Royle Family star Caroline Aherne fighting cancer

The Royle Family and Mrs Merton star Caroline Aherne has announced she is battling lung cancer.

The actress and comedian has already had bladder and eye cancer.

She's also backing a partnership to improve care for cancer patients

The comedian and actor John Thompson has told the Manchester Evening News that his friend Caroline Aherne "will keep laughing" as she battles lung cancer.

Thompson said: “She’s one of my oldest friends. We’ve worked together for years and I just wish her well.

“She’s quite stoic and I’d say to her: ‘Keep your chin up, I’m thinking about you always.’

“She’s got a brilliant sense of humour, as we all know, and that’s one of those things in this situation that will get her through it. I know no matter how poorly she is, she’ll be laughing.”

Comedian and actress Caroline Aherne, who revealed she is fighting lung cancer, said she wants to continue narrating hit Channel 4 show Gogglebox.

She said: "I will be narrating this week's Gogglebox, and I will continue to narrate Gogglebox for as long as Gogglebox want me."

Read: Royle Family star Caroline Aherne fighting lung cancer

The award winning writer, actress and comedian Caroline Aherne has revealed that she is fighting lung cancer.

The Royle Family and Mrs Merton creator has been undergoing treatment for the cancer in Manchester.

Caroline, who was raised in Wythenshawe, revealed her fight as she backed a £3.4m bid to improve care for cancer patients in the city.

She said: “I’ve had cancer and my brother’s had cancer and we know how it affects people.

We’re lucky in Manchester to have some of the best bits of cancer care with places like The Christie, the Nightingale Centre and the Cecelia Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital and St Ann’s Hopice - and the last thing I want to do is knock the fantastic work that goes on in this city [...]

"But even the best doctors, nurses and managers on earth aren’t going to be able to understand what needs improving unless people affected by cancer in Manchester get involved and tell them what needs to change."

“It’s truly shocking to learn that Manchester came bottom out of 150 areas in England for premature deaths from cancer. Our survival rates are a quarter lower than average and the number of people getting lung cancer is a third higher here than in the rest of England.

There are too many stories about bad communication leading to patients waiting too long and feeling ignored and abandoned and that same bad communication is contributing to poor statistics on cancer."