Roly has several brushes with death over the years. He is injured in a car accident caused by a drunk Pete Beale (Peter Dean) and is nearly burnt alive (along with Sharon) when Grant torches The Vic in an insurance scam. However, in October 1993, Roly's luck finally runs out when Sharon asks Grant to take Roly for a walk, but he pays Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton) £10 to do it for him. A few hours later, Mandy returns to explain the circumstances of Roly's death to Grant and Sharon. According to Mandy, Roly slipped his lead to chase a cat and was run over by a lorry. Sharon is devastated. 14.8 million viewers watched Roly's last appearance on-screen. However, in the following episode, Mandy admits to her boyfriend, Aidan Brosnan (Sean Maguire), that she let go of Roly because he was pulling too hard and his lead was cutting into her hand. Grant tries to cheer Sharon up by giving her Freda, Nigel's greyhound, but she refuses to accept her.