Comedian Diane Morgan receives honorary doctorate from University of Bolton

Comedian and actress Diane Morgan was awarded an honorary doctorate from her hometown university in Bolton.

The Afterlife actress, best known for her role as Philomena Cunk in Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe and Cunk on Earth, was made an Honorary Doctor of Arts.

The University handed the award to the Farnworth-born star in its ongoing graduation ceremonies, as a celebration of her outstanding contribution to television and comedy.

Addressing the audience at the Albert Halls, Diane said: “Ladies and gentlemen, I should not be here today. I shouldn’t. There’s been a dreadful mistake. I got a G in maths. A G!

“But I thank you for your generosity.

“Thirty years ago just outside this building I bumped into Maxine Peake who is also a Boltonian and we had met two weeks earlier when we were both auditioning to get into Manchester Polytechnic for the acting course.

“Neither of us got in.

“It took us three long years to get into drama school and during that time I had various jobs, packing worming tablets, selling fish and chips and I was also an Avon Lady.

“Most of these jobs I’d been sacked from. I was fired from the Last Drop Village tea rooms in Bolton for not knowing what a cream tea is, I thought it was a tea with cream in it.

“But now I have an honorary doctorate! Unbelievable.”

As a child, Diane attended George Tomlinson School, in Kearsley, now known as Kearsley Academy, where at the age of 15 she already had her heart set on a career in comedy.

The actress, whose recent roles include Kath in Afterlife, Liz in Motherland and Philomena Cunk — where she plays an ill-informed interviewer on current affairs in Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe – made her return to Bolton to mark another step in her remarkable journey.

Wrapping up her speech to the audience at the Albert Halls, Diane said: “I am here to tell you that anything is possible.

“If you’ve got passion and you work hard, you can do absolutely anything, because everyone told me that I wouldn’t be able to make it as an actress, that it was an impossible dream, that you’d need maths!

“You don’t need maths. You don’t need maths for anything! Take that Rishi Sunak!”

She added: “This is such an honour, though. I am so proud, thank you so much.”