marriage to David Pammenter. She has two grandchildren.
Johnston is staunchly opposed to smoking. She quit smoking in 1978, but had to smoke low-tar cigarettes while playing the role of Barbara in The Royle Family.
In 1970, Johnston was sexually attacked at the age of 27. Her experiences inspired a Brookside storyline, where Johnson's character Sheila Grant was raped.
In 1989, Johnston, assisted by Lesley Thomson, published her first book, a memoir titled Hold on to the Messy Times. In 2011, she published another memoir titled Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother. In Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother, she states that she was originally going to be called Margaret Jane Wright, after her mother and grandmother, but her father thought that it would be best to call her Susan.
She is distantly related to horse trainer Mark Prescott, via her maternal line, as discovered by ITV's DNA Journey which was broadcastt on 16 October 2024. His grandfather, one of their relatives in common, was Conservative Member of Parliament William Prescott.
Honours
Johnston was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours. In November 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by University of Chester at Chester Cathedral.
She was made a Freeman of the City of Liverpool in June 2024.
Filmography
Television
Additional credits
Brookside: The Lost Weekend ... Sheila Corkhill (1997 video special)
Brookside: Friday the 13th ... Sheila Corkhill (1998 video special)
2013 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ... Herself
