'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  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