Mo Effanga

Mo Effanga
Holby City character
First appearance	"Double Bubble" 22 May 2012
Last appearance	"Episode 1102" 29 March 2022
Created by	Oliver Kent
Portrayed by	Chizzy Akudolu
Spinoff(s)	Casualty (2017)
In-universe information
Occupation	Consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Transplant specialist (prev. Cardiothoracic surgical registrar)
Significant other	Derwood Thompson
Children	Hector Effanga-Thompson (son)
Relatives	Violet (mother) Clifford George (father) Ina Effanga (aunt) Adele Effanga (cousin) Celia Effanga (cousin)

Maureen "Mo" Effanga^[1] is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by actress Chizzy Akudolu. She first appeared in the fourteenth series episode "Double Bubble", broadcast on 22 May 2012. Mo is a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and a member of Holby's transplant team. She was introduced along with two other regular characters by the show's then executive producer Johnathan Young, who wanted more "truthful and complicated" characters in the series. When Akudolu read the character breakdown for Mo and learned that she was on the transplant team, she knew she wanted the part because she was passionate about organ donation as her brother has had a kidney transplant. The actress met with a heart consultant to help her prepare for the role.

Mo is portrayed as having a bubbly and warm-hearted persona. Although her personal life is often "disorganised and chaotic", Mo's work life is more structured and she is an excellent doctor. Mo arrived at Holby heavily pregnant and it emerged that she was acting as a surrogate for a friend. Mo's storylines often developed through her close friendship with nurse and transplant co-ordinator Jonny Maconie (Michael Thomson). The character has also been central to a controversial storyline in which she ignored the wishes of a donor's mother. NHS Blood and Transplant revealed that several people had asked to be removed from the donor register as a result of the storyline.

Further exploration of the character's backstory began when her younger sister, Adele Effanga (Petra Letang), was introduced in 2014, followed by the rest of their family the following year. A subsequent storyline saw Mo discover she was adopted. Producers established a friendship between Mo and obstetrician-gynaecologist Derwood "Mr T" Thompson (Ben Hull) throughout 2015, which flourishes when Mr T develops a romantic interest in her. Mo's surrogate son was introduced in late 2015, which created a story where Mo decided to have a child of her own. Akudolu opted to leave her role in 2016 and the character departed in the nineteenth series episode "For the Love of Maureen", broadcast on 13 June 2017. The actress reprised the role in 2018 for a two month guest stint, and later for the series' final episode on 29 March 2022. Akudolu has won and been nominated for several awards for her portrayal of Mo.