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Maureen "Mo" Harris (née Porter), is the mother of Viv, Billy and Jean Harris, grandmother of LynneKatBelinda, and Little Mo, and grandmother-figure of Stacey Slater. She made her first appearance on 18 September 2000 and her last on 14 September 2022, although she will return in Spring 2024.

Storylines[]

Backstory[]

Mo was born in 1936, the oldest offspring of a poor family in the East End of London.

At fourteen years old, she becomes pregnant, following a casual hookup with Stuart Mullins, a ticket gatherer for the Waltzer ride at a carnival in South London, and gives birth to their little girl Vivienne the next year in 1951.

Closest companions with Pat Harris, Mo succumbs to Pat's older brother Jimmy and after a whirlwind romance, they wed in 1959 and proceed to have two children of their own: Billy and Jean. However, Pat takes steps to jeopardise their marriage because of her liquor addiction and possible prostitution, which redirects Jimmy's consideration from Mo and onto Pat; this outcomes in Mo starting an affair with Pat's pimp Tony Cattani in 1963. When Pat finds them together, she tells Jimmy but Mo denies Pat's allegations and thus Jimmy disowns Pat and they move away to Lewisham. Jimmy later dies from cancer in 1979. His last wish was to set things straight with his sister Pat yet Mo "forgets" to tell her about Jimmy's death or funeral.

2000-2016: Life in Walford[]

Mo, who previously lived in Walford, returns there after very nearly forty years away, with her son-in-law, Charlie Slater and granddaughters, Lynne Slater, Kat Slater, Little Mo Morgan and Zoe Slater in 2000. Mo's competition with her previous friend Pat Evans emerges, however they reconcile at the grave of Mo's previous spouse and Pat's sibling, Jimmy Harris. A lot of Mo's time is spent selling low quality taken products that she trades with Fat Elvis. She is helped by Mickey and Darren Miller and for some time sets up a sex chatline. She additionally works with Charlie's great-niece, Stacey Slater on her market stall, selling garments. She has a short relationship with Bert Atkinson which ends when she realise Bert is also seeing her friend, Ina Foot. They get kater back together, yet separate again when Bert's ex, Evie Brown, shows up in Walford, at death's door. Mo starts selling cigarettes that she purchased in Spain and two of her clients end up being Income and Customs officials. She is sentenced to 100 hours of community service for tax avoidance. After Stacey weds Bradley Branning, Mo attempts to sell their wedding gifts.

Mo sees Charlie's partner, Brenda Boyle, embracing another man at the train station, yet the man turns out to be Brenda's sibling, Clive Robinson. Brenda reveals to Mo that she is moving to Madeira with her family and Mo persuades Charlie not to let her go. However, Brenda and Charlie leave together, leaving Mo crushed. She starts drinking vigorously and protests the sale of Charlie's taxi. Charlie gets back to Walford with a lady called Orlenda, however Mo has no faith in her. Orlenda leaves, after it is revealed that she was defrauding Charlie, yet returns his cash before leaving. Mo assumes responsibility for a childrens' nativity play yet fails to supervise the kids. In a raffle, she wins Max Branning's car, but sells it, to Max's dismay. When Archie Mitchell is killed, Mo begins a wagering circle on who killed him. She runs when she sees a cop, yet later, another official shows up behind her and she inquires as to whether he needs to put down a bet. She goes on vacation to Spain with Fat Elvis and when she returns, she is astounded to find that Bradley is dead. Mo endeavors to sell Lucas Johnson's bibles, as gruesome souvenirs of the killer. Her heartlessness gets her tossed out of The Queen Vic. Mo gets a call from Kat, who needs Zoe's birth certificate. Mo meets Kat at a bistro and gives her the certificate. Kat confesses to Mo that she conned a man and needs another identity. Kat also lies to Mo, claiming that her husband, Alfie Moon is dead. Mo convinces Kat to get back home and Kat hesitantly agrees, yet when they return home, men are waiting for Kat and her cash. However, Alfie sends them away. Mo is stunned to discover that Kat is pregnant and Alfie isn't the father. When Kat starts giving birth, Mo delivers her child, Tommy Moon, on the floor of The Queen Vic's barrel store. Around the same time, Ronnie Branning births a son, James Branning. On New Year's Eve 2010, Ronnie finds that James has died and she swaps him with Tommy. Alfie and the family find the deceased child and believe it is Tommy.

After Kat faults Charlie for Tommy's death, Charlie chooses to live with Lynne, in spite of Mo begging him not to go. Left living alone, Mo asks whether she can move into The Queen Vic and rent out No. 23. Kat denies at first yet later accepts when Mo advises her that she never complained about living with Kat's persistent vices. Mo continues with her dodgy arrangements while remaining at the bar, including convincing Jean Slater to serve "turkey" for bar snacks, which ends up being swan meat. When benefits fraud official proclaims that Jean has been falsely claiming unemployment benefits while working at the bar, Mo confesses to Jean and Kat that she has been claiming the benefits in Jean's name. Jean agrees to take the blame, as Mo has past convictions. When Mo discovers that her old foe, Pat, is critically ill, she visits her in clinic and they end their long-standing quarrel. When Pat later passes, Mo returns Pat's Miss Butlin's sash that she took a long time back out of desire. When Mo discovers that Charlie has had a stroke, she leaves Walford to take care of him. A while later, Jean visits them and Mo returns to The Queen Vic when she accepts that Jean is concealing something from her. Her doubts are confirmed, when she finds that Alfie is permitting Roxy Mitchell to remain in the pub. Mo keeps on disliking Roxy's presence in The Queen Vic after Kat and Alfie split up. It is subsequently uncovered that Mo has rented out a villa in Devon, owned by "a mate".

Mo returns to get rent from Kat, Michael Moon and Alice Branning She requests Alice pays before the day's over, or she will evict her. Kat later persuades Mo to surrender her keys to the house. Around 3 months later, Jean finds that Mo is taking vegetables from the Walford Allotments and Mo persuades Jean's new husband, Ollie Walters, a cop whom Mo knows, not to report her, as she is Jean's family. At Christmas, Mo and Charlie visit Walford, where it is uncovered that Kat is pregnant with twins. After two months, Alfie calls Mo, in the wake of managing some serious family issues raised by the re-appearance of Stacey following a four-year absence. Mo agrees to invest more energy in Walford to help her loved ones. Mo is happy when Kat and Alfie's twins, Bert and Ernie Moon are conceived, however the family's euphoria is cut short when a fire begins at their home and when it arrives at an inventory of knock-off hairspray, which Mo had expected to sell, an enormous explosion destroys all that they own. Kat is seriously harmed and Mo is wracked with guilt, momentarily moving in with Masood Ahmed, prior to taking a lengthy break in Lanzarote with Charlie.

Mo yet again returns to Albert Square and is stunned to find that Alfie and Kat have split up again and are struggling financially. Mo reveals to a poor Kat that she acquired cash from her uncle, Harry, who had raped her as a kid. Kat turns the cash down, so Mo subtly has the cash moved to her own bank account, claiming to be Kat. When Kat finds out, she is outraged and throws the cash in the road. Kat and Alfie reconcile and after winning the big prize on a scratch card, plan to move to Tenerife. At their leaving party, Mo shows a stunned Kat a wedding band, revealing that she has accepted Fat Elvis' proposal. Not long after Kat and Alfie's flight, Mo and Fat Elvis leave for Greece. When Mo returns with Charlie, she uncovers that Fat Elvis has left her. When Kat learns she gave birth to a son alongside Zoe, she realises that Mo knew, so angrily demands the truth. During the argument with, Charlie experiences a heart attack in front of Mo, Stacey and Kat. After experiencing a heart failure, Charlie dies, which devastates the family. Afyer going to Charlie's burial service, Mo moves to Kent to live with her granddaughter Belinda as Kat can't forgive her for having her child adopted. When Belinda moves to Walford after her marriage ends, Mo's whereabouts are not referenced.

2018-2022: Returns[]

Mo returns to Walford, telling Stacey that Kat has died. They raise funds for Kat's funeral, while Mo avoids answering her phone or the door. A coffin is donated and Mo calls Fat Elvis saying she has a coffin for sale. Jean later arrives, saying that Kat is alive. It emerges that Mo lied to raise money as she has financial troubles. Kat returns to Walford and is confused that The Queen Vic is holding a benefit night for her and she is annoyed with Mo, but is forced to hide when Ian visits with the raised money. Annie Pritchard, the daughter of Terry (who Mo conned on an online dating site by claiming she was widowed as her husband died in war, she was about to be kicked out of her house, and needed £5,000 for a house until her husband's benefits came through) arrives to get his money back, but the family fool her into believing Mo has died and Kat offers to pay the money. Kat, Stacey and Mo arrive at The Queen Vic and attempt to maintain that Mo made a mistake; Mo fakes a heart attack and bar fight soon starts. The Slaters leave the Vic, with Kat stating she thinks many more of these will happen. The family later find out that Mo took £300 of the money donated for Kat, and when the family go to return it to Mick Carter, Mo sneaks off and encounters Annie, who injures Mo. Jean repays the money, and Stacey tells Mo she must stay until she pays Jean back. Mo claims to have psychic abilities as a way to make money but it is later found out that she is listening into people's conversations with recording devices. Kat starts a cleaning business and Mo is forced to join her, but she does not work hard and steals from the employers. Kat finds out and confronts Mo, firing her from the business.

On Christmas Day 2019, after the Panesars almost evict the Slaters from their home while demanding back rent, Daniel re-introduces himself to Jean, who is furious at him for faking his death until her family tells her that someone paid the back rent in full, making her realise that Daniel paid the rent for her. As his condition worsens, Daniel promises her that he will hold on to his life until he knows Jean is free of cancer. When she learns that the cancer has gone, she initially lies, saying the consultant mixed up her results and she has to wait a few days, but Mo then reveals the truth about the outcome. As the pair sit on a bench together, Daniel sends Jean to get hot chocolates; when she returns, Daniel has died.

Mo is present on the Smith-Holland during its crash, on 21 February 2020. She escaped the crash with little to no harm to herself.

Mo leaves Walford on 3 June 2021 after going on a cruise with her fiancé, Fat Elvis. Mo hints to Jean to look in the shed, where she finds a large amount of cannabis, which she was gobsmacked by. Zack Hudson attempts to help Jean sell them and she initially agrees, yet later lies about Fat Elvis' friend coming and taking them as she does not want to be responsible for the negative effects of drugs on people's lives. She later uses them to frame Ruby Allen as revenge for her getting Stacey sent down for assault when she tripped.

When Stacey, Kheerat, Martin, Lily, Hope and Arthur visit Golden Fields Caravan Park on 10 August 2022, they are shocked to see Mo and Jean living in another caravan and Stacey confronts the pair. Martin and Stacey both go to caravan sixty, and Jean is overwhelmed by the two of them, so Martin leaves to take the kids to the arcade again. Jean says she went to the caravan park as the Wendy's were making a fuss of her and that she shouldn't be on her own, but then Big Mo comes outside saying Jean isn't on her own, and tells Stacey to come inside. Mo then tells Stacey that she's split up with Fat Elvis, and Stacey tells Jean the kids miss her. Stacey realises Jean had been there for some time and begs Jean to come back to Walford, Jean eventually agrees but Stacey can see she still needs time and agrees to stay at the caravan park with Jean until she is ready to return home. Mo briefly returns for one episode as an invitee to Kat and Phil's wedding on 14 September 2022. During the wedding, she takes bets with Lola Pearce-Brown and other guests on whether Kat will show up.

Quotes[]

First Line: “Not Changed in thirty years. Still the same old dump.”

"Turn that ruddy noise off!" - to Garry Hobbs.


"I hope you're not the flamin' stripper!"


"Where's Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him?" (during the Smith-Holland boat crash)

“I wanna get in trouble, I wanna start a fight”

”It’s a trust fall baby…”

“So raise your glass if you want more!”

See also[]

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