 Already past 40 when he made his professional acting debut, the stocky, often
bearded Ricky Tomlinson has since become one of Britain's most popular character
actors, his local fame noted by a surprised Hollywood megastar Samuel L. Jackson
when they co-starred in The 51st State (d. Ronny Yu, Canada/UK, 2000). Typically
playing garrulous and opinionated Liverpudlians, he is best known for leading
roles in Brookside (Channel 4, 1982-2003), Cracker (ITV, 1991-96) and especially
The Royle Family (BBC, 1998-2008), but has also done outstanding work for such
directors as Roland Joffé and Ken Loach.
Born Eric Tomlinson near Blackpool on 26 September 1939, he was known as
Ricky practically from birth. The showbiz bug bit early: from his late teens he
played banjo and performed comedy sketches in a popular local troupe while
qualifying as a plasterer, his main day job until the mid-1970s.
He first became famous (indeed, notorious) for his political activities. An
ill-advised flirtation with the National Front at 18 (over workers' rights) was
followed by more extensive left-wing activity, helping organise 'flying pickets'
during a Shrewsbury building workers' dispute. When he was sentenced to six
years in prison in 1973 for 'conspiracy to intimidate', his case became a
political cause célèbre, with Tomlinson and former colleague Des Warren dubbed
the 'Shrewsbury Two'.
Released on appeal in 1975, he found himself effectively blacklisted by the
building trade. Instead, he started up various businesses, the most successful
of which was an actors' agency. He revived his cabaret act, which led to his big
break: Roland Joffé cast him in Jim Allen's Play for Today, 'United Kingdom'
(BBC, tx. 8/12/1981), as a man drastically affected by local authority cuts.
This led to his highest-profile 1980s role, as trade unionist Bobby Grant in
Channel Four's groundbreaking soap opera Brookside. He played Grant
for over five years before leaving in protest at what he thought were
increasingly unconvincing storylines.
A period of financial uncertainty followed before Ken Loach cast
building-site drama Riff-Raff (1991) using actors with personal experience of the
trade. Though he was nominally in a supporting role, Tomlinson's accidental
naked encounter with visiting clients during his illicit use of a show-home
shower became the film's main marketing image. In Loach's Raining Stones (1993),
he played unemployed Tommy, whose harebrained schemes to earn a bit on the side
provided most of the comic relief.
In 1994 he was cast in leading roles in two high-profile television series:
oil-rig drama Roughnecks (BBC, 1994-95) and as the gruff DCI Wise in Cracker.
By the time he created Jim Royle, indolent patriarch of The
Royle Family, he was already one of television's most familiar
faces, and has rarely been off British screens since. The hapless title
character of Mike Bassett: England Manager (UK/US, d. Steve Barron, 2001) led to
a spin-off series in 2005. In 2010, after considering running for Parliament as
Liverpool Wavertree's Socialist Labour Party candidate, he returned to his roots
by opening a cabaret club in the city.
His 2003 autobiography was a bestseller.
Bibliography
Tomlinson, Ricky, Ricky (Little, Brown, 2003)
Michael Brooke
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FILM & TV CREDITS
