FRIENDS and former colleagues of Wirral actor Dean Sullivan gathered to remember the former Brookside star at his funeral today (Tuesday, December 19).
The star, who had lived in New Brighton for many years and who played Jimmy Corkhill in the Channel Four soap, died on Wednesday, November 29, aged 68.
His funeral service took place at Our Lady & St Nicholas, The Parish Church of Liverpool.
Brookside cast members, including Sue Johnston, who also starred in the Royle Family, Michael Starke and Wallasey-based actor Louis Emerick were among those attending the service.
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 were also joined by the show’s creator Sir Phil Redmond.
Sullivan’s dog, a Schnauzer called Billy, was in attendance.
Paul Burrell, former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, also arrived for the service.
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”.
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.”
Liverpool-born Dean had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018.
He joined Channel 4 programme Brookside in 1986 and soon became a series regular due to the popularity of his character.
The brainchild of Grange Hill creator Redmond, Brookside was launched in November 1982, with its houses situated in a real cul-de-sac – part of a housing estate in West Derby, Liverpool.
The show launched the careers of dozens of high-profile actors.
Its last episode was filmed in September 2003 and aired in November the same year – and it was Jimmy Corkhill’s face that last filled the screen.
Dean was a two-time British Soap Awards winner and had roles in other TV dramas, including BBC’s Doctors and ITV’s The Royal.
Earlier this year he spoke to New Brighton Radio about his love for the area. He said: "I remember when I was a child we’d come over from Liverpool on the ferry and visit the pier and the open air baths.
"Those were the Halcyon days. When I bought my house here almost 30 years ago the area had fell into decline and there wasn’t much going on at all really.
"But now, we’ve got a cinema, a theatre and beautiful restaurants. Then when you move inland and see what’s going on in Victoria Road — that is just amazing! It’s like the Lark Lane of Wirral with lots of lovely restaurant, bars and places to hang out.
"It’s fantastic for the area, for Wirral and for Liverpool."
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