Dean Sullivan (born 7 June 1955 in Liverpool)[1] is an English actor. He is best known for playing Jimmy Corkhill in Channel 4's soap opera Brookside.
He joined Brookside in February 1986 and remained with the show until it was axed in November 2003, featuring in many of its ratings-pulling storylines during that time.
In 1994, he offered to resign from the series when reading in his scripts that his character was to take ecstasy; he urged producers to kill his character off in an attempt to warn youngsters about the danger of taking drugs. However, his offer to resign was rejected and he remained in the series until it was discontinued nearly a decade later.
Dean is BEd (Hons) graduate of Lancaster University and was a primary school teacher for six years before becoming an actor and then continued to work as a supply teacher between roles. He was a member of the Liverpool based Neptune Theatre Company and appeared in the Willy Russell stage play Breezeblock Park and the Phil Redmond play Soaplights at the Liverpool Playhouse.
He has organised 'murder weekends' with his company 'The Murder Game'.
Sullivan is currently filming a sitcom Terry Across the Mersey and up until May 2009 was presenting a daily show on City Talk 105.9 from St. John's Beacon. However after the recent Ofcom ruling that City Talk would also be allowed to play music he was dropped from the schedule. Recently, he took part in a protest against violence in Liverpool as part of a march organised by charity Term Time.
Sullivan was also keen to buy Brookside Close which was sold on 17 December 2008, as he wanted to revive the show.[2]However, the houses were sold to a different buyer.[3]
In August 2011, Sullivan expressed his interest in returning to television screens as Jimmy Corkhill in another TV series, such as Coronation Street or EastEnders.[4]