Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and Jim Royle in The Royle Family (1998–2012) and playing the titular character in the film Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001). Early life Eric Tomlinson was born on 26 September 1939 at Burleigh House in Bispham, Blackpool, Lancashire, and has lived in Liverpool nearly all his life. His father was a baker and he was born in Bispham, near Blackpool, because, just after the outbreak of World War II, his mother Peggy was evacuated there over concerns that Liverpool would be bombed. He attended Walton Technical College in Walton, after passing an exam when he was 13. His favourite subject was English. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Tomlinson played banjo in bands known as the Guitanjos, Hobo Rick & The City Slickers, and Hobo Rick and the Hi-Free Three. For a time, the band's pianist was John "Duff" Lowe, a former member of Beatles forerunner the Quarrymen. Career Plasterer A plasterer by trade, he worked on various building sites for many years. Television As an actor he appeared as Bobby Grant in the soap opera Brookside from the show's inception in 1982 until being written out in 1988, followed by DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and as Jim Royle in the sitcom The Royle Family. In 2002 Tomlinson starred in the BBC Series Nice Guy Eddie playing a Liverpool private investigator. 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. Tomlinson featured heavily in series two of Paul Abbott's series Clocking Off, in a BAFTA-nominated episode written by Danny Brocklehurst. 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 December 2006, he presented a programme in Channel Five's Disappearing Britain series entitled "When Coal Was King". In March 2007, Tomlinson presented BBC's One Life: Guilty My Arse, detailing his version of the "Shrewsbury