Argus title : Nana Moon helps us to remember
Nana Moon is dead. Or rather Hilda Braid, the actor who played Nana Moon has died.
Generally, I don’t enjoy soaps – but, when she was in Eastenders, even I watched without fail. There was something about the relationship between Hilda Braid and Shane Ritchie, who played her screen grandson Alfie Moon, which was both believable and riveting. Both had charisma and extraordinary charm. She was everyone’s idea of a perfect grandma.
Braid’s portrayal of a woman lapsing into dementia was heartrending and particularly moving for me because both my parents were similarly afflicted. At the time, I hoped that Nana Moon’s slow decline due to Alzheimer’s would become a major story line. I thought it would have been a wonderful way to educate the public about this devastating disease. I remember feeling badly let down when the scriptwriters stepped back from this. Continue reading