Sue Johnston
Known for Acting
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.
Filmography
Fackham Hall
2025
as Great Aunt Bonaparte
Downton Abbey: A New Era
2022
as Gladys Denker
Imagine Me & You
2006
as Ella
Face
1997
as Alice
Brassed Off
1996
as Vera
Help
2021
as Gloria
The Turn of the Screw
2009
as Sarah Grose
Stuffed
2025
as Lily
Lapland
2011
as Eileen Lewis
Score
2001
as Maggie
Golden Years
2016
as Nancy
Walk Like a Panther
2018
as Gladys
Death on the Tyne
2018
as Colleen
Preaching to the Perverted
1997
as Esmeralda
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
2016
as Barbara Royle (archive footage) (uncredited)
Bitter Harvest
1992
as Miriam Johnson
Big Winners
2025
as Edith Thistle
Robbo: The Bryan Robson Story
2021
as Self
Measure for Measure
1994
as Mistress Overdone
The Cure
2019
as Bella Bailey