Caroline Aherne

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox person Caroline Mary Aherne<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (24 December 1963 – 2 July 2016) was an English actress, comedian, writer and director. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host Mrs Merton, in various roles in The Fast Show, and as Denise in The Royle Family (1998–2012), a series which she co-wrote. She won BAFTA awards for her work on The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family.

Aherne narrated the Channel 4 reality television series Gogglebox from its inception in 2013 until 8 April 2016. She died of cancer at the age of 52.

Early life

Aherne was born in Ealing, London, on 24 December 1963, the second child of Irish parents Bartholomew Edmond "Bert" Aherne, a railwayman with London Transport, and Mary Frances "Maureen" Aherne (née Regan).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="manchester2002-uk1">Template:Cite web</ref> From the age of two, Aherne was brought up in Wythenshawe, Manchester.<ref name="screenonline">Rinaldi, Graham. "Aherne, Caroline (1963–)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved on 25 August 2007.</ref> Like her brother Patrick, Aherne had retinoblastoma in childhood, which left her partially sighted in one eye.<ref name="screenonline.org.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>

She attended the Hollies Convent FCJ School in West Didsbury, Xaverian College in Rusholme in Manchester and then studied drama at Liverpool Polytechnic.<ref name="manchester2002-uk1" />

Career

Early career

Aherne began performing on the Manchester comedy circuit as characters such as Mitzi Goldberg, lead singer of the comedy country and western act the Mitzi Goldberg Experience, and Sister Mary Immaculate, an Irish nun.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Her first job was a secretary at the BBC in Manchester. She gave a cassette of her work to the DJ Martin Kelner.<ref>Manchester Evening News Saturday 14 August 1993, page 25</ref>

The Mrs Merton character originated as a voice on the 1988 Frank Sidebottom album titled 5:9:88, after Aherne worked as a receptionist for his show on Piccadilly Radio.<ref name="kelner">Template:Cite news</ref> Aherne was then invited by Kelner to develop the character on his show, where she would spend many years appearing as a comedy agony aunt across the north of England on the BBC Night Network.<ref name="kelner" />

In 1990 Aherne became a late-night radio presenter on KFM Radio in Stockport, joining a line-up which included Craig Cash as well as Jon Ronson, Spence MacDonnald and The Word's Terry Christian.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Aherne's first TV appearances were as Mrs Merton in a semi-regular spot on the Granada TV discussion show Upfront in 1990. After that Mrs Merton became the regular celebrity interviewer on Granada's Saturday morning show Express!, a youth TV programme presented by I Am Kloot's John 'Johnny Dangerously' Bramwell<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Sumy Kuraishe from a number of random locations in the north west. In 1992 Aherne appeared as Mrs Merton in the local Yorkshire Television series Frank's Fantastic Shed Show, with Chris Sievey in his Frank Sidebottom persona.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For this Leeds-based ITV station Aherne had recorded a pilot of Mrs Murton's Nightcap,<ref>"Mrs Murton's Nightcap". theafterword.co.uk. 17 September 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2017</ref> but they had not pursued the concept. In 1993, she made brief appearances in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer and alongside Steve Coogan and John Thomson in a Granada TV pilot entitled The Dead Good Show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 9 April 1991 she appeared on the Radio 5 comedy series on Tuesdays at 12.30pm called 'Where Were You in...?', which featured mostly Manchester comedians. She appeared on BBC1 on 3 August 1991 on the late-night Saturday programme 'Paramount City', also with Simon Day.<ref>Times Saturday August 3 1991, page 18</ref> From 20 November 1993 she appeared on ITV's late-night Saturday programme 'Raw Soup'.<ref>Times Saturday November 20 1993, page 21</ref>

Mrs Merton

She rose to prominence in 1994 as her created character Mrs Merton on the mock chat show The Mrs Merton Show under her married name of Caroline Hook.<ref name="kelner" /> The guests were real-life celebrities, not actors, who found themselves the subject of outrageous faux-naïf questions – in one memorable example the wife of magician Paul Daniels, Debbie McGee, was asked "So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> – while a regular audience of pensioners were used each week for Mrs Merton to bounce questions off.

Another episode featured comedian Bernard Manning and actor Richard Wilson. Manning clashed with Wilson and Aherne as she asked him about his racist attitudes, at one point saying, "Who do you vote for now Hitler's dead?" – although he acknowledged that One Foot in the Grave was funny. The series ran in various formats from 1994 to 1997, winning a BAFTA for Best Talk Show in 1997.<ref name="Guardian"/> The success of the show was partly attributed to the "round vowel sounds of the North West accent" which "naturally sound safe and unthreatening" and which allowed the character "to ask the most outrageous, below-the-belt questions of her guest stars".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Mrs Merton character was given a sitcom, Mrs Merton and Malcolm, which depicted her home life with her "mummy's boy" son (played by co-writer Craig Cash). This aspect of Malcolm's character was exaggerated to the point that many complained the series ridiculed those with learning difficulties.<ref name="Learning Difficulties Criticism">Template:Cite web</ref> Mrs Merton and Malcolm lasted one series, and was released on DVD in 2008.

The Fast Show

She joined The Fast Show in January 1994, when the series had not been given a title. Filming would begin in March 1994. The first broadcast was on Tuesday 27 September 1994.<ref>Manchester Evening News Monday 10 January 1994, page 6</ref>

Between 1994 and 2004 she appeared alongside Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson in The Fast Show, where her characters included "Our Janine", a teenage mum with a unique world outlook; Renée, the endlessly chattering Northern wife of hen-pecked Roy; Checkout Girl, a simple and chatty young supermarket employee; and Chanel 9 meteorologist Poula Fisch, whose weather forecasts invariably included the word "Scorchio!"<ref>‘She was sharp as a tack but daft as a brush’: friends and colleagues remember the genius of the Royle Family’s Caroline Aherne, The Guardian</ref>

The Royle Family

Aherne's most popular creation is the situation comedy The Royle Family, which she co-created and wrote with Cash, and directed in its third series. The series was being written by August 1996, to start production in 1997.

The programme ran for three series from 1998 to 2000. Aherne starred alongside Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston, as their daughter Denise Royle. The show was a commercial and critical success, and ran for three series with a total of 20 episodes as well as five one-offs made for showing at Christmas. After a 2000 spoof documentary with Cash entitled Back Passage to India, Aherne said The Royle Family would end in December 2000 after a Christmas special, and that she would not appear on television again, although she would continue to write. Aherne received BAFTAs for Best Sitcom in 2000 and 2007,<ref name="Guardian"/> and she won the BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance in 2000. She was nominated for directing in 2001.<ref name="Guardian">Template:Cite web</ref>

Later career

Following a disagreement with Cash, Aherne moved to Australia and retreated from the press. She wrote Dossa and Joe which was screened on BBC Two in 2002. Although critics applauded it, the show failed to attract viewers and did not return for a second series. Returning to Britain, she began work on another sitcom with Cash, but pulled out, after which Cash wrote Early Doors with Phil Mealey; Aherne was listed in the credits in the "Thanks To" section.

After Dossa and Joe, Aherne avoided media attention. When The Fast Show was featured on the BBC One show Comedy Connections, Aherne was the only cast member not interviewed. In April 2006, the BBC said Aherne and Cash were developing a script for a one-off special of The Royle Family. The Royle Family: The Queen of Sheba was broadcast on 29 October 2006, to an audience of 7.8 million. Aherne subsequently made few TV appearances. On 14 October 2008, she appeared in the BBC comedy drama Sunshine, written by Cash and Phil Mealey, as a barmaid. She appeared in The Royle Family special "The New Sofa" on Christmas Day 2008. In 2009, she appeared in another special for Comic Relief, as well as another Christmas Day special entitled "The Golden Eggcup".

She co-wrote the ITV comedy-drama The Fattest Man in Britain, which was broadcast in December 2009. In November 2010, Aherne appeared in the special The Royle Family: Behind the Sofa shown on Gold, featuring clips of The Royle Family and interviews with Aherne, Cash and the cast, which was followed by another Christmas Day special, "Joe's Crackers". She narrated a BBC1 documentary series Pound Shop Wars broadcast in November 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She also appeared in The Fast Show internet specials, sponsored by the lager brand Fosters, which reunited most of the original principal cast; only Mark Williams was unable to participate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Aherne wrote the 2013 one-off sitcom The Security Men, along with Jeff Pope for ITV. The episode starred Paddy McGuinness, Brendan O'Carroll, Dean Andrews, Bobby Ball and Peter Wight.

Aherne's final major role was as narrator of the Channel 4 comedy reality series Gogglebox, reflecting her character in The Royle Family, who would frequently be watching TV and commenting on it. Cash filled in when she was unavailable and took over the role permanently in April 2016.

Aherne's final on-screen appearance came in the Sky One show After Hours, where she was reunited with Cash who produced and directed the show. She played the role of Sheila.

Personal life, illness and death

In January 1994, Aherne met Peter Hook at the Hacienda, after filming at Granada.<ref>Manchester Evening News Monday 28 February 1994, page 6</ref> They married in Las Vegas on 23 July.<ref>Manchester Evening News Friday 1 July 1994, page 6</ref> By July 1996 they had separated, and divorced in 1997.<ref>Manchester Evening News Thursday 11 July 1996, page 33</ref>

During their marriage, he appeared in her TV series The Mrs Merton Show as leader of Hooky & the Boys, the show's house band.<ref name="screenonline.org.uk"/> After her death, Hook said that he was repeatedly physically abused by Aherne during their marriage. Charities supporting victims of domestic violence welcomed his statements.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

By September 1996 she had met 27-year old Matt Bowers, a TV producer from Watford, who had been at Granada from August 1996.<ref>Manchester Evening News Thursday 3 October 1996, page 33</ref> They lived together in Didsbury.<ref>Manchester Evening News Thursday 2 January 1997, page 4</ref> Their relationship ended by January 1997; by mid-February, Bowers was hospitalised with stomach cancer at Watford General Hospital, having had months of stomach pains.<ref>Manchester Evening News Saturday 15 February 1997, page 4</ref> He died on 9 April 1997.<ref>Manchester Evening News Friday 11 April 1997, page 6</ref><ref name=":0" />

She met American actor Alexis Denisof in early July 1997.<ref>Manchester Evening News Wednesday 20 August 1997, page 25</ref> By 1998 she had moved to Holland Park in London, and her house in Mellington Avenue in East Didsbury was sold in January 1998.<ref>Manchester Evening News Thursday 8 January 1998, page 20</ref> Their relationship ended by July 1998.<ref name=":0" />

Aherne struggled with depression and alcoholism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She attempted suicide in July 1998 after Bowers' death and the end of her relationship with Denisof.<ref name=":0" /><ref>MRS MERTON SUICIDE ATTEMPT; Caroline takes pills overdose, Daily Mirror, 7 July 1998</ref> She checked in to the Priory, where she was diagnosed as a binge alcoholic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

She had suffered from bladder cancerTemplate:Cn and had been born with a rare cancer of the retina.<ref name="Viner">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2014, she also embarked on a programme of treatment for lung cancer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2014, Aherne appeared in Manchester at the launch of the Macmillan Cancer Improvement Partnership (MCIP), a £3.4 million scheme to co-ordinate cancer care in the city. She spoke about how a sense of humour had helped her cope with the disease.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2016, Aherne became the voice behind the UK government's "One You" health campaign, to persuade people to cut down on cigarettes and alcohol.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On the morning of 2 July 2016, Aherne died of lung cancer at her home in Timperley aged 52.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Aherne had told family and close friends in May that she was terminally ill.Template:Citation needed Her funeral took place on 14 July 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Many friends and co-stars were in attendance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2016, Steve Coogan paid tribute to Aherne at the Stand Up to Cancer 2016 event, speaking about her before a video was played of her TV moments, and then Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds performed The Royle Family theme tune "Half the World Away". As part of the Oasis Live '25 Tour, during their performance in Heaton Park, Noel dedicated the song once again to Aherne and Cash.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Year	Title	Actor	Writer	Acting role	Additional information
1992	Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Mrs Merton	3 episodes
	The Dead Good Show	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Various characters	Unknown episode(s)
1993	It's a Mad World, World, World, World	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Various characters	TV special
	Comic Timing	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Mrs Merton	1 episode
1994–2014	The Fast Show	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Various characters	25 episodes (acting) 10 episodes (writing)
1995	The World of Lee Evans	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Daughter	1 episode
	The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Woman with Dog / Flatulent Mother	2 episodes
1995–1998	The Mrs Merton Show	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Mrs Merton	Leading role – 4 series (29 episodes)
1996	Auntie's All-Time Greats	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Mrs Merton	TV special
1998–2000, 2006–2012	The Royle Family	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Denise Royle	Leading role – 3 series & 7 specials (25 episodes) 11 episodes (director) 8 episodes (associate producer)
1999	Mrs Merton and Malcolm	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Mrs Merton	1 series (6 episodes) Additional served as associate producer
2002	Dossa and Joe	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Director & executive producer (6 episodes)
2008	Sunshine	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Donna	Miniseries (episode 2)
2009	The Fattest Man in Britain	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Television film
2013	The Security Men	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Television drama – executive producer
2013–2014	Strange Hill High	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Stephanie	2 series (26 episodes) Additional voice roles
2015	After Hours	Template:Yes	Template:N/a	Sheila	2 episodes

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
1997	BAFTA Awards	Best Talk Show	The Mrs Merton Show	Template:Won	<ref name="Guardian"/>
	British Comedy Awards	Best BBC1 Personality		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		Best Female Comedy Performer		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	TRIC Awards	New TV Talent of the Year		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1999	BAFTA Awards	Best Comedy Series	The Royle Family	Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		Best Comedy Performance		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	British Comedy Awards	Best TV Comedy Actress	The Royle Family and Mrs Merton and Malcolm	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards	Writer's Award	The Royle Family	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2000	BAFTA Awards	Best Comedy Performance		Template:Won	<ref name="Guardian"/>
		Best Situation Comedy		Template:Won	<ref name="Guardian"/>
	Royal Television Society Awards	Best Sitcom		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		Best Writer		Template:Won
2001	TRIC Awards	Comedy Programme		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	BAFTA Awards	Best Comedy Performance		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		Best Situation Comedy		Template:Nom
2007		Best Situation Comedy	The Royle Family: "Queen of Sheba"	Template:Won	<ref name="Guardian"/>
	Royal Television Society Awards	Best Comedy Writer		Template:Won	Template:Citation needed

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Caroline Aherne biography and credits at BFI Screenonline
• Caroline Aherne pictures at Universal Search
• Obituary: Caroline Aherne, BBC News, 2 July 2016
• Template:British Comedy Guide