First appeared: 21st December 1960
Last appeared: 1st July 1974
Jennifer Moss played the role of Lucille Hewitt between 1960 and 1974, a role that saw her blossom from a child to a young woman.
Born in Wigan in Lancashire in 1945, Moss achieved early fame as a child actor. In 1957, she appeared on the BBC’s Children’s Hour alongside Corrie creator Tony Warren. She made appearances in various productions and made her TV debut in 1960 on the BBC Sunday Night Play. The same year she was cast in the role of 11 year old Lucille Hewitt in new drama serial Coronation Street. Moss had to play a character that was four years her junior and this ultimately plagued her lifestyle throughout the 1960s. In 1963, an 18 year old Jennifer Moss was scrutinised by the press for partying – Lucille was only 15 so they thought Moss was underage. Debuting in the fourth episode, Lucille’s storylines included being put in an orphanage; adjusting to dad Harry’s marriage to Concepta and their son Christopher; being taken in by the Walkers when her dad and Concepta left for Ireland; developing a crush on Ray Langton; becoming briefly engaged to Alistair Bradshaw in 1966; losing her father when he was crushed by a van; joining a hippie commune; becoming engaged to Gordon Clegg but he jilted her; being taken on in various jobs; and embarked on a relationship with a married man. During a break from the show in 1963, Moss embarked on a brief singing career.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Moss had become an alcoholic and made unruly behaviour on set. This led producer Susi Hush to sack Moss from the role and Lucille was said to have visited her stepmother Concepta in Ireland and never returned. Overall, she appeared in a total of 756 episodes. Fame and fortune had ruined Moss’ life and also her father Reg’s death deeply affected her. She successfully battled alcoholism after her dismissal and became sober in 1978. She failed to secure an acting role until 1989 when she starred in Bread’s Christmas special episode. Eight years later she appeared in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, starring alongside Patricia Routledge. She made her final TV appearance in Life after the Street in 2001, a programme looking on former Corrie actors’ lives after their departure from the serial. She died five years later in Dunfermline, Scotland aged 61. She had struggled to move on after her father’s death and made a pilgrimage to India in 2006 where she finally came to terms with her loss.
She was married five times: to Peter Hampson, Adrian Glick, John Neill, Paul Howard and Stephen Ramsden. She had three children: Naomi Ruth (with Hampson), Sarah (with Glick), Marcus (with Glick, d. 1975 aged 3 weeks). But with Moss’ alcoholism, the children suffered and were taken into care many times. Both daughters managed to rebuild their relationships with their mother in the coming years. Moss spent the rest of her days stamp collecting. Although Moss died, Lucille’s fate hasn’t been addressed in Coronation Street. I’d like to think she still resides in Ireland, looking after Concepta with half-brother Christopher. Or maybe she’s married an Irishman?
Did you ever see or meet Jennifer Moss? Do you have any pieces of trivia about her?
Research from Wikipedia, Corriepedia, Corrie Net and IMDB.
3 comments:
The Sunday Night play you refer to here was "June Evening", which is mentioned in Sean Egan's Coronation Street 50th anniversary book as being stated by some as a probable influence on Tony Warren when he devised the programme - though Warren himself has denied this. Also in this production was Violet Carson, Davy Jones (Of the Monkees fame and who appeared in Corrie as Colin Lomax, Ena's grandson) and John Sharp (Les Clegg).
The television version of the play was itself was based on a BBC Third Programme production two years earlier and this included Violet Carson, Jack Howarth and Irene Sutcliffe in the cast.
It's a small world!!!
Jennifer Moss's life makes for some sad reading. I'd have loved her to stay in Coronation Street but I understand Susi Hush's reasons for dismissing her.
I worked for Jennifer for about 6 months, firstly as a house keeper and then as a nanny for Niomi. Jennifer lived with a man called Charles who was a heroin addict for a while. I always found Jennifer to be a caring but troubled woman who was very influenced by people around her. I was only young at the time and my eyes were certainly opened with various 'goings on' but I enjoyed her company when she was sober. Jenny loved Niomi very much but struggled to be a mum and live her life as a popular actress. Jennifer was very influenced by strong men. Jimmy Saville lived close by in a neighbouring flat in Broughton and was close to Jennifer from an early age she told me. He took us once to Jennifer's mums to collect her daughter who was living there before I started to look after her. I was very saddened to see her troubled life reported over the years. I was pleased she found some peace in later life.
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