by Dean Sullivan, who has died aged 68 after suffering from prostate cancer, played Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside – a character who was involved in petty crime before mixing with hardened criminals and turning to drugs – and was the t – longest-running actor in Liverpool drama, created by Phil Redmond, who rocked the TV soap opera when it launched on Channel 4 in 1982.
He joined the semi-regime in 1986, playing younger brother Billy (John McArdle), who had been introduced to his family the previous year. Jimmy’s initial scams included burglarizing Billy’s house for the insurance to ease their financial problems and doing his electricity meter.
Jimmy was friends with a younger generation of “scallies” – Barry Grant (played by Paul Usher) and Terry Sullivan (Brian Regan) – and worked together for various shady “business ventures” with the window cleaner Sinbad (Michael Stark). But because of his ties to Liverpool’s underworld he and Billy were in danger. The back story was that they always worshiped their older brother, Frankie, who was killed in a gang fight.
On screen, when the murderer, Joey Godden (Carl Chase), was released from prison in 1990 – the year Sullivan joined the Brookside team full-time – Jimmy vowed to get revenge, but faced it, with the help of Billy reluctant, led only. for the brothers themselves being attacked. Later, Jimmy found himself a getaway driver when Godden was involved in an armed robbery.
When Jimmy’s girlfriend, Kathy Roach (Noreen Kershaw), then shoots him, his estranged wife, Jackie (Sue Jenkins), brings him back. But when he descended into hell he became a drug dealer, then an addict, before being jailed for breaking into Brookside houses to finance his fix. His addiction caused the death of Frank Rogers (Peter Christian) and Tony Dixon (Mark Lennock) when he crashed into the car.
The soap star whose character was always on the wrong side of the law – off-screen, until 1990 – was also in a role where he had to be a role model: as a supply teacher in London primary schools. “I think the kids thought they were going to be taught something scary, but they got a rude awakening because I’m a stickler for discipline,” Sullivan told author Geoff Tibballs, for the book Brookside: The First Ten Years ( 1992).
Brookside’s social realism and Brookside jokes were credited with inspiring a new generation of soap operas. It was followed by the BBC’s EastEnders in 1985. But from a peak of more than seven million viewers, Brookside’s ratings declined in the late 1990s as storytelling became more popular, and Channel 4 axed the series in 2003. As the last episode ended, Sullivan’s character was seen scrawling a letter. “D” at the end of the Brookside Close sign.
He was born in Liverpool to Evelyn (née Goddard) and William Sullivan, the fourth of their seven children, and attended St Margaret’s High School, Aigburth. He performed as an amateur with the Merseyside Youth Drama group as a teenager, described by one local critic as “a commanding judge” in an audition scene of Toad of Toad Hall at the Neptune theatre, Liverpool, in 1974.
After graduating with a BEd in drama and education from Lancaster University, he taught drama and English in primary schools around Liverpool for six years and directed school plays.
He continued in amateur plays with the Neptune theater company, earning good notices for roles such as Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Tommy in Breezeblock Park, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jimmy in Look Back in Anger and Horst in Bent.
Turning professional, he joined the Cloughtown festival theater company as assistant stage manager and actor in 1984, before appearing at Theatr Clwyd, Mold, and Theater Gateway, Chester, working as a supply teacher between jobs.
In 1987, Sullivan was managing producer in Soaplights, a satire on glossy television series written by Redmond and produced at Liverpool Playhouse. The Financial Times noted that his physical reputation made him look like “John Cleese’s screwdriver”.
On stage, he also starred as Scollery in the northern premiere of Jim Cartwright’s play Road (Octagon theatre, Bolton, 1988). He then founded the Liverpool Theater Company, directing productions at the Neptune theater (later the Epstein), Speke Hall and outdoor venues between 1989 and 1994, including The Importance of Being Earnest, the play Victoria Wood Talent, Hay Fever and Blue Remembered Hills.
Some of the company’s actors appeared in “murder weekends” such as Cluedo organized by the Murder business he founded at hotels.
On BBC Radio Merseyside, Sullivan played Sam Jackson in the soap opera The Merseysiders (1987-90). In 2003, he won a special achievement honor at the British Soap Awards. His later television appearances included parts in Doctors (in 2005) and Crime Stories (in 2012).
Sullivan is survived by four brothers, Alan, Brian, Derek and Neil, and a sister, Joy.
• Dean Sullivan, actor and director, born 7 June 1955; he died 29 November 2023
