Caroline Aherne: Ralf Little says Royle Family co-star's death is reminder of lack of working-class actors on TV

Little got his acting break in The Royle Family, which Aherne co-created

Ricky Tomlinson, Caroline Aherne, Ralf Little and Craig Cash at the British Comedy Awards in 1998 (REX Features)

Ralf Little has paid tribute to his co-star Caroline Aherne and warned her death serves as a reminder of the lack of working-class representations on television.

Aherne died at her Manchester home on Saturday, she was 52 and had been ill with cancer. High-profile names from the world of British comedy paid tribute to Aherne and many have remembered her finest comedy moments including The Mrs Merton Show and The Fast Show.

Little, who starred alongside Aherne in The Royle Family – the brainchild of Aherne and Craig Cash – said his co-star was a "leading light" as an example of working-class people on British television and says there is now a “noticeable gap” of actors and writers from working-class backgrounds in the wake of her death.

“Caroline was a leading light in showing that working-class people can be on TV, being ourselves,” he told the Guardian. "That you can be a working-class kid, living out your life, and that can be interesting and funny and dramatic and entertaining.

“Right now, I don’t see anyone else doing what she did and I do think there is a noticeable gap left in Caroline’s wake. Her death is a reminder how much she and her writing were, and still are, the exception,” he said.

Aherne was raised on a council estate in Manchester and went on to study drama in Liverpool. Much of her comedy writing depicted working-class backgrounds and family life, something Little says is now a rarity on today’s television screens.

“I do think that in the last few years we’ve seen the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and that growing gap is reflected in all areas of society, even TV,” he says. “We have to realise that has a knock-on effect. People are pissed off that not even TV represents their lives any more because there aren’t enough writers like Caroline being given a break.”

On Sunday, Ricky Tomlinson paid tribute to his "kind, funny and witty" friend Aherne and called the news of his co-star’s death “the biggest shock in the world”.