Ricky Tomlinson has said that Caroline Aherne should have had a state funeral.

He was speaking on ITV1's Good Morning Britain and paid a moving tribute to Aherne who died earlier this year. 

Tomlinson said: “I’m so glad I didn’t know she had cancer. I only found out the morning she died when I got a phone call. She was wonderful and brave, she never told anyone or complained and she was fabulous. I will love her forever.”

He went on to say of Aherne, who played his onscreen daughter in the award-winning sitcom, “Why didn’t she have a state funeral? Everyone loved her. We had a state funeral for Margaret Thatcher and everyone hated her.”

Talking to him from the studio presenter Piers Morgan chuckled nervously and said: “Well, er, Ricky, you have a point...."

Watch the full interview here.