Background and career
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 football mockumentary Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001).
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.
Tomlinson played Bobby Grant from the show's inception in 1982, starring in 193 episodes of the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–1988). He played by DCI Charlie Wise in 15 episodes of Cracker (1994-1996), He played Jim Pratt in 29 episodes of Playing the Field (1998–2002), and Jim Royle in the BBC sitcom The Royle Family (1998–2012). In 2001, he played a Liverpool private investigator in the BBC Series Nice Guy Eddie, 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. 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. In 2006, he presented a programme in Channel Five's Disappearing Britain series entitled "When Coal Was King". In March 2007, Tomlinson presented a documentary detailing his version of the "Shrewsbury Two" case, for which he served time in prison, comparing his political activism as a trade unionist to the work of the suffragettes in BBC's One Life: Guilty My Arse, 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. The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Liverpool, with the UK replacing the planned host country Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine; Tomlinson appeared and recited a poem dedicated to the Beatles, then reprised his role as Brookside character Bobby Grant, who was seen putting up Ukrainian-themed bunting outside the Grant home on Brookside Close. In September 2025, it was confirmed that Tomlinson would again reprise the role of Bobby Grant in a special crossover episode of Brookside to mark the 30th anniversary of Hollyoaks.
Tomlinson starred alongside Robert Carlyle and Peter Mullan in the Ken Loach directed film Riff-Raff (1991), which won European Film Award for Best Film. He played the main character Mike Bassett in the British satirical mockumentary comedy film Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001). Other films include Raining Stones (1993), Hillsborough (1996), and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002). In 2017, he starred in the LGBT-themed short film Tellin' Dad as the father of the main character who comes out to him. (2017)
He released a CD album entitled Music My Arse in 2001. He released a single at Christmas 2006 which reached No. 25 in the UK charts entitled "Christmas My A*se".
Tomlinson was married to Marlene Clifton from 1962 until their divorce in 1986. They had three children together. He has been married to Rita Cumiskey since 2003. He has lived in Liverpool since his childhood and said in a May 2014 interview, "I will never, ever move away from Liverpool. I love it here." In 2003, Tomlinson published his autobiography Ricky, which spent five weeks at the top of the UK best-selling new books chart. In the book, Tomlinson admitted to having extramarital affairs and graphically described his time in prison. On 19 October 2007, Tomlinson underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital. Tomlinson suffers from the rare skin condition nodular prurigo, which was the subject of an interview in the Daily Mirror in October 2013.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
