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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
December 7, 1943
Place of Birth
Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK
Also Known As
- Susan Wright
- Susan Johnston, OBE
Sue Johnston
1.7 Popularity
Biography
Susan Johnston, OBE (née Wright; born 7 December 1943) is an English actress known for playing Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family (1998–2000, 2006, 2008–2010, 2012), Grace Foley in the BBC drama Waking the Dead (2000–2011), Gloria Price in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2012–2014) and Miss Denker in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2014–2015). 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
6.5
Lily
Stuffed
2025
7.1
Great Aunt Bonaparte
Fackham Hall
2025
0.0
Granny Bet
Dexter Procter
2025
0.0
Edith Thistle
Big Winners
2025
5.3
Cecily
Generation Z
2024
0.0
Herself
Ricky, Sue & a Trip or Two
2024
6.3
Marion
Truelove
2024
0.0
Self - Narrator (voice)
The Big Snow of '47
2024
0.0
Barbara Royle (archive footage)
Ricky Tomlinson Remembers... The Royle Family
2023
8.0
Self
Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy
2023
Credits
Stuffed
as Lily
2025
6.5
Fackham Hall
as Great Aunt Bonaparte
2025
7.1
Dexter Procter
as Granny Bet
2025
0.0
Big Winners
as Edith Thistle
2025
0.0
Generation Z
as Cecily
2024
5.3
Ricky, Sue & a Trip or Two
as Herself
2024
0.0
Truelove
as Marion
2024
6.3
The Big Snow of '47
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2024
0.0
Ricky Tomlinson Remembers... The Royle Family
as Barbara Royle (archive footage)
2023
0.0
Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy
as Self
2023
8.0
The Royle Family - Down the Back of the Sofa
as Self / Barbara Royle (archive footage)
2023
0.0
Downton Abbey: A New Era
as Gladys Denker
2022
7.2
The Responder
as Madge
2022
7.1
Robbo: The Bryan Robson Story
as Self
2021
6.4
Help
as Gloria
2021
7.1
Kensington Palace: Behind Closed Doors
as Narrator
2021
0.0
Time
as June Cobden
2021
7.6
Taskmaster’s New Year Treat
as Self
2021
0.0
🎬
David Jason: Britain's Favourite TV Star
as Narrator
2020
0.0
The Cure
as Bella Bailey
2019
7.5
The Cockfields
as Sue
2019
6.4
DNA Journey
as Self
2019
6.0
Death on the Tyne
as Colleen
2018
5.8
Age Before Beauty
as Ivy-Rae Regan
2018
2.8
Walk Like a Panther
as Gladys
2018
6.2
Diana and the Paparazzi
as Narrator (voice)
2017
0.0
Shannon Matthews: The Mother's Story
as Narrator
2017
0.0
Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule
as Self
2017
8.0
Shannon Matthews: What Happened Next
as Self - Narrator
2017
0.0
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
as Barbara Royle (archive footage) (uncredited)
2016
5.7
Rovers
as Doreen
2016
6.8
World Cup 1966: Alfie's Boys
as Self
2016
7.0
Golden Years
as Nancy
2016
6.3
The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One
as Self
2015
9.3
🎬
Caring for the Recently Deceased
as Marjoram Bryon
2014
0.0
Being Eileen
as Eileen Lewis
2013
0.0
The Royle Family: Barbara's Old Ring
as Barbara Royle
2012
7.0
Gates
as Miss Hunter
2012
7.0
Lapland
as Eileen Lewis
2011
0.0
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
as Self - Participant
2011
5.0
Sugartown
2011
8.5
🎬
Baby Hospital
2011
0.0
The Royle Family: Joe's Crackers
as Barbara
2010
7.2
The Royle Family: Behind the Sofa
as Self
2010
8.4
Downton Abbey
as Miss Denker
2010
8.1
A Passionate Woman
as Betty (1980s)
2010
5.9
The Turn of the Screw
as Sarah Grose
2009
4.7
The Golden Egg Cup
as Barbara Royle
2009
8.0
Tourettes: I Swear I Can't Help It
as Narrator (voice)
2009
7.0
The Royle Family: The New Sofa
as Barbara Royle
2008
7.7
Little Dorrit
as Affery / Affery Flintwinch
2008
7.8
🎬
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
as Self
2007
3.7
Would I Lie to You?
as Self
2007
7.8
Jam and Jerusalem
as Sal Vine
2006
7.0
The Street
2006
7.7
Imagine Me & You
as Ella
2006
7.6
Liverpool FC: One Night in May
2005
0.0
Who Do You Think You Are?
as Self
2004
6.7
The Paul O'Grady Show
2004
4.6
Strictly Come Dancing
as Self
2004
5.9
The Virgin Mary
as Self - Presenter
2002
0.0
Timeshift
as Self - Narrator
2002
7.0
Cutting It
as Caroline Ferraday
2002
6.7
My Uncle Silas
as Mrs. Betts
2001
7.0
Waking the Dead
as Dr. Grace Foley
2001
7.2
🎬
Score
as Maggie
2001
0.0
New Year's Day
as Mrs. Fisher
2000
5.0
Finest Hour
as Commentary
1999
0.0
Loose Women
as Self
1999
3.2
Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll
as Irma
1999
6.5
🎬
Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll
1999
0.0
🎬
Brookside: Friday the 13th
as Sheila Grant
1998
5.5
The Royle Family
as Barbara Royle
1998
7.6
🎬
The Jump
as Maeve Brunos
1998
6.0
The Things You Do for Love: Against the Odds
as Pat Phoenix
1998
0.0
Duck Patrol
as Val Rutland
1998
5.0
Parkinson
as Self
1998
0.0
Brookside: The Lost Weekend
as Sheila Grant
1997
6.8
Face
as Alice
1997
6.2
Preaching to the Perverted
as Esmeralda
1997
6.0
Crime Traveller
1997
7.4
Brassed Off
as Vera
1996
7.0
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
as Helga Allowby
1996
7.3
Hollyoaks
as Sheila Grant
1995
5.0
Measure for Measure
as Mistress Overdone
1994
1.0
🎬
Luv
1993
6.5
🎬
Full Stretch
as Grace Robbins
1993
8.0
A Touch of Frost
as Phyllis Bowman
1992
7.5
Bitter Harvest
as Miriam Johnson
1992
0.0
Performance
as Mistress Overdone
1991
6.0
Medics
1990
5.3
Inspector Morse
as Mrs. Bailey
1987
7.8
Brookside
as Sheila Grant
1982
6.1
Today
as Self
1952
5.6
🎬
Bilby
as Nancy
N/A
0.0