Carla Lane funeral: Actors pay tribute to TV sitcom writer Published duration 9 June 2016

image caption The Order Of Service for the popular writer's funeral

Actors from some of TV's best-loved comedies have paid tribute to writer Carla Lane at her funeral in Liverpool.

The creator of BBC sitcoms The Liver Birds, Bread and Butterflies died at a nursing home on 31 May, aged 87.

Actors Wendy Craig, Jean Boht and Nerys Hughes were among the congregation at Liverpool Cathedral.

Paying tribute during the service, Canon Myles Davies said the writer "gave Liverpool people a voice".

Peter Howitt, who starred in Bread, said it was a "lovely service. We sang at the top of our voices."

He said Lane had been a joy to work with, and he always relished the arrival of her scripts.

media caption Nerys Hughes, who starred in Carla Lane's The Liver Birds: "We were terrible gigglers"

The hearse, containing a wicker coffin topped with white flowers, entered the cathedral to applause from mourners.

Lane was also known for looking after rescued animals - running a sanctuary from her mansion in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, until 2009.

Dogs from the Carla Lane Animals in Need charity were also brought to the cathedral.

image caption The hearse arriving at the cathedral

Jean Boht, who played Ma Boswell in Bread, said: "Carla Lane had the greatest humanity in her when she wrote about real people."

She joked: "I wanted to sing the Bread song at the service but they wouldn't let me."

Bread, which focused on the working class Boswell family as they struggled through high unemployment in 1980s Liverpool.

image caption The funeral service was held at Liverpool Cathedral

Actress Nerys Hughes who starred in The Liver Birds said it was "a very beautiful service".

"I thoroughly enjoyed it and she wrote quite a lot of the material.

"At the end it was like she was talking to us and suddenly I got a jolt that she was gone and it was pretty shattering."

Brookside actor Dean Sullivan, who gave a reading, said: "I met Carla many years ago and we go back a long way. I was thrilled and honoured to be asked to do a reading.

"It was a very fitting tribute and send-off in true Liverpool fashion."

image caption Some of the dogs from the Carla Lane Animals in Need charity were outside the funeral

image caption Liver Birds star Nerys Hughes arriving before the service

image caption Bread actress Jean Boht read a poem at the funeral

image caption Butterflies and The Liver Birds drew millions of viewers in the 1970s and 80s