Chatting to actress Sue Johnston is rather like having a chinwag with a chum. Down-to-earth, self-deprecating and funny, we bet she makes a great mate.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she says. “I am lucky enough to have some lovely, wonderful friends whom I admire so much – I often think, ‘Ooh what do you see in me?’ Good friends are simply priceless.”
So, what qualities does she most value in a pal?
“Kindness, empathy, generosity – especially towards me!” laughs. “That last bit is a joke, by the way! Seriously, the qualities that make good people and good human behaviour are the qualities you want in a friend. Being good fun is important, too. I have friends I haven’t seen since the first lockdown and I miss them. Hopefully we’ll get to catch up before too long.”
Sue’s close friendship with the late, Caroline Aherne, who created The Royle Family and starred in the iconic sitcom with her, has been well documented. She’s also very good pals with actor Ricky Tomlinson who played Jim Royle to Sue’s Barbara, and was also her screen husband in Brookside back in the Eighties. We've also loved seeing Sue and Ricky join the cast of Celebrity Gogglebox together. We’re thinking that when actors work so closely together, it must be inevitable that close friendships are formed.
“Completely,” Sue agrees. “You’re together for two or three months and so it’s natural that you become close as the shoot goes on. I suffered a very, very sad loss during filming of The Cockfields. My gorgeous eight-year-old German Shepherd Betsey Diamond had to be put to sleep because she had cancer and I couldn’t get home to see her because we were filming. The worst thing I ever had to do was go back on set and be funny. I just wanted to weep. The cast and crew were wonderful. They put their collective arms around me and were so very kind and loving.”
Sue also reunited with old friends when she reprised her role as scheming ladies’ maid Denker in the second Downton Abbey film back in April 2022.
“Lesley Nichol who plays Mrs Patmore and I have been friends for about 100 years,” she laughs. “It was great to be with the Downton people again. Denker is a right piece of work but such great fun to play.
“It seems she’s also surprisingly popular with Downton fans. I was in a play in the West End before the first lockdown and quite often at the stage door there would be people – mostly from overseas – who’d come to see the play just because Denker was in it!”
Back to The Cockfields, which ran from 2019 to 2021, and it really does have a feel of The Royle Family about it. “That’s good to hear,” says Sue. “The writers loved The Royle Family and so it is rather like a homage to the Royles. The Cockfields aren’t just sat around the telly – you do see them out and about – but the show is about families and family relationships. How family members love each other but also drive each other up the wall! It’s something all families can relate to and it’s very cleverly – yet gently - observed. It’s very human. When Sue – my character - starts burbling on about something to her grown-up son Simon, his eye-rolling reaction reminds me of what my real-life son Joel does when I start going on about something!”
Sue (80) moved back north a few years ago to be closer to Joel and his growing family.
“I have four grandchildren, all boys,” she reveals. “Joel and his partner have two, while my honorary daughter Gemma also has two. Gemma is my goddaughter but I became like Gemma’s ma when her mum – and my very good friend – passed away some years ago. Gemma and Joel are just like sister and brother.”
Sue loves spending time with the grandchildren. “I must admit I become very silly when I’m with them – they bring out a childish side in me. It’s just joyful being a grandparent.”
Sue’s next project is a Generation Z, an upcoming comedy-horror series on Channel 4.
“I’ve had just enough time to go home, see the family, and live a bit of a normal life,” she says. “You know – stuff like shopping in Sainsbury’s. Although maybe Waitrose should be my supermarket of choice now. My character Sue is always banging on about Waitrose in The Cockfields, although she insists on calling it ‘Waitrose and Partners’. That’s Sue in a nutshell for you!”
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