The star, best known for the sitcom The Royle Family and for ageing up as the agony aunt Mrs Merton, had been diagnosed with lung cancer and had previously been treated for bladder and eye cancer, as well as fighting depression and drink problems.
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Beloved actress, writer and comedian Caroline Aherne lost her courageous battle with cancer over the weekend – aged 52.
Very bright – nine straight As in O-levels from her convent school and an IQ of 176 – she studied drama at Liverpool Polytechnic then took a job as a BBC secretary in Manchester.
In 1997 Aherne caused a stir when she was photographed French-kissing Eurovision Song Contest victor Katrina Leskanich at the Sony Radio Awards ceremony.
Actor and writer Mark Gatiss said she was “so gifted” as he shared the “awful news”.
Aherne was raised on a council estate in Manchester and went on to study drama in Liverpool. And in 2014 announced she was battling lung cancer. She won plaudits from viewers earlier this year when, after time away for cancer treatment, she returned to the show in March with her voice rasping and weak.
One concert-goer told the Mirror: “It was just so moving”. She thinks I’m her dad!’ “RIP Caroline”, they posted on Twitter. But it only serves to make her death even more tragic and just plain sad.
A stand-up comic who expanded her career into TV comedy writing and performing, Aherne scored her first big success with her character Mrs Merton, the elderly host of the BBC’s 1990s faux-talk show The Mrs Merton Show. Her talents as a writer came to the fore during her work on sit-com The Royle Family, set almost exclusively in the living room of a working-class northern English family. She has died at the age of 52.
Noel Gallagher paid a heartfelt tribute to his friend Caroline Aherne by dedicating his song Half The World Away to her during a show in the US. Aherne wrote it with co-star Craig Cash, drawing on her own childhood experiences and the people she met growing up.
Tributes have been pouring in for Aherne, including thoughts from her The Royle Family cast members Ricky Tomlinson and Ralf Little.
But he admitted that a lot of her friends had sadly lost touch with her years ago when “regular intrusion into her private life” had led her to become a “virtual recluse”.
Performing at Ryman Auditorium he said “This song is for a friend of mine who died this afternoon, her name is Caroline”.
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Ellie Goulding said: ‘So so sad to hear about Caroline Aherne.
