Actress Sue Johnston, known for her roles in The Royle Family and Brookside, returns to BBC One tonight in the new sitcom Ann Droid. The six-part series, airing at 9.30pm on Friday, July 17, 2026, features Johnston as a newly widowed woman named Sue who is given a humanoid robot carer by her son. The robot, Linda, played by Diane Morgan, is not the most advanced and creates more problems than she solves.
Sue Johnston's Age and Early Life
Sue Johnston was born on December 7, 1983, in Warrington, Cheshire, making her 82 years old. She is the only child of Fred and Margaret Jane Wright. Her father worked as a plumber before becoming a clerk of works at the Ministry of Defence, while her mother was a tracklayer on the railways in her early life.
Relationship with Swinging Blue Jeans Drummer
Johnston's first serious boyfriend was Norman Kuhlke, drummer of the 1960s Merseybeat band The Swinging Blue Jeans, known for hits like The Hippy Hippy Shake. They dated for two years during the height of the Liverpool music scene, often visiting the Cavern Club, where she also became friends with The Beatles' Paul McCartney.
In her autobiography Things I Couldn't Tell My Mother, Johnston recalls having an old reel-to-reel recording of The Beatles singing Love Me Do in someone's garage when they were first putting it together. She admits: "I am ashamed to say I taped over it with the Max Miller show!"
The relationship ended when she discovered Kuhlke had secretly gone on holiday to the Canary Islands with another woman while claiming to be on tour.
Sue Johnston's Marriages
Johnston has been married twice. Her first marriage was to fellow drama student Neil Johnston in 1967, but they separated just a year later. In 1976, she married theatre director David Pammenter. The couple separated a few months after the birth of their son Joel in 1979, with their divorce finalized the following year. Johnston has been single since the end of her second marriage.
Friendship with Ricky Tomlinson
Sue Johnston and Ricky Tomlinson have worked together for over 40 years. They first portrayed married couple Sheila and Bobby Grant in Brookside and later played Jim and Barbara in the iconic sitcom The Royle Family. Most recently, they reunited on stage at the Shakespeare North Playhouse, where Johnston was a special guest on Tomlinson's Retirement: My A**e tour.
Paying tribute to her lifelong friend, Johnston told the Liverpool Echo that Tomlinson has a "colossus" personality. She added: "He is what he is. He's funny, he's passionate and he's a dear friend."
Ann Droid premieres tonight, Friday, July 17, at 9.30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
