Former Coronation Street star Mo Moreland dies aged 87

Actress Mo Moreland who appeared on ITV’s Coronation Street, has died aged 87, she passed away at her nursing home in North Shore, on the Flyde coast after battling Alzheimer’s disease. Mo had appeared as a ‘Fat Lady’ in two episodes on Coronation Street in April 1976. She was seen attempting to purchase clothes in Sylvia’s Separates. 

Although Mo Moreland appeared in Coronation Street, she was best known for being the lead dancer in comedy dance troupe The Roly Polys which was devised by the late comedian Les Dawson.

Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket, who appeared on game show Bullseye and the BBC show The Good Old Days said on X, formerly known as Twitter that “Hi friends sadden to hear of the passing of a great stage trouper Mo Moreland whom I first met as one half of ‘The Mighty Atom and Roy.’ Mo was a great comic/singer/dancer who fronted the amazing ‘THE ROLY POLYS’- Tap Dance “Anything Goes.” 

Mo Moreland married singer Roy Moreland in 1959 and they were together until he passed away in 2001. The Guardian reported in 2000 that “On February 5, 1984, Mo Moreland, star of the tap-dancing troupe, the Roly Polys, revealed that her rise to fame after appearing on the Les Dawson Show had forced her husband, Roy, out of work. The couple had been performing together as The Mighty Atom and Roy, but Moreland’s sudden success meant she was no longer able to commit as much time to their double act.”

Mo Moreland and husband Roy did buy a hotel in Blackpool which they ran together for five years. Mo, who was born in Sheffield in 1936,  was also president of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals.