{"id":688732,"date":"2026-07-13T05:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688732\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T05:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:26:19","slug":"bbc-star-sue-johnstons-journey-from-prescot-to-stardom-as-beatles-legend-shaped-her-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688732\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC star Sue Johnston’s journey from Prescot to stardom as Beatles legend shaped her career"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brookside legend is back on our screens in a new role\"Growing<\/p>\n

Growing up in Prescot, Sue knew she wanted to be an actress from an early age(Image: BBC\/James Stack Photography)<\/p>\n

From Brookside to the Royle Family to Downton Abbey, Sue Johnston will go down in history as one of Liverpool’s most recognisable TV talents. The 82-year-old reflected on her extraordinary career during a recent visit to her home city. The Sheila Grant star spoke about her first steps into acting, and how a Beatles legend helped shape her early life.<\/p>\n

Sue will soon be back on our screens<\/a> for the new BBC<\/a> comedy “Ann Droid”. The actress stars alongside comedian Diane Morgan in the new series which is set three years in the future.<\/p>\n

Sue portrays a grieving widow, named Sue, who enlists the help of a robot carer named Linda (Diane Morgan) after a nasty fall. While the show is a comedy, it also explores deeper themes of loneliness and grief, alongside the hilarious script.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Diane<\/p>\n

Diane Morgan stars opposite Sue as her robot carer, Linda(Image: BBC\/Boffola Pictures\/GaryMoyes)<\/p>\n

Sue and Diane recently arrived in Liverpool with a whole host of stars <\/a>to celebrate everything we know and love about BBC comedy.<\/a> The ECHO was in attendance f<\/a>or an exclusive chat with the stars on stage at the Royal Court Theatre.<\/p>\n

Speaking about being part of “Ann Droid”, Sue said: “I wanted to be part of it because Diane wrote it and I’m such a fan and a friend of hers, so when she sent me the script, it was just joyful and I thought \u2018yes, thank you very much, I\u2019ll have that!\u2019”<\/p>\n

“There’s also a lot of love in it, there’s such a warmth and friendship about it all, and that comes from Diane’s writing, which says a lot about how she is as a human being. It’s a very special script.”<\/p>\n

Sue has enjoyed a spectacular career, best known for the iconic Liverpool soap Brookside as well as her role as Barbara Royle opposite her on-screen husband Ricky Tomlinson <\/a>in The Royle Family.<\/p>\n

It’s clear she isn’t slowing down at the age of 86, and the actress reflected on her life in showbiz during the intimate conversation.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Diane<\/p>\n

Diane and Sue at the BBC Comedy Festival in Liverpool(Image: BBC\/James Stack Photography)<\/p>\n

Sue was happy to be back in her home city, drawing upon her early days living in Merseyside. Sue spoke about the moment she realised she wanted to be actress.<\/a><\/p>\n

She told the audience at the Royal Court: “It started off here in Prescot<\/a> where I\u2019m from. I was at school in a play, I was on stage, I can see it now I was down stage left.<\/p>\n

“I was only 13 and funnily enough I was playing a witch and I just knew that I wanted to be an actor. I knew from then and I\u2019ll never forget that moment.<\/p>\n

\"Sue<\/p>\n

Sue Johnston with Caroline Aherne in the Royle Family(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

“But I didn’t know really what being an actor was in the 1950s, I was a tax inspector in Liverpool 5. I was the worst tax inspector – if it was your tax, I’m sorry – you probably never paid it.<\/p>\n

She added: “The office was on the corner of Mathew Street so I spent all my days in the Cavern.”<\/p>\n

After giving up her job working in taxes, Sue knew deep down she wanted to pursue something more creative. The actress gave a major “name drop” as she shared how she got a job working at the iconic record shop, North End Music Stores – known as NEMS. The legendary music store was founded by Brian Epstein\u2019s family.<\/a><\/p>\n

Sue said: “I left the tax office, and if I can name drop, Paul McCartney got me a job at NEMS. I might have wanted to be an actor but in the 50s in Liverpool, there weren’t many actors.<\/p>\n

“We didn\u2019t have all these wonderful groups that we have now so it was a long haul. It took me until I was 21 when I eventually went to drama school.”<\/p>\n

Sue’s first TV role was as a character called Mrs Chadwick on ITV<\/a> soap Coronation Street in 1982 <\/a>and she has been a mainstay on our TV screens ever since.<\/p>\n

New series Ann Droid will air weekly on BBC One from Friday, July 17 at 9.30pm. Episodes will also be available on BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brookside legend is back on our screens in a new role Growing up in Prescot, Sue knew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[243,36830,6491,96,43843,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-688732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-bbc","tag-brookside","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-sue-johnston","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}