Obituary: Linda Nolan – BBC News

In 2014, Linda’s financial problems returned when she was investigated by Blackpool council and the Department for Work and Pensions for claiming benefits to the tune of £12,000 while working.

“I thought I’d stuck to the rules religiously, but some of the things they thought of as ‘work’ just hadn’t occurred to me. I thought working meant doing a stage show, not quick television interviews,” she told The Telegraph.

She came up with a repayment plan and eventually was issued with a caution.

That same year, Linda went into the Celebrity Big Brother house (reportedly because she needed the money), an experience that led to her telling torrid tales about her sex life and coming to verbal blows with Davidson.

The two had been enemies since the 90s, when Brian had been caught stealing money, external from Davidson’s friend and fellow comedian Frank Carson.

As sister Coleen became a panellist on ITV’s Loose Women, Linda also became a regular guest.

And it was on that show in 2017 that a tearful Coleen told viewers her sister’s cancer had returned, and this time was terminal.

Linda had resumed her stage work but then, with the second diagnosis, she stopped. In March 2023, she confirmed that the cancer had spread to her brain.

But as she made clear in her autobiography From My Heart – released in 2018 – she refused to spend the time she had left to live “constantly stressing about cancer”.

She added: “I’ve chosen to enjoy the little things. I’ve chosen to laugh. And I’ve chosen to look back on my life and thank God for it.”