Laila Morse Autobiography

Born into a working-class family in 1945, Maureen Oldman had a gritty upbringing in South London, as her alcoholic father abandoned the family, leaving her to help raise her little brother, Gary, and get hitched at seventeen to a man she candidly describes as a 'shady geezer'. Living in a world where violence and drugs were commonplace, Maureen found work where she could and tried u in vain u to protect her two children from the horrors that surrounded them. Despite the harsh environment she called home, she remained as upbeat as possible, always trying to find the humour and the bright side in this bleak, dangerous life. Her experiences were later dramatized by her little brother Gary Oldman in the hard-hitting BAFTA-winning film Nil by Mouth a which, ironically, led to Maureen's ultimate escape from that world. Adopting the pseudonym Laila Morse, her performance, opposite acting legends Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke was critically acclaimed and she won the 1998 British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She decided to become a full-time actress and won the part of Big Mo Harris on EastEnders in 2000, a part she still excels at twelve years later. But although she has enjoyed incredible professional success, her personal life continues to challenge: she survived breast cancer in 2001, and in May this year her son was jailed for stealing her car and then crashing it, high on drink and drugs. She continues to support him, a matriarch off screen as well as on, full of the same survivor spirit that has seen her through her extraordinary life.