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Ricky Tomlinson
Eric Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in the soap opera Brookside (1982–1988), DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker (1993–2006) and Jim Royle in The Royle Family (1998–2012). He also played the titular character in the 2001 football mockumentary Mike Bassett: England Manager.
Eric Tomlinson was born at Burleigh House in the Bispham area of Blackpool on 26 September 1939, the son of parents from Liverpool. His father was a baker. He was born in Bispham because his mother was evacuated there during World War II over concerns that Liverpool would be bombed, which it eventually was. The family settled back in Liverpool following the war, and he has lived there since. He attended Walton Technical College in the Walton area of Liverpool, after passing an exam when he was 13. His favourite subject was English literature.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Tomlinson played the banjo in three bands: the Guitanjos, Hobo Rick & the City Slickers, and Hobo Rick & the Hi-Free Three. The band's pianist was John Lowe, a former member of the Quarrymen, which would later become the Beatles. A plasterer by trade, Tomlinson worked on various building sites for many years.[citation needed]
Tomlinson played Bobby Grant in the soap opera Brookside from the show's inception in 1982 until being written out in 1988, followed by DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and Jim Royle in the BBC sitcom The Royle Family in 1998.
In 2001, Tomlinson starred in the BBC Series Nice Guy Eddie playing a Liverpool private investigator. Using down-to-earth cases — actually based upon real-life ones from Liverpool private investigator Tony Smith — the show also starred Tom Ellis and John Henshaw. He featured heavily in series two of Paul Abbott's series Clocking Off, in a BAFTA-nominated episode written by Danny Brocklehurst.[citation needed]
Tomlinson has fronted a series of television adverts for the utility company British Gas. In January 2010, he began to appear in a series of advertisements for the frozen food chain Farmfoods. In 2017, he provided a voiceover for an advert for McCain Foods.
On 19 June 2006, Tomlinson made his début as the guest celebrity in Dictionary Corner on the long-running UK Channel 4 game show Countdown.[citation needed] In December 2006, he presented a programme in Channel Five's Disappearing Britain series entitled "When Coal Was King".[citation needed] In March 2007, Tomlinson presented BBC's One Life: Guilty My Arse, detailing his version of the "Shrewsbury Two" case, in which he compared his political activism as a trade unionist to the work of the suffragettes.
In March 2011, Tomlinson appeared in an advertising campaign for UK retail chain The Range. The BBC broadcast a programme in its Who Do You Think You Are? series 13 on Tomlinson's ancestors, which traced his family back through a number of carters working around Liverpool at a time when the city was a bustling port. In 2020, Tomlinson and his Royle Family co-star Ralf Little presented a travel series called Ricky & Ralf's Very Northern Road Trip for Gold.
Ricky Tomlinson
Eric Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in the soap opera Brookside (1982–1988), DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker (1993–2006) and Jim Royle in The Royle Family (1998–2012). He also played the titular character in the 2001 football mockumentary Mike Bassett: England Manager.
Eric Tomlinson was born at Burleigh House in the Bispham area of Blackpool on 26 September 1939, the son of parents from Liverpool. His father was a baker. He was born in Bispham because his mother was evacuated there during World War II over concerns that Liverpool would be bombed, which it eventually was. The family settled back in Liverpool following the war, and he has lived there since. He attended Walton Technical College in the Walton area of Liverpool, after passing an exam when he was 13. His favourite subject was English literature.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Tomlinson played the banjo in three bands: the Guitanjos, Hobo Rick & the City Slickers, and Hobo Rick & the Hi-Free Three. The band's pianist was John Lowe, a former member of the Quarrymen, which would later become the Beatles. A plasterer by trade, Tomlinson worked on various building sites for many years.[citation needed]
Tomlinson played Bobby Grant in the soap opera Brookside from the show's inception in 1982 until being written out in 1988, followed by DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and Jim Royle in the BBC sitcom The Royle Family in 1998.
In 2001, Tomlinson starred in the BBC Series Nice Guy Eddie playing a Liverpool private investigator. Using down-to-earth cases — actually based upon real-life ones from Liverpool private investigator Tony Smith — the show also starred Tom Ellis and John Henshaw. He featured heavily in series two of Paul Abbott's series Clocking Off, in a BAFTA-nominated episode written by Danny Brocklehurst.[citation needed]
Tomlinson has fronted a series of television adverts for the utility company British Gas. In January 2010, he began to appear in a series of advertisements for the frozen food chain Farmfoods. In 2017, he provided a voiceover for an advert for McCain Foods.
On 19 June 2006, Tomlinson made his début as the guest celebrity in Dictionary Corner on the long-running UK Channel 4 game show Countdown.[citation needed] In December 2006, he presented a programme in Channel Five's Disappearing Britain series entitled "When Coal Was King".[citation needed] In March 2007, Tomlinson presented BBC's One Life: Guilty My Arse, detailing his version of the "Shrewsbury Two" case, in which he compared his political activism as a trade unionist to the work of the suffragettes.
In March 2011, Tomlinson appeared in an advertising campaign for UK retail chain The Range. The BBC broadcast a programme in its Who Do You Think You Are? series 13 on Tomlinson's ancestors, which traced his family back through a number of carters working around Liverpool at a time when the city was a bustling port. In 2020, Tomlinson and his Royle Family co-star Ralf Little presented a travel series called Ricky & Ralf's Very Northern Road Trip for Gold.
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