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DARK SECRETS: Merton person - The Real Truth

Caroline Aherne by David Scott review – portrait of a comedy maverick

A biography of the creative force behind Mrs Merton and The Royle Family focuses on the stories behind her work

The Guardian - UK

‘Extraordinary’ item JRR Tolkien used while writing The Lord of the Rings up for auction

It’s ‘the only desk belonging to Tolkien still in private hands’

The Independent UK

Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien’s desk up for auction

Tolkien used the desk during his tenure as Merton professor of English language and literature at Oxford between 1945 and 1959.

Evening Standard

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Thanks to La Voix and Alan Carr, the chaotic gay funnyman is back on the BBC

COMMENT: ‘Celebrity Traitors’ and ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, the biggest shows on BBC One right now, have been dominated by a pair of withering gay comedians delighting in their own comic mercilessness. And it’s a much-needed throwback to a long-gone era of Lily Savage, Julian Clary and Mrs Merton, writes Adam…

The Independent UK

Alternative comedian Joe Kent-Walters: ‘I used to do a strip tease with carrier bags’

The Yorkshire-born standups’s surreal take on a working men’s club has bagged him comedy awards and a BBC radio pilot. But even as he dreams of a Mrs Merton-style talkshow, he’s still insistent on keeping things surreal

The Guardian - UK

‘We wrote “Suit you, sir!” for Harry Enfield – he didn’t like it’: an oral history of The Fast Show

Thirty years after it first aired, the stars of the hit BBC sketch show tell all – from wowing Johnny Depp to inter-office tension that left one of the cast in tears

The Guardian - UK

Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy review – an unforgettable celebration of comedy brilliance

Craig Cash and other friends and collaborators look back at the phenomenal, but sadly all-too short, career of a woman who insisted comedy didn’t need jokes, only people

The Guardian - UK

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‘I’d never seen anything like it’: How Caroline Aherne changed comedy

A new BBC Arena film exploring the work of the co-creator and star of ‘The Royle Family’ will air on Christmas Day, seven years after her death. Katie Rosseinsky speaks to the filmmakers about her comedy legacy

The Independent UK

DC League of Super-Pets review: Sassy, sweary and super self-aware

This film has more in common with Sausage Party than PAW Patrol

Evening Standard

Sir Keir Starmer taunts PM with quip about U-turn amid partygate furore

The Labour leader adapted a line used by Caroline Aherne in her Mrs Merton guise as he said Boris Johnson was running down the country.

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