Brookside: Friday the 13th

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.

Bill Dean was a British actor who was born in Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire. He was born Patrick Anthony Connolly, but took his stage name in honour of Everton football legend William 'Dixie' Dean. After a atring of jobs, it was his work as a Lancashire club comedian that saw him spotted by Ken Loach who gave him his breakthrough role in his TV play The Golden Vision. Famous for his flat but penetrating Scouse tones, Dean went on to star as miserable pensioner Harry Cross in the long running Channel 4 soap Brookside from its inception in 1983 to 1990. He briefly returned to the series in 1999 for three episodes, when his character re-appeared in Brookside Close suffering from Alzheimer's disease and wrongly believing that he still lived there. The same character was the inspiration behind the 1980s group 'Jegsy Dodd and the sons of Harry Cross' who hailed from the Wirral and Dean himself appeared in the video of the Liverpudlian band The Farm's Groovy Train as Cross, who was a former train driver. He did of a heart attack aged 78 in 2000.

Vincent Earl (born 11 June 1944) is an English singer, comedian and actor most famous for his portrayal of the character Ron Dixon in the soap opera Brookside, a role which he played from 1990 until the show's demise in 2003 Earl was born on 11 June 1944 in Birkenhead, Cheshire. He started performing aged eleven, and he was involved in the Merseybeat scene of the 1960s as singer in his band Vince Earl and the Talismen. In 1964, Earl joined Rory Storm and the Hurricanes on tour and had a Number 1 hit in Texas with a version of America from West Side Story. He later formed Vince Earl & the Attractions, which became one of the top rated acts on the cabaret circuit. Earl made his television debut on New Faces in 1973, with his band The Vince Earl Attraction. In 1981, Earl appeared in Play for Today and then in Boys from the Blackstuff as Jimmy Johnson the following year. In 1985, he appeared in No Surrender as Frank the heavy. Earl joined Brookside in 1990 playing Ron Dixon, until the soap's final episode in 2003. In 2001, while still appearing in Brookside, Earl appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. He appeared in one episode of Doctors in 2004 and in 2006 appeared in an episode of the Director's Debut, titled 'The Lightning Kid', directed by Stephen Tompkinson. After leaving Brookside, Earl performed as a stand-up comedian on cruise ships. Personal life Earl lives with his second wife Irene (née Day) in Huntington, Chester. The couple, who married in the early 1970s, have four children; Stephen, Vince, Nicole and Kimberley. In the summer of 2012, he successfully underwent a kidney transplant after his kidneys were damaged by Goodpasture’s syndrome, a rare auto-immune disease, in September 2010. In 2020 Earl reunited with Sarah White, who played on screen wife Bev Dixon in Brookside, to record the single You and Me (Were Meant to be Together) from the studio album Manchester Calling.

Louis Emerick Grant is a British television actor.