'Caroline Aherne broke stereotype for women'

A comedian has called for a statue tribute to be created in memory of her idol Caroline Aherne, who she applauded for "breaking the stereotype that women aren't funny".

Stand-up comic Lucy Beaumont said the late Royle Family star and co-creator helped inspire her own career and should be commemorated with a statue in her home suburb of Wythenshawe, Manchester.

Aherne, who also regularly appeared as characters in The Fast Show and as the narrator of Gogglebox, died in 2016 of cancer, aged 52.

Beaumont said female comedians are "constantly faced with men saying woman aren't funny, but when you say 'Caroline Aherne', they say, 'all right then'".

The Hull-based comedian told BBC Radio Manchester she wanted to raise money in the new year to push for a statue of Aherne.

"When I found in Timperley that there was one for Frank Sidebottom – I thought there needs to be one for the late, great Carlone Aherne," she said.

“I didn’t know her, and I don’t have friends of friends even, I was just a fan."

Aherne began her career on the Manchester circuit in the 1980s and early 1990s before finding fame as Mrs Merton.

She then went on to create and star in the BAFTA-winning sitcom, The Royle Family, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000.

Beaumont said Aherne did the "virtually impossible" by showing an "authentic slice of working class life" through comedy, which she considered to be "groundbreaking".

“We now think of it as a massive hit but critics hated it at the time, they said 'it’s boring and it lacks craft'," she said.

But Beaumont said she watched the show and thought "I've spent all my life in living rooms like that", and the show really resonated with her and was relatable in a way that "defied logic really".

The comedian said she was likened to Aherne when she began because of how she sometimes trembled due to nerves on stage.

"It was really comforting to hear someone like that had nerves as well," she said.

“It would be nice to see a statue of one of your heroes because there aren’t enough statues of women - so what better person."

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