Who could resist Candy Davis? With her hypnotic eyes, striking blonde look, and magnetic presence, she became a household name in the 1980s thanks to her modeling career and her unforgettable role in the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?. Yet, behind the glamour and laughter, Candy Davis carried an unshakable desire to reinvent herself. She shed the spotlight of comedy and transformed into Mo Hayder, a master of crime and horror fiction whose chilling novels won international acclaim. Her story is one of beauty, grit, creativity, and resilience—a life that proves reinvention is not just possible but powerful.
Early Life: A Rebel in the Making
Born Clare Damaris Bastin on January 2, 1962, in Essex, she grew up in a stable household with parents who valued education and structure. But Clare—later Candy Davis—was anything but conventional. By age 15, she had already abandoned school and headed to London, determined to carve her own path. That decision marked the start of a journey that would carry her from glamour modeling to sitcom stardom, and eventually, the darkly imaginative world of crime fiction.
Video : Candy Davis Miss Belfridge mix AYBS S09E02
The Birth of Candy Davis: Modeling and Stardom
Reinvention came early when Clare took the name Candy Davis. With her peroxide-blonde hair, curvy figure, and undeniable charisma, she became a popular Page 3 model in the early 1980s. Candy had a playful allure that tabloids adored, but her ambitions stretched beyond pin-up fame.
Her big break arrived in 1983 when she landed the role of Miss Belfridge in the iconic sitcom Are You Being Served?. Playing the flirtatious secretary with comic timing, she lit up the show’s final two seasons. Fans adored her presence, and Candy’s popularity soared. She also made appearances in other productions, including a memorable spot in Minder. At the height of her sitcom success, Candy Davis seemed destined to remain a fixture of British television.
A Life of Reinvention: From Glamour to Grit
Yet Candy wasn’t satisfied with staying typecast as a bubbly blonde. After a brief marriage to actor Gary Olsen, she left London behind and set her sights on something entirely different. She moved to Japan, where life was less glamorous but deeply transformative. Working as an English teacher and hostess in Tokyo, she found herself drawn to the darker corners of human experience. Encounters with violence and alienation sparked an obsession with crime, survival, and the psychology of fear—themes that would later define her fiction.
Those Tokyo years toughened her, but they also gave her a new creative purpose. Candy began experimenting with filmmaking and storytelling, slowly building the foundation for her second reinvention.
Mo Hayder Emerges: The Dark Storyteller
When she returned to the UK, Candy Davis disappeared and Mo Hayder was born. In 2000, she stunned the literary world with Birdman, a visceral thriller that introduced Detective Jack Caffery and plunged readers into a chilling investigation filled with grotesque detail. The book shocked and fascinated audiences, selling more than 130,000 copies in Britain alone.
She followed up with The Treatment (2001), which fearlessly tackled themes of child abuse. Mo Hayder quickly gained a reputation for pushing boundaries, blending crime with psychological horror in a way few authors dared. Titles like Tokyo (2004), Pig Island (2006), and Gone (2012)—which won the Edgar Award—cemented her reputation as one of the most daring voices in modern crime fiction.
Over her career, Mo Hayder sold millions of books worldwide. Her work was translated into dozens of languages and adapted for film, including De Behandeling, a Belgian movie based on The Treatment. Critics called her “the UK’s Thomas Harris,” while fans embraced her as a fearless author who gave voice to society’s darkest truths.
Balancing Light and Shadow: Personal Life
Despite her dark fiction, those who knew Candy Davis—by then Mo Hayder—described her as witty, warm, and full of charm. She raised her daughter, Lotte, while continuing to write, and in 2021 she married Bob Randall, a retired police sergeant. Friends often marveled at how she balanced her lighthearted sitcom past with the nightmarish worlds she created on the page.
Her life was one of constant duality: the glamorous Miss Belfridge of the 1980s and the fearless novelist Mo Hayder of the 2000s. Together, those identities made her story one of the most extraordinary reinventions in modern pop culture.
Video : Candy Davis Miss Belfridge mix AYBS S10E05
A Final Chapter: Legacy Beyond the Page
In December 2020, Mo Hayder was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. She passed away just months later, on July 27, 2021, at the age of 59. Her death was a devastating loss to both fans of Are You Being Served? and the millions who devoured her novels.
Before her passing, she completed one final project, The Book of Sand (2022), published under the pseudonym Theo Clare. A departure into speculative fiction, it showed once again her boundless creativity and refusal to be defined by a single genre.
The Lasting Impact of Candy Davis
Today, Candy Davis is remembered in two strikingly different ways. Sitcom lovers still smile at her glamorous and funny portrayal of Miss Belfridge. Meanwhile, readers continue to lose themselves in the chilling pages of Mo Hayder’s novels. Together, these legacies form a portrait of a woman who lived boldly, embraced reinvention, and left an indelible mark on both television and literature.
Conclusion
Candy Davis—later known as Mo Hayder—was more than a glamorous actress or bestselling author. She was a woman of relentless reinvention, transforming from a sitcom beauty into one of the most daring voices in crime and horror fiction. From the laughter she inspired in Are You Being Served? to the chills her novels delivered, her life was a testament to courage, creativity, and resilience. Though she left us far too soon, her story reminds us that true brilliance is not limited to one stage or one lifetime—it can shine through in every role, every chapter, and every reinvention.
