The narrator is celebrating 10 years of Goggebox (Picture: REX)
Gogglebox narrator Craig Cash revealed that carrying on with the show following Caroline Aherne’s death was ‘bittersweet.’
The 60-year-old has been a regular staple on the show after his former co-star and original narrator Aherne died aged in 2016 following a battle with lung cancer aged 52.
The two stars worked closely together in The Royle Family, where the late actress played his on-screen girlfriend Denise, while they also collaborated together on The Mrs Merton Show.
One of her final acting roles was as Sheila in Sky1 comedy After Hours, again alongside Cash.
As the hit Channel 4 reality series celebrates its 10th anniversary, Cash explained his gig as narrator felt ‘like a gift from Aherne.
‘She’d asked me if I could fill in for her as she wasn’t well. When she took weeks off for treatment, I’d fill in as and when,’ he said.
Craig has been the regular voice of the show since 2016 (Picture: REX)
The two starred in the British sitcom The Royle Family (Picture: ITV)
‘Then, when she died, they asked me if I’d carry on doing it. In a way, it was like a gift from Caroline,’ he added to Radio Times.
Cash also explained that he always felt Ahene’s ‘presence’ when he would go and record the episodes.
The reality series, which follows devoted viewers across the nation sharing their thoughts on the week’s TV, is still going strong.
The beloved show has made stars out of its line-up, including the likes of Scarlett Moffatt, and even had A-listers from Harry Styles to Ed Sheeran take part in its charity spin-off.
The families in Gogglebox have to watch 12 hours of TV a week for the show.
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That is split into two six-hour shifts, allowing most participants to hold down their day jobs around filming.
Speaking about the casting, the show’s creator Stephen Lambert said in 2015: ‘Everybody on Gogglebox has been found and persuaded to be on the show and I think that’s the key to why they are likeable and why the show works, because we get to know these people. We’ve never advertised for people on Gogglebox.’
Gogglebox returns on Friday at 9pm on Channel 4.
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Caroline Aherne died in 2016 aged 52.
