She died at her home in Manchester in northern England Saturday, publicist Neil Reading said.
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In a touching tribute, Noel Gallagher – who was a close friend of Caroline’s for the last twenty years – performed the classic Oasis hit “Half the world away” while on tour with his band The High Flying Birds.
Questioned about the personal battles she may have faced, the former producer revealed: “This is really one of the great tragedies of my professional life that I have watched happen, is that when we started working, Caroline was an innocent, happy young woman with an enormous talent. So wherever you are…” he said, pointing upwards. Her hair, beneath her wig, had regrown, she was painfully thin, but despite all this, she was on incredible form, the Caroline I knew and loved working with. She could make you smile immediately.
Tania Alexander added: “She was amusing, clever and a huge inspiration to me”.
John Thomson and Caroline Aherne as Mary and Joseph in a Fast Show Christmas special. I can never ever remember her complaining. A boss. A sister, real and (for me) fake.
Ricky Tomlinson has paid an emotional tribute to his on-screen daughter Caroline Aherne after she sadly passed away from cancer on Saturday.
“We went up to one of the offices at lunch time to write some more dialogue and Caroline was just lying on the floor when she came out with the best line of the Royle Family, from Nanna Norma”. It was those little things I loved her for. “Her death is a reminder how much she and her writing were, and still are, the exception”.
In what quickly became a classic one-liner, Mrs Merton famously asked Debbie McGee in 1995: “So what first, Debbie, attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”
South Shields comedian, Sarah Millican tweeted: “Jesus Christ”.
Millican said it was “so sad”.
“She was absolutely wonderful and awesome to work for”. “Another great gone. What a ghastly year”.
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FILE- This Jan 25, 2001 file photo shows comedian Caroline Aherne attending the South Bank Awards in London. Brilliantly silly. She was quite rebellious too.
