Caroline Aherne
Encyclopedia
Caroline Mary Aherne is an English comedian and BAFTA winning writer and actress, best known for Mrs Merton
and The Royle Family
.
railway worker and from the age of two, raised in Wythenshawe
, Manchester
. Like her brother, Aherne suffered from retinoblastoma
in childhood, which left her partially sighted in one eye.
for his show on Piccadilly Radio, where she worked as a receptionist. Aherne's first TV appearances were a semi-regular spot on the Granada TV discussion show "Upfront" in 1990, as Mrs Merton. She made brief appearances in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer
(1993), alongside Steve Coogan
and John Thomson
in a Granada TV
pilot entitled The Dead Good Show, then appeared in and wrote for the BBC comedy series The Fast Show
between 1994 and 1997, and rose to prominence as the character Mrs Merton on the mock talk show, The Mrs Merton Show
, in 1994.
Mrs Merton was a character created by Aherne who hosted her own chat show. Guests (real-life celebrities, not actors) found themselves on the receiving end of outrageous faux naïve questions. The best known example was the question addressed to the partner of magician Paul Daniels
, Debbie McGee
: "So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" Another episode featured comedian Bernard Manning
and actor Richard Wilson. Manning clashed with Wilson and Aherne, although he did acknowledge that One Foot in the Grave
was funny. The series ran in various formats from 1994 to 1997, winning a BAFTA in 1995. The 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
). However, this aspect of Malcolm's character was exaggerated to the point where many complained that the series made fun of people with learning difficulties. Mrs Merton and Malcolm lasted one series, and was only released on DVD in 2008.
In 2011 it was confirmed that Aherne along with most of the original cast (except Mark Williams) would reunite for an online series of The Fast Show sponsored by lager brand, Fosters.
, which she co-created and wrote with Cash, and directed in its third season. 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 seasons of six episodes as well as three one-offs. 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.
, screened on BBC 2 in 2002. Although critics applauded it, the show did not attract viewers and did not return for a second series. Returning to Britain, she began work on another sitcom with Cash but pulled out, leaving Cash to write with Phil Mealey
. Early Doors
was a hit in 2003. It was commissioned for a second series, screened in August 2004.
Since Dossa and Joe, Aherne has 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 episode, entitled The Royle Family: The Queen of Sheba, was broadcast on 29 October 2006, to an audience of 7.8 million. Aherne has since made three appearances on TV. On 14 October 2008 she was in the BBC comedy drama Sunshine
as a barmaid. It was written by Cash and Phil Mealey. She appeared in The Royle Family, The New Sofa on Christmas Day 2008. In 2009, she appeared in a Royle Family special for Comic Relief
as well as another Christmas Day special of The Royle Family entitled The Golden Eggcup. She co-wrote the ITV1
comedy-drama The Fattest Man in Britain
, which aired in December 2009.
In November 2010, Aherne made another appearance, in the special The Royle Family: Behind the Sofa shown on G.O.L.D., featuring clips of The Royle Family and interviews with Aherne, Cash and the cast which was followed by another Christmas Day special, Joe's Cracker.
Aherne is currently writing a sitcom to be aired on ITV called The Security Men alongside Jeff Pope with whom she collaborated to write The Fattest Man in Britain
. The new four-part series will star Paddy McGuinness
, Brendan O'Carroll
, Dean Andrews
, Bobby Ball
and Peter Wright.
of New Order
until 1997. During their marriage, he appeared in her TV series as leader of Hooky & the Boys, the house-band of The Mrs Merton Show.
The Mrs Merton Show
The Mrs Merton Show is a mock talk show starring Caroline Aherne as the elderly host Mrs Merton. It ran from 1994 to 1998, and was produced by Granada Television.The writers included Aherne, Craig Cash, Dave Gorman and Henry Normal....
and The Royle Family
The Royle Family
The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards...
.
Background
Aherne was born in London into the family of an IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
railway worker and from the age of two, raised in Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe is a district in the south of the city of Manchester, England.Formerly part of the administrative county of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s to resolve the problem of its inner...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. Like her brother, Aherne suffered from retinoblastoma
Retinoblastoma
Retinoblastoma is a rapidly developing cancer that develops in the cells of retina, the light-detecting tissue of the eye. In the developed world, Rb has one of the best cure rates of all childhood cancers , with more than nine out of every ten sufferers surviving into...
in childhood, which left her partially sighted in one eye.
Early career
Aherne began performing on the Manchester comedy circuit as Mitzi Goldberg, lead singer of the comedy country and western act The Mitzi Goldberg Experience. She developed her Mrs Merton character with Frank SidebottomFrank Sidebottom
Christopher Mark Sievey was an English musician and comedian known for fronting the band The Freshies in the late 1970s and early 1980s and for his comic persona Frank Sidebottom from 1984 onwards....
for his show on Piccadilly Radio, where she worked as a receptionist. Aherne's first TV appearances were a semi-regular spot on the Granada TV discussion show "Upfront" in 1990, as Mrs Merton. She made brief appearances in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer
The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer
The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer was a BBC TV sketch show written by and starring double act Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer. Its first series appeared in 1993 following the duo's move to the BBC after parting company with Channel 4...
(1993), alongside Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
and John Thomson
John Thomson
John Thomson may refer to:*John Arthur Thomson , Scottish naturalist*John Charles Thomson , New Zealand politician*John Edgar Thomson , American civil engineer, railroad executive and industrialist...
in a Granada TV
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
pilot entitled The Dead Good Show, then appeared in and wrote for the BBC comedy series The Fast Show
The Fast Show
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
between 1994 and 1997, and rose to prominence as the character Mrs Merton on the mock talk show, The Mrs Merton Show
The Mrs Merton Show
The Mrs Merton Show is a mock talk show starring Caroline Aherne as the elderly host Mrs Merton. It ran from 1994 to 1998, and was produced by Granada Television.The writers included Aherne, Craig Cash, Dave Gorman and Henry Normal....
, in 1994.
Mrs Merton was a character created by Aherne who hosted her own chat show. Guests (real-life celebrities, not actors) found themselves on the receiving end of outrageous faux naïve questions. The best known example was the question addressed to the partner of magician Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward Daniels on 6 April 1938, is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...
, Debbie McGee
Debbie McGee
Debbie McGee is an English television, radio and stage performer who is best known as the wife and assistant of magician Paul Daniels. McGee is a former ballet dancer and, for three years, she was artistic director of her own ballet company...
: "So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" Another episode featured comedian Bernard Manning
Bernard Manning
Bernard John Manning was an English comedian and nightclub owner. He was born and raised in Manchester in northwest England....
and actor Richard Wilson. Manning clashed with Wilson and Aherne, although he did acknowledge that One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000...
was funny. The series ran in various formats from 1994 to 1997, winning a BAFTA in 1995. The character was given a sitcom, Mrs Merton and Malcolm
Mrs Merton and Malcolm
Mrs Merton and Malcolm was a six episode BBC One sitcom produced by Granada and written by Caroline Aherne, Craig Cash and Henry Normal. It has never been repeated on the BBC although a DVD was released on 10 November 2008...
, which depicted her home life with her "mummy's boy" son (played by co-writer Craig Cash
Craig Cash
Craig Cash is an English comedy actor, BAFTA award-winning writer and also a director.-Biography:Cash is best known for playing slightly dull and dopey working-class northern men, particularly Dave Best in the hugely successful BBC sitcom The Royle Family, which he co-wrote with Caroline Aherne...
). However, this aspect of Malcolm's character was exaggerated to the point where many complained that the series made fun of people with learning difficulties. Mrs Merton and Malcolm lasted one series, and was only released on DVD in 2008.
In 2011 it was confirmed that Aherne along with most of the original cast (except Mark Williams) would reunite for an online series of The Fast Show sponsored by lager brand, Fosters.
The Royle Family
Her most popular creation is the situation comedy The Royle FamilyThe Royle Family
The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards...
, which she co-created and wrote with Cash, and directed in its third season. Aherne starred alongside Ricky Tomlinson
Ricky Tomlinson
Eric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....
and Sue Johnston
Sue Johnston
Susan "Sue" Johnston, OBE is a BAFTA nominated English actress best known for playing Sheila Grant in the long-running soap opera Brookside , Grace Foley in Waking the Dead from 2000 to 2011 and Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family between 1998 and 2000, and again in 2006, 2008, 2009,...
, as their daughter Denise Royle. The show was a commercial and critical success, and ran for three seasons of six episodes as well as three one-offs. 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.
Withdrawal from public life
Following a falling-out with Cash, Aherne moved to Australia, retreating from the press. She wrote Dossa and JoeDossa and Joe
Dossa and Joe was a 2002, bittersweet television comedy series, written and directed by Caroline Aherne and starring Anne Charleston as Dossa and Michael Caton as Joe....
, screened on BBC 2 in 2002. Although critics applauded it, the show did not attract viewers and did not return for a second series. Returning to Britain, she began work on another sitcom with Cash but pulled out, leaving Cash to write with Phil Mealey
Phil Mealey
-Biography:Mealy co-wrote and associate-produced the BBC comedy series Early Doors with Craig Cash. Mealey also acted in the show, playing the character Duffy. Cash and Mealey won two North West Comedy Awards in 2005 for the writing and acting on the show....
. Early Doors
Early Doors
Early Doors is a BBC sitcom written by Craig Cash and Phil Mealey who also appear in the series playing best friends Joe and Duffy. The setting is The Grapes, a small public house in Greater Manchester, where daily life revolves around the issues of love, loneliness and blocked urinals...
was a hit in 2003. It was commissioned for a second series, screened in August 2004.
Since Dossa and Joe, Aherne has avoided media attention. When The Fast Show was featured on the BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
show Comedy Connections
Comedy Connections
Comedy Connections was a BBC One documentary series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from 2003 to 2008. The show looked at the stories behind the production of some of Britain's comedy television programmes, showing how they tied in with the production of other comedy shows...
, 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 episode, entitled The Royle Family: The Queen of Sheba, was broadcast on 29 October 2006, to an audience of 7.8 million. Aherne has since made three appearances on TV. On 14 October 2008 she was in the BBC comedy drama Sunshine
Sunshine (UK TV series)
Sunshine is a three-part comedy drama that began on 7 October 2008 on BBC1 from the co-writers of The Royle Family and Early Doors. These co-writers, Craig Cash and Phil Mealey, also appear in the series.-Plot:...
as a barmaid. It was written by Cash and Phil Mealey. She appeared in The Royle Family, The New Sofa on Christmas Day 2008. In 2009, she appeared in a Royle Family special for Comic Relief
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...
as well as another Christmas Day special of The Royle Family entitled The Golden Eggcup. She co-wrote the ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
comedy-drama The Fattest Man in Britain
The Fattest Man in Britain
The Fattest Man in Britain is a comedy-drama written by Caroline Aherne and Jeff Pope which aired on ITV on 20 December 2009. It starred Timothy Spall, Bobby Ball, Aisling Loftus and Barry Austin...
, which aired in December 2009.
In November 2010, Aherne made another appearance, in the special The Royle Family: Behind the Sofa shown on G.O.L.D., featuring clips of The Royle Family and interviews with Aherne, Cash and the cast which was followed by another Christmas Day special, Joe's Cracker.
Aherne is currently writing a sitcom to be aired on ITV called The Security Men alongside Jeff Pope with whom she collaborated to write The Fattest Man in Britain
The Fattest Man in Britain
The Fattest Man in Britain is a comedy-drama written by Caroline Aherne and Jeff Pope which aired on ITV on 20 December 2009. It starred Timothy Spall, Bobby Ball, Aisling Loftus and Barry Austin...
. The new four-part series will star Paddy McGuinness
Paddy McGuinness
Paddy McGuinness may refer to:* Paddy McGuinness , English stand-up comedian* Padraic McGuinness , Australian journalist- See also :...
, Brendan O'Carroll
Brendan O'Carroll
Brendan O'Carroll is an Irish comedian, writer, actor and director. Best known for portraying the foul-mouthed Irish matriarch Mrs. Brown, O'Carroll has been a popular comedian in Ireland since the early 1990s.-Early life:...
, Dean Andrews
Dean Andrews
Dean Andrews is a British actor.He is most famous for his role as DS Ray Carling in the BBC Television drama Life on Mars...
, Bobby Ball
Bobby Ball
Bobby Ball is one half of the comedy double act Cannon and Ball, along with Tommy Cannon.He married his first wife, Joan, in 1964, with whom he had two sons, Robert and Darren , who are now a comedy double act in their own right, performing under their surname 'Harper'. Bobby and his first wife...
and Peter Wright.
Personal life
Aherne was married to Peter HookPeter Hook
Peter Hook is an English bass player, musician and author.He was a co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division along with Bernard Sumner in the mid-1970s. Following the death of lead singer Ian Curtis, the band reformed as New Order, and Hook played bass with them throughout their career until...
of New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
until 1997. During their marriage, he appeared in her TV series as leader of Hooky & the Boys, the house-band of The Mrs Merton Show.