The Mrs Merton Show was a mock talk show starring Caroline Aherne as the elderly host Mrs Dorothy Merton.Originally portraying 'Mrs. Murton' in a pilot for Yorkshire TV which was not picked up, Caroline Aherne retooled the character, making her older, and recorded a second pilot in 1993 for Granada Television, who commissioned the series. Running from 10 February 1995 to 2 April 1998, it was produced by Granada and aired on the BBC. The writers included Aherne, Craig Cash, Henry Normal and, for the first few series, Dave Gorman.

Prior to television success, Aherne's Mrs Merton character appeared on Frank Sidebottom's album 5/9/88 and on Aherne's KFM Radio show in Stockport. After that she made a few appearances on local television in the north west including Granada's Saturday morning show Express! and on the Yorkshire Television series, Frank’s Fantastic Shed Show. On the former show, presented by I Am Kloot's John 'Johnny Dangerously' Bramwell and Sumy Kuraishe, she was the regular celebrity interviewer and interviewed guests from a number of random locations in the north west, whilst the latter show was with Chris Sievey in his Sidebottom persona.

Her national television debut came on the 1991 Channel 4 gameshow Remote Control, hosted by Anthony H Wilson. The talk show was followed up by a sitcom, Mrs Merton and Malcolm, based on Mrs Merton and her son Malcolm, who was played by Craig Cash.