Carla Lane's funeral to be held at Liverpool Cathedral

The funeral of award-winning TV sitcom writer Carla Lane will be held at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.

The service for The Liver Birds and Bread creator will take place on 9 June at 14:00 BST.

Lane, who also ran an animal sanctuary from her home in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, died at a nursing home on 31 May, aged 87.

Her friend, the comedian Ken Dodd, described her as "a lovely, lovely writer".

Jean Boht, who played Nellie Boswell in Bread, said "she loved everybody".

Lane first became known for The Liver Birds, a sitcom about two women who shared a flat in Liverpool.

The programme aired from 1969 to 1979 and returned for a one-off series in 1996.

She was perhaps best known for the sitcom Bread, which depicted the working class Boswell family struggling through high unemployment and poor prospects in late 1980s Liverpool, and ran for seven series between 1986 and 1991.

Mark Linsey, director of BBC Studios, said: "Carla Lane was a supremely gifted writer of bittersweet family comedies, loved by generations.

"Her legacy is extraordinary. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this time."