SHE is known for playing chain-smoking mother and couch potato Barbara Royle, alongside Liverpool actor Ricky Tomlinson in the BBC comedy The Royle Family.

So when Liverpool actress Sue Johnston collected her OBE from the Queen at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace yesterday, she suspected the monarch was not a fan of the Caroline Aherne written series.

The 65-year-old Warrington- born actress said: "I doubt she watches it. I bet William and Harry do, though. But I don't think it would be quite her thing."

Johnston, an avid Liverpool Football Club fan, is one of the country’s most accomplished actresses.

She was awarded for services to drama and charity.

The star spent eight years playing Sheila Grant in popular Liverpool soap Brookside.

Actor Ricky Tomlinson played her husband in the soap as well as in the award-winning Royle Family, where Johnston was loved by fans for her role as hard-working mother Barbara.

Her credits include Waking The Dead and drama The Street and a number of big budget films such as Brassed Off.

She also received acclaim for her role as a sufferer of motor neurone disease in Goodbye Cruel World.

She has also appeared in many drama series including Inspector Morse, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and My Uncle Silas.

But Johnston, who started her working life in a factory, said that both her parents, who are no longer alive, as "traditionalists” would have been more proud of the award than any of her many film, TV and theatre successes.