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Caroline Aherne

Born in London and raised in Wythenshawe, Manchester, Caroline Aherne started out on the comedy circuit in the mid-Nineties with characters such as country singer Mitzi Goldberg and nun Sister Mary Immaculate.

She also made regular appearances on Manchester radio stations, including KFM, where she met her Royle Family co-creator Craig Cash; and Piccadilly Radio, where she developed the character of pensioner Mrs Merton for Frank Sidebottom’s show.

She made brief appearances in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer and appeared in and wrote for The Fast Show in the mid-Nineties, before Mrs Merton was given her own mock talk show, where she had famous exchanges with Debbie McGee and Bernard Manning among others. The character was also given a short-lived spin-off sitcom Mrs Merton and Malcolm, about her home life with her over-protected son, played by co-writer Craig Cash.

With Cash she also created The Royle Family, in which she also played Denise Royle in all three series as well as six one-offs. Aherne also directed later episodes.

In 2002, she moved to Australia and wrote the series Dossa and Joe, about a working-class Australian family, but it failed to find an audience.

In 2009, she co-wrote the ITV1 comedy-drama The Fattest Man in Britain with Jeff Pope – and in 2011 they reunited to write the four-part ITV series The Security Men.

Aherne was married to Peter Hook of New Order until 1997. During their marriage, he led the house band – Hooky & the Boys – on The Mrs Merton Show

Caroline Aherne biopic in the works

'Sad, funny and very emotional’ script has been written

Work is under way on a film about the life of Caroline Aherne.

Titled Half The World Away – in honour of the Oasis song that served as The Royle Family’s theme tune – the biopic has already been scripted by Philomena writer Jeff Pope.

Producer Andy Harries – who was an executive on both The Royle Family and The Mrs Merton Show – is now on the lookout for a director and cast.

Harries, who also brought The Crown to the screen, told showbiz trade website Deadline – which broke the news – that the script is ‘sad, funny and very emotional’.

Pope also had close ties with Aherne, have worked together on the scripts for 2009’s The Fattest Man in Britain, starring Timothy Spall, and 2013’s The Security Men, starring Brendan O'Carroll and Bobby Ball.

He told Deadline: ‘I loved Caroline and I still think about her, or some funny line she came up with, almost every day.

‘She was a true original, a working-class woman from Manchester who broke all the rules – every single one of them. I want more people to understand what a genius she was, and what drove her.’

Craig Cash, Aherne’s most regular collaborator, is a consultant and executive producer on the new project.

He is now the narrator of Gogglebox, a job he inherited from Aherne after she died from cancer in July 2016 at the age of 52. She also struggled with depression and alcoholism over her career.

In 2023, the BBC aired a documentary about Aherne's career and legacy in its prestigious Arena arts documentary strand, which is still available on iPlayer.

Published: 22 Sep 2025