Funeral for Carla Lane to take place at Anglican Cathedral
The funeral of Liverpool screenwriter Carla Lane - who created several popular sitcoms including The Liver Birds is taking place at the Anglican Cathedral today.
The funeral of Liverpool screenwriter Carla Lane - who created several popular sitcoms including The Liver Birds is taking place at the Anglican Cathedral today.
Lane died last month at the age of 87 Stapely Care Home.
Her sitcoms, which also included Butterflies, Bread and The Mistress, established Lane as one of the country's best-loved writers.
Much of her work focused on women's lives - with characters ranging from frustrated housewives to working class matriarchs.
The Liver Birds series - based on flat-sharing Liverpudlian women - made famous the line: "'You dancing?', 'You asking?', 'I'm asking!', 'I'm dancing!'"
She continued writing into the 1990s and produced as well as wrote the BBC series Luv in 1993.
Lane was also a keen animal rights activist and had an animal rescue centre named after her three years ago near Liverpool.
Fran Ellis, founder and trustee at the Carla Lane Animals in Need Sanctuary in Melling, Merseyside, paid tribute to a "champion of animal welfare".
She said: "Carla was our friend but above all she was a passionate friend and ally to abused and abandoned animals.
"The world of animal welfare will be all the poorer for the loss of such a talented individual.
"We changed the name of our charity to recognise the work done by this special lady, her name will live on in all we do."
Lane transformed her home in West Sussex into a sanctuary for a variety of animals - looking after rescued farm animals, homeless cats and dogs and injured wildlife.
Her family paid tribute to their "darling Carla" who "brought Liverpool to life".
A service gets underway at Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral at 2pm this afternoon followed by a private service for family & friends.