To millions, Ricky Tomlinson, in the guise of TV's Jim Royle, is the Sultan of Sloth. But behind the extraordinary success of the star of The Royle Family, lies a story of poverty, prison and banjo-playing! On his release from prison in 1975, Ricky Tomlinson found himself blacklisted from the building trade so he set himself up as an entertainer, theatrical agent and pub landlord, to varied success. But his life was transformed in 1980 when the director Alan Bleasdale, who had seen Tomlinson's stage routine a year earlier, cast him in a minor role in the acclaimed series Boys From The Blackstuff. With his grizzled face and world-wise manner, he was a natural for parts in Jim Allen's United Kingdom, Ken Loach's bleak Riff Raff and, most notably, as the bolshie trade unionist Bobby Grant in Brookside. His transformation to national superstar, though, came in 1998 when, reunited with his Brookside screen wife Sue Johnston, he starred as grumpy Dad in The Royle Family. Ricky Tomlinson plays the Olympia Theatre on September 5th as part of the Bulmer's Comedy Festival. Tickets priced €30/25.
