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Mo Harris (also Porter, also known as Big Mo), is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, who made her first appearance on 18 September 2000, played by Laila Morse. Mo was also played by Lorraine Stanley in the 2004 spin-off, Pat and Mo, delving into her past with Pat Butcher (Pam St Clement/Emma Cooke).
Mo is a highly comical character and her tendency for dodgy deals bring much of the show's light entertainment. In July 2012, Morse's contract was not renewed, but she was not immediately written out of the series and continued to make occasional appearances until 21 January 2016. Mo's reintroduction was announced in December 2017 and she returned full-time on 16 March 2018. On 6 February 2021, it was announced that Morse would be leaving the role once again and she departed on 3 June 2021. On 28 June 2022, it was announced that Mo would return for a short stint later in the year. Mo returned on 10 August 2022 and departed on 14 September 2022. On 28 February 2024, it was confirmed that Mo would be making a permanent return to EastEnders alongside her great-grandson Freddie Slater (Bobby Brazier); their return was broadcast on 20 May 2024.
The character of Mo and the rest of the Slater family were created during workshops with Tony Jordan and John Yorke. London actors were invited to improvise in groups, and the characters were created during these improvisations." Seven move in to Albert Square ", BBC News, 2000-09-30. URL last accessed 2008-02-16. Laila Morse was cast as Mo, and made her first on-screen appearance on 18 September 2000. She was named "Arrival of the Year" by TV critic Ian Hyland in 2000." TV Watch: Arrival of the Year", Sunday Mirror. 2000-12-31.
On 6 February 2021, it was announced that Morse would be departing from the role of Mo again. Her departure was aired on 3 June 2021.
Mo sees Charlie's partner, Brenda Boyle (Carmel Cryan), embracing another man at the tube station, but the man is Brenda's brother, Clive Robinson (Col Farrel). Brenda reveals to Mo that she is moving to Madeira with her family and Mo convinces Charlie not to let her go. However, Brenda and Charlie leave together, leaving Mo devastated. She begins drinking heavily and protests against the sale of Charlie's taxi. Charlie returns to Walford with a woman called Orlenda (Mary Tamm), but Mo does not trust her. Orlenda leaves, after admitting she was scamming Charlie but returns his money. Mo takes charge of a children's nativity play but fails to keep the children under control. In a raffle, she wins Max Branning's (Jake Wood) car, but sells it, to Max's dismay. When Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb) is murdered (see Who Killed Archie?), Mo starts a betting circle on who killed him. She runs when she sees a police officer, but later, another officer appears behind her and she asks him if he wants to place a bet. She goes on holiday to Spain with Fat Elvis and when she returns, she is surprised to discover that Bradley is dead. Mo attempts to sell Lucas Johnson's (Don Gilet) bibles to the public, as gruesome souvenirs of the killer. Her insensitivity gets her thrown out of The Queen Victoria public house. Mo receives a phone call from Kat, who wants Zoe's birth certificate. Mo meets Kat at a café and gives her the certificate. Kat admits to Mo that she conned a man and needs a new identity. Kat also lies to Mo, claiming that her husband, Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), is dead. Mo persuades Kat to come home and Kat reluctantly agrees, but when they get home, men are waiting for Kat and her money. However, Alfie sends them away. Mo is shocked to learn that Kat is pregnant and Alfie is not the father. When Kat goes into labour, Mo delivers her son, Tommy Moon, on the floor of The Queen Vic's barrel store. On the same day, Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) gives birth to a baby boy, James Branning. On New Year's Eve, Ronnie finds that James has died and she swaps him with Tommy. Alfie and the family find the deceased baby and believe it is Tommy.
After Kat blames Charlie for Tommy's death, Charlie decides to go and live with Lynne, despite Mo begging him not to go. Left living alone, Mo asks Kat if she can move into The Queen Vic and let No. 23. Kat refuses initially but later agrees when Mo reminds her that she never complained about living with Kat's bad habits. Mo continues with her dodgy deals while staying at the pub, including persuading Stacey's mother, Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) to serve "turkey" for pub lunches, which turns out to be swan meat. When a benefit fraud officer declares that Jean has been illegally claiming benefits while working at the pub, Mo admits to Jean and Kat that she has been claiming benefits in Jean's name. Jean agrees to take the blame, as Mo has previous convictions. When Mo learns that her old enemy, Pat, is terminally ill, she visits her in hospital and they end their long-standing feud. When Pat later dies, Mo returns Pat's Miss Butlin's sash, that she stole years ago, out of jealousy. When Mo learns that Charlie has suffered a stroke, she leaves Walford to look after him. Several months later, Jean visits them and Mo returns to The Queen Vic when she believes that Jean is hiding something from her. Her suspicions are confirmed, when she discovers that Alfie is allowing Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) to stay in The Queen Vic. Mo continues to disapprove of Roxy's presence in The Queen Vic, after Kat and Alfie split up. It is later revealed that Mo has rented a villa in Devon, owned by "a mate".
Mo returns to collect rent from Kat, Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd) and Alice Branning (Jasmyn Banks). She demands Alice pays by the end of the day, or she will evict her. Kat later convinces Mo to give up her keys to the house. Three months later, Jean discovers that Mo is stealing vegetables from the Walford allotments and Mo convinces Jean's new partner, Ollie Walters (Tony O'Callaghan), a police officer whom Mo knows, not to report her, as she is Jean's family. At Christmas, Mo and Charlie visit Walford, where it is revealed that Kat is pregnant with twins. Two months later, Alfie calls Mo, after dealing with some serious family issues, raised by the re-appearance of Stacey after a four-year absence, to which Mo plans to spend more time in Walford to support her family. Mo is delighted when Kat and Alfie's twins, Bert and Ernie Moon (Freddie and Stanley Beale), are born, but the family's joy is cut short when a fire starts at their house and when it reaches a supply of knock-off hairspray, which Mo had intended to sell, a huge explosion destroys everything that they own. Kat is badly injured and Mo is wracked with guilt, briefly moving in with Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra), before taking an extended holiday in Lanzarote with Charlie.
Mo returns to Albert Square and is shocked to discover that Alfie and Kat have, once again, separated and that her family are financially struggling. Mo reveals to a destitute Kat that she inherited money from her deceased uncle, Harry Slater (Michael Elphick), who had raped her as a child, impregnating her with Zoe. Kat turns the money down, so Mo secretly has the money transferred to her own account, pretending to be Kat. When Kat discovers this, she is livid and burns the money in the street. Kat and Alfie reconcile and after winning the jackpot on a scratch card, plan to move to Tenerife. At their leaving party, Mo shows a stunned Kat an engagement ring, revealing that she has accepted a marriage proposal from her long-time business associate and romantic interest, Fat Elvis. Shortly after Kat and Alfie's departure, Mo and Fat Elvis leave for Greece. When Mo returns alongside Charlie, she reveals that Fat Elvis has left her. When Kat learns she had also given birth to a boy along with Zoe, she realises that Mo knew about the secret, so angrily demands the truth from her. During the argument with Mo that ensues, Charlie suffers a heart attack in front of Mo, Stacey and Kat. After suffering from a cardiac arrest, Charlie dies, which devastates the family. After attending Charlie's funeral, Mo moves to Kent to live with her other granddaughter, Belinda Peacock (Carli Norris), as Kat cannot forgive her for having her son adopted. When Belinda moves to Walford after her marriage ends, Mo's whereabouts are not mentioned.
In January 2019, Mo uses her great-grandson Tommy (Shay Crotty) for a money making scheme, but she ends up losing Tommy in the process. He is found by Martin Fowler (James Bye), but fed up with her scheming, Kat and Stacey decide to trick Mo by claiming that Tommy has been missing all day. Not long after, Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami) joins Mo to make quick money. After stealing some of Kat's money, Mo double crosses Kush, but he catches her in the act. Furious, Stacey throws Mo out, and she moves in with Kush. Mo gives Kush a batch of fur coats that he can sell on the market. When Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield) hears about fur coats that were recently stolen, she tells Kush and he throws Mo out. However Mo proves that her coats are real, and Kush allows her to live with him.
When Kat and Stacey feud over Kush (now Kat’s boyfriend) going for custody of his and Stacey’s son Arthur Fowler, Mo lies that Jean’s cancer has worsened so they can reunite. However her plan backfires. Mo later moves back in with the Slaters, but ignores eviction letters. The Panesar family decide to buy the house, but they later agree to rent it to the Slaters.
In June 2021, Mo reveals that Fat Elvis has invited her to join him on a cruise. She turns it down after becoming worried about Jean’s behaviour, but Jean convinces Mo to go. Mo behaves shifty as a police car pulls up on the Square, and it is revealed that she has been growing a cannabis farm in the Slaters’ garage. Before she leaves, Mo asks Jean to look after it. In August 2022, Stacey, Martin and her children visit Mo in her caravan park in Essex, where she is staying with Jean. The following month, Mo returns to Walford for Kat's wedding to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
Mo has been described by Ian Hyland from the Sunday Mirror as a "battleaxe" and a woman "with a face like a bulldog chewing a whole nest of wasps and a mouth like a foghorn in the Grand Canyon, she's the only woman I've ever seen who makes Fat Pat look demure." He added that "This time they've bought finest East End. Every time Mo, the granny, opens her mouth I think jellied eels are going to fly out." Another writer for the Sunday Mirror, Paul Scott said: "As Big Mo Slater she is the battleaxe from Hell whose tongue-lashings have even the hardest of Walford's hard cases running for cover." Charlie Catchpole from the Daily Mirror said of Mo's arrival: "I'm sure, that no sooner does a Romanian weightlifter go missing from the Olympics than Mighty Mo Harris arrives in Albert Square." John Russell from The People called Mo a "motormouth". In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Mo 39th on their ranked list of the Best EastEnders characters of all time, calling her a "salt-of-the-earth Cockney chancer" who can "always be relied on for a laugh, involving an anecdote about her lover Fat Elvis".
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