Former castmates gather for funeral of ‘Mr Brookside’ Dean Sullivan
The actor died last month aged 68.
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Your support makes all the difference.Former castmates of actor Dean Sullivan gathered to say a final farewell to “Mr Brookside” at his funeral.
The Liverpudlian actor and director, who was best known for playing Jimmy Corkhill in the Merseyside TV soap, died last month at the age of 68.
Familiar faces from the fictional Brookside Close reunited at Liverpool Parish Church on Tuesday for Sullivan’s funeral, 20 years after the soap came off air.
The actor’s onscreen family – Sue Jenkins, who played his wife Jackie, Claire Sweeney, who starred as their daughter Lindsey, and John McArdle, who played his brother Billy – joined cast members Michael Starke, Louis Emerick and Vince Earl as well as the show’s creator Sir Phil Redmond.
Former royal butler Paul Burrell was also in attendance at the service, after meeting Sullivan when he arranged for Princess Diana to make a secret visit to the soap’s set.
Burrell told the PA news agency: “I don’t think people realise Diana was so friendly with Dean.
“He’d ring her at Kensington Palace and I’d put the call through and I’d listen to all the laughter upstairs.”
Sullivan’s coffin arrived at the church in a horse-drawn carriage with floral tributes reading “Deano” and “Brother”.
His dog Billy, a miniature schnauzer, joined mourners in the church.
Sue Johnston, who played Sheila Grant in the soap and went on to star in The Royle Family, read the Beatles song In My Life before blowing a kiss to Sullivan’s coffin and saying: “Goodbye darling, sleep well.”
In an address, Sullivan’s sister, Joy Boyce, said: “He was a Liverpool character and even 20 years after the show he’d be recognised wherever he went.”
Paying tribute to her brother, who worked as a teacher before becoming an actor, she added: “He will be missed beyond belief by all his family and friends.
“He was intelligent and articulate and so many sought him out because of his wise advice and support.”
The Sing Me Merseyside choir sang Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours and Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen, during the service, before performing Liverpool anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone as the coffin was carried out of the church.
Speaking outside the church, Suzanne Collins, who played Nikki Shadwick in Brookside, said she met Sullivan when she joined the soap aged 19.
She said: “He was king of the Close, he ruled the school, he was just Mr Brookside.
“Everywhere we went we’d hear: ‘Jimmy!’ And he loved it, and he should have, because he was iconic.”
Rector of Liverpool Revd Canon Dr Crispin Pailing said the service had been a “wonderful celebration” of the life of Sullivan, who was a congregation member at the church.
He said: “We’ve all been very sad to lose such a good friend.
“I think the way that the country, not just the city, has reacted has astounded us a bit because Brookside, it’s 20 years since it went off our screens, yet for so many that face, that Jimmy Corkhill face, is still the same.
“Just before he died in hospital I was helping him with some forms, filling them in for him, and I filled in his name. Then it said: ‘Have you ever been known by any other name?’ And I thought: ‘What do I write in there?’
“I think the world knows him by a different name.”
McArdle said he had “happy memories” of playing Sullivan’s older brother.
He said: “The public loved him. He was Brookside really. He was in it for 17 years, longer than anybody that’s been in it.”
The order of service asked for donations in Sullivan’s memory to be made to Prostate Cancer UK.
The actor had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018.