In 1987 Frank released his first album, a spoken word cassette called '"Fantastic Tales"', released through his own 11:37 label. His first musical album, entitled '"5:9:88"', was released on vinyl by "In Tape" a year later. This album introduced the character Mrs Merton, portrayed by Caroline Aherne. Aherene continued to use the character as a comic persona, leading to her own TV Show, launching the comedians TV career. Chris and the band, whilst disgruntled by the success of a character created for Frank now detached from Frank, did not resent it, with drummer Mike Doherty saying that while she had taken the characters name, she had crafted her own thing out of it.