Viewers were emotional wrecks watching The Royle Family last night

The Royle Family’s Queen of Sheba has always been an emotional special episode, but it had viewers weeping for a rather different reason last night as they paid tribute to the late Caroline Aherne during an emotional broadcast of the 2006 classic.

Fans of the show shared heartfelt tributes for its dearly departed co-creator, who died in July, as the BBC aired a re-run of the BAFTA winning episode in which nana sadly passes away, just after Ricky Tomlinson’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

The tears flowed quite freely for nana in 2006, but there was an emotional DELUGE for both the matriarch and Aherne just a decade later.

Retweet if you cried……#roylefamily pic.twitter.com/OMEsgt5tRt

— swg (@bluestone1965) December 22, 2016

People just couldn’t cope.

Oh my God. Watching The Queen of Sheba. In major floods all over again. So lovely and special. ?????#roylefamily

— Sali Hughes (@salihughes) December 22, 2016

The #roylefamily just killed me. Such beautifully observed drama. The scene between Barb and her mum had me sobbing

— Catherine Bentley (@cbentley_1) December 22, 2016

There were reaffirmations of the Mrs Merton creator’s genius.

The Queen of Sheba perfectly shows Caroline Aherne's genius. The funniest and most emotional hour of comedy ever made #RoyleFamily

— Chetan Pathak (@ChetanPathak) December 22, 2016

'He had soup of the day. It was Friday.' The scene with Barbara doing Nana's hair is pure class. Caroline Aherne… genius. #RoyleFamily

— Rob Setchell (@RobSetchell) December 22, 2016

Others couldn’t help but reiterate their belief that she had been taken far too soon.

Caroline Aherne, like Victoria Wood, a comedy writer who was always happy to give the best lines to others. Bloody 2016. #roylefamily

— Colin Chapman (@colinide) December 22, 2016

The world's a poorer place without Caroline Aherne. The Queen of Sheba is about as good as entertainment gets! #roylefamily

— Tommy Curran (@tommycurran_) December 22, 2016

Wonderful episode of #roylefamily. Such a fitting tribute to Caroline Aherne. RIP Caroline, you may be gone but you won't be forgotten xx

— Jo Piesse (@JoPiesse) December 22, 2016

And everyone was in agreement about one thing.

The #roylefamily is one of the best shows to have ever been made. ???????? pic.twitter.com/htEioT5ylr

— Mark Payne (@markbroncos86) December 22, 2016