
Acting
Sammy Johnson
Born — Died
1949-05-14 — 1998-11-01
Place of birth
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
14 titles
Born Ronald Samuel Johnson, Sammy Johnson (14th May 1949 to November 1998) was an English actor best known for the role of Stick in Spender. A close friend of Jimmy Nail, this was just one of the many programmes they co-starred in together (the others being Crocodile Shoes and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet). He also appeared in an adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Gambling Man, and as Viz's famous comic book character Sid the Sexist, as well as the 1985 film Seacoal, 1989's And a Nightingale Sang, the 1997 TV film King Leek and a guest appearance in Casualty in 1996. One of his final roles was as Terry in Lost in France, a series of short topical specials that saw him play the patriarch of a fami…
Known for
6.8Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme. Wycliffe is played by Jack Shepherd, assisted by DI Doug Kersey and DI Lucy Lane. Each episode deals with a murder investigation. In the early series, the stories are adapted from Burley's books and are in classic whodunit style, often with quirky characters and plot elements. In later seasons, the tone becomes more naturalistic and there is more emphasis on internal politics within the police.
Wycliffe
1994
7.2Jimmy Nail plays tough cop Spender, forced to return to his native Newcastle after a failed undercover operation in London. He uses tough and unconventional methods to tackle the criminal underworld, but he must also deal with the friends, enemies and family he left behind, and never expected to return to. Sammy Johnson played Spender's sidekick Stick, while Denise Welch played Spender's wife.
Spender
1991
7.9Seven British construction workers escape Britain's ever growing dole queues and travel to Germany to work on a site in Dusseldorf. We follow their trials and tribulations of working away from home and away from the women they left behind.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
1983
7.3Crocodile Shoes is a British 7-part television series made by the BBC and screened on BBC One in 1994. The series was written by and starred Jimmy Nail as a factory worker who becomes a country and western singer. A sequel, Crocodile Shoes II followed in 1996 and the theme tune "Country Boy" was a hit for Nail too.
Crocodile Shoes
1994
NRThis brief series (12 episodes of 10 or 15 minutes each screened over a three week period) followed the adventures of a family pursuing the English football team around France during the World Cup. The series was written during filming to acknowledge the success or failure of the team in the competition.
Lost In France
1998
NRSpender Christmas Special: Spender is sent to France to escort Tommy Thornton who has been extradited to the UK.
Spender : The French Collection
1993
Film credits
1990s · 3 titles
NRSpender Christmas Special: Spender is sent to France to escort Tommy Thornton who has been extradited to the UK.
Spender : The French Collection
1993
7.5Viz magazine's 'Sid the Sexist' comes to life in this animated version of the exploits of 'Tyneside's silver tongued cavalier.'
Sid the Sexist
1992
NRA comic tale of competitive leek growing in the north of England, where the stakes are high and the tactics are dirty. Vegetable mad Malcolm has just one ambition in life - to grow the biggest leek in the region. But will he be crowned 'King Leek'?
King Leek
1997
1980s · 3 titles
5.2Set in working class Newcastle, the Stott family fight their private battles against the backdrop of the conflict of World War II. Helen Stott, over thirty and with a limp, is resigned to being left on the shelf until she meets and falls in love with Norman, a serviceman from London. In contrast, her younger sister Joyce has quite a way with men, and finds herself a little too popular with the troops, especially when her husband pops up on leave from his regiment.
And a Nightingale Sang
1989
6.0A feature drama set in the declining fishing industry in North Shields, the film centres on the upheaval caused in a traditional fishing community by the unexpected arrival of a young woman.
In Fading Light
1989
6.0Betty and her daughter Corinna are introduced to the harsh seacoaling way of life by Ray, an ex-seacoaler returning from a job with ICI. His offer of a caravan on a cliff top and promises of the Klondyke that awaits them at least seem preferable to the violent marriage she has left behind. The film sets Betty's struggle for survival against the wider struggles of the seacoaling community, surviving on the fringes of capitalism. Despite the exploitation by a local entrepreneur, run-ins with dole snoops and School Board men and the ever encroaching regulations of a hostile council, their lives retain a kind of anarchic romance, which is reflected in the film's lyrical style.
Seacoal
1985
Series credits
6.8Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme. Wycliffe is played by Jack Shepherd, assisted by DI Doug Kersey and DI Lucy Lane. Each episode deals with a murder investigation. In the early series, the stories are adapted from Burley's books and are in classic whodunit style, often with quirky characters and plot elements. In later seasons, the tone becomes more naturalistic and there is more emphasis on internal politics within the police.
Wycliffe
1994
7.2Jimmy Nail plays tough cop Spender, forced to return to his native Newcastle after a failed undercover operation in London. He uses tough and unconventional methods to tackle the criminal underworld, but he must also deal with the friends, enemies and family he left behind, and never expected to return to. Sammy Johnson played Spender's sidekick Stick, while Denise Welch played Spender's wife.
Spender
1991
7.9Seven British construction workers escape Britain's ever growing dole queues and travel to Germany to work on a site in Dusseldorf. We follow their trials and tribulations of working away from home and away from the women they left behind.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
1983
7.3Crocodile Shoes is a British 7-part television series made by the BBC and screened on BBC One in 1994. The series was written by and starred Jimmy Nail as a factory worker who becomes a country and western singer. A sequel, Crocodile Shoes II followed in 1996 and the theme tune "Country Boy" was a hit for Nail too.
Crocodile Shoes
1994
NRThis brief series (12 episodes of 10 or 15 minutes each screened over a three week period) followed the adventures of a family pursuing the English football team around France during the World Cup. The series was written during filming to acknowledge the success or failure of the team in the competition.
Lost In France
1998
6.2The Gambling Man is a three-part British television drama based on Catherine Cookson's 1975 novel of the same name. Produced by Tyne Tees Television for ITV, the serial stars Robson Green, Stephanie Putson, Ian Cullen, and David Nellist. Dissatisfied with his life, Tyneside rent collector Rory Connor decides to use his talents as a card player to improve his situation. He's soon able to purchase a boatyard and marry his childhood sweetheart Janie Waggett, but his success is built on a tangle of lies and deceit. Never one to shy away from high stakes, Rory is in the game of his life when he's asked to make the ultimate sacrifice for his brother.
The Gambling Man
1995


