Mo Moreland: Tributes paid after Roly Polys lead dancer dies aged 87

Tributes have been paid after the death of one of the lead dancers in a tap-dancing comedy troupe whose routines delighted TV audiences nationwide.

Mo Moreland, who starred in a dancing group known as the Roly Polys, died aged 87 at a nursing home in Blackpool.

The actress performed regularly with the Roly Polys alongside comedian Les Dawson in his popular self-titled TV series.

Mr Dawson's widow Tracy Dawson: "She was a pocket rocker who did so much."

She told BBC Radio Lancashire: "Mo was always holding my hand and by my side when I was nervous at events.

"When Les passed away she was with me all the way and helped bring up Charlotte.

Mrs Dawson added "on her last two days, staff at the nursing home played the Roly Polys dancing with Les and all the royal command performances".

She added: "We just sat with her as she passed away.

Her daughter Charlotte Dawson said she died on Friday after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

"She is now finally at peace and back with my dad and her Roy, what an icon, what a woman, what a talent," she said in a post on social media.

Little and Large TV star Syd Little, 81, said: "She was not just a dancer, she was a comedian.

Irish comedian, James Mulgrew, known professionally as Jimmy Cricket, also paid tribute, describing her as "effervescent".

He told the BBC he first met Moreland when she was performing a double act with her husband Roy in the 1970s called the Mighty Atom and Roy.

"She was just an all-rounder. She could sing, she could dance, she was a comedienne," he said.

"She was the most bubbly personality on screen and very lovely off.

"[The Roly Polys] were a beautiful act that we just don't see these days."

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