‘Irreplaceable comic genius’ Aherne dies of cancer, aged 52
The Royle Family and Gogglebox star used humour to help fight lifelong battle with disease
CAROLINE AHERNE, who created, wrote and starred in The Royle Family, has died of cancer at the age of 52, prompting a flood of moving tributes yesterday to her “comic genius”.
Aherne had spent much of her life battling cancer and other demons, including depression and alcoholism. But she was responsible for some of the funniest and most endearing characters created on television, including the mock chat-show host Mrs Merton. Aherne had said her humour had helped her in coping with her long and frequent fights with cancer.
Sue Johnston, who played Aherne’s on-screen mother in The Royle Family, said simply: “I am devastated at her passing and I am numb with grief ”, while Ralf Little, who played her brother, Antony, in the sitcom, wrote on Twitter: “Sorry for silence – I just don’t know what to say. What a sad, sad day. We’ve lost another one of our best. A character. A legend. A boss. A sister, real and (for me) fake. A boss. A writer. An actor. A genius. A friend. Big, big heart. Goodbye. X”
He added: “Thing is, amidst all sadness Caroline would now say something grounded, incisive, and hilarious. I can’t think of anything, but she would.”
It was on The Mrs Merton Show that Aherne, made up as a blue-rinse grandmother and mock presenter, asked with straight face of Debbie McGee, the much younger wife of the magician Paul Daniels: “So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”
The line is one of the funniest – and best remembered – in television history and has been cannibalised and reused countless times since.
Yesterday, McGee tweeted in tribute: “Just heard the very sad news about Caroline Aherne she was wonderful especially as Mrs Merton. My interview will be a treasured memory.”
Her death was announced yesterday afternoon by Neil Reading, her publicist, who said in a statement: “Caroline Aherne has sadly passed away, after a brave battle with cancer.
“The Bafta award-winning writer and comedy actor died earlier today at her home in Timperley, Greater Manchester. She was 52. The family ask for privacy at this very sad time.”
Before The Mrs Merton Show, Aherne had written and performed on the BBC’s hit comedy sketch show The Fast
Show, alongside Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson, which ran from 1994 to 1997.
John Thomson, another of her costars, tweeted yesterday: “I’ve lost a very good friend, we went back years. An irreplaceable comic genius. A joy to be and work with. The Renée to my Roy. RIP Caroline.”
Thomson played Roy, a hen-pecked husband, to Aherne’s domineering wife, Renée, in the show.
But Aherne will be best remembered and loved for The Royle Family, which she created with Craig Cash, and which took as its subject a working-class family in Manchester. Almost the entire action was spent in the living room
‘What a sad, sad day. We lost another of our best. A character. A legend. A boss. A sister. A writer. An actor. A genius. A friend’
watching the characters watching television.
The unlikely subject matter was a huge critical and commercial success. Running for three series on the BBC from 1998 to 2000, as well as later Christmas specials, it revolved around the family of Jim and Barbara Royle, played by Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston, and their children, Denise and Antony, played by Aherne and Little.
Aherne’s character was memorably lazy, her hapless and less than bright boyfriend, played by her co-writer Cash, forced to do all the running around at her behest.
The Royle Family won a series of Baftas and made Aherne one of the most loved and respected stars on television. It was also the toast of the 1999 British Comedy Awards, winning four trophies including Best Actress for Aherne.
But with her fame and genius came demons.
She had struggled with health problems for a number of years, and in July 1998 went to hospital after overdosing on sleeping pills at her home in Notting Hill, west London. She described the suicide attempt as her “lowest ebb” but afterwards threw herself into turning
The Royle Family into a huge success. Aherne was also treated over the years for alcohol dependency and depression at The Priory clinic in London.
She was at the peak of her fame when she suddenly quit the UK in 2001 to live as a virtual recluse in Australia for five years. She returned to Britain in 2006, selling her London home and moving to south Manchester, living around the corner from her mother and brother.
She had also battled over the course of her lifetime with cancer. “My brother and I were born with cancer of the eyes, the retina. My mum told us only special people get cancer. I must be very special because I have had it in my lungs and bladder as well,” she said in 2014 at a press conference for the Macmillan cancer charity.
At the same time, she had told how her humour had helped her fight the disease in hospital. “The other thing that gets you through, I’ve found – so many funny things happen when