Sad news today as actress Caroline Aherne has revealed she is fighting lung cancer. The star of the hit comedy series The Royle Family has been undergoing treatment for the cancer in Manchester.

The actress did not want to speak about her illness but revealed her fight as she backed a £3.4m bid to improve care for cancer patients in Manchester. She will be helping launch the Macmillan Cancer Improvement Partnership, which will bring together cancer care providers and patients to better support those affected by the disease.

Aherne told the Manchester Evening News; "I’ve had cancer and my brother’s had cancer and we know how it affects people [...] The reason why the partnership has been formed is because all the partners recognise that the whole cancer care system is fragmented, meaning that people do fall through the cracks."

The star has previously been treated both bladder and eye cancer, the latter both her and her brother were born with, and while they were fully treated, Caroline was left almost blind in one eye.

As well as starring as Denise Royle, she is best known for The Mrs Merton Show in the nineties, along with The Fast Show. These days you can hear her as narrator of the popular channel four series Gogglebox. The actress said she would continue with her work on the show saying, "I will be narrating this week's Gogglebox, and I will continue to narrate Gogglebox for as long as Gogglebox want me."