The Branning family, together with the Jackson family are a fictional extended family in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Introduced in 1993 were the Jackson family, consisting of Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson), her partner and later husband Alan Jackson (Howard Antony), and Carol's four children, Bianca (Patsy Palmer), Sonia (Natalie Cassidy), Robbie (Dean Gaffney), and Billie Jackson (Devon Anderson); Billie is the only child fathered by Alan. The family becomes a more dominating presence in 1999, when Carol's father Jim Branning (John Bardon) moves to Walford following the death of his wife Reenie (Joy Graham), due to cancer. Since then, all six of Jim's children have appeared, many of them with their own families.
Between 2006 and 2012, new influxes of Brannings joined the show – Max Branning (Jake Wood), his wife Tanya (Jo Joyner) and their children Lauren (Madeline Duggan/Jacqueline Jossa) and Abi (Lorna Fitzgerald). Max and Tanya later had another child Oscar Branning in 2007. Max's son with his ex-wife Rachel (Sukie Smith/Pooky Quesnel); Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements) was introduced earlier in 2006. Jim's son Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) and his daughter Penny Branning (Mia Mckenna-Bruce) were introduced in 2007 and 2008, as well as Bianca's children Liam Butcher (James Forde), Tiffany Dean (Maisie Smith), Morgan Jackson-King (Devon Higgs) and her adoptive daughter Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) in 2008. Suzy Branning (now played by Maggie O'Neill) also returned to the show that year for a short stint. In February 2010, Carol returned to the show with her son Billie, who was killed-off months later. Once again in 2011, the Branning family were rejuvenated with the return of Derek Branning (now played by Jamie Foreman), alongside the introduction of his children Joey Branning (David Witts) and Alice Branning (Jasmyn Banks) the following year. Carol's daughter Sonia returned in 2014 with her daughter Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield), as did Robbie in both 2015 and 2017 and Bianca in 2019 and 2024. Lauren and her son Louie have been reintroduced, as well as Jack’s daughter Penny (now played by Kitty Castledine).
The family has been central to some of EastEnders most notable storylines since their introduction. These include Bianca attempting to seduce Carol's ex-lover David Wicks (Michael French) - unaware that he is her father, Bianca's marriage to Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen) and her abortion due to their unborn daughter having spina bifida, Billie being kidnapped, Bianca's affair with Carol's fiancée Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass), Sonia's teenage pregnancy and Jim's relationship and marriage to Dot Cotton (June Brown). Since their re-development in 2006, other significant storylines include Max's affair with his son Bradley's wife Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Max's spurned wife Tanya burying him alive before digging him back up again out of guilt; the death of Max's son Bradley by falling from the roof of Albert Square's public house The Queen Victoria; Jack's wife Ronnie (Samantha Womack) swapping their deceased infant son James with Tommy Moon, cousins Lauren and Joey's relationship, Lauren's alcoholism, Max's relationship with Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) and being framed for her murder; Max's subsequent revenge which leads to him losing another child, Abi, from a fall from the roof of The Queen Victoria, and Whitney being stalked by Leo King (Tom Wells), the son of Bianca's ex-fiancé Tony King (Chris Coghill) who sexually abused Whitney. Other storylines include Max's affair with Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Amy's self-harming, Jack's son Ricky impregnating Stacey's daughter Lily at twelve years old, and Jack's affair with Stacey.
As of 2026, the remaining Brannings consist of Jim's sons Max (Jake Wood) and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen); Max's children Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa), Oscar (Pierre Moullier), and Annie (Lois Hawkins); Lauren's sons Louie (Jake McNally) and Jimmy Beale; Jack's children Penny (Kitty Castledine), Amy (Ellie Dadd) and Ricky (Frankie Day); Ricky's daughter Charli Slater; and Penny's son Ethan Branning-Panesar. Branning family members such as Jack's civil partner Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Lauren's husband Peter Beale (Thomas Law) and Max's estranged wife Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) remain in the soap but are considered part of other families.
Storylines
Backstory In the episode broadcast on 6 April 2010, Carol describes her great-grandfather, James William Branning, who was born on 12 December 1876. At the age of nineteen, James conceived a child and married his pregnant partner on 2 January 1897. Two months later he joined his fellow soldiers of the Royal West Surrey regiment to complete a tour of Afghanistan. Whilst on tour he died of fatal wounds, aged twenty. His early death meant he never saw his son, who went on to have two children, one of whom is Jim.
When Carol was fourteen she got pregnant by David Wicks, leading to a strained relationship with her father and her brother, Derek, bullying David and his family into leaving. Jim also had a strained relationship with his wife Reenie as he never really loved her but only married her as she was pregnant with his child. When Max was young, he made friends with a black child at school, leading to Jim and Derek burying him alive as punishment. Jim and Max had a very difficult relationship with Jim regularly beating him. However, Jim had very good relations with his two other sons, Derek and Jack, and when Jack stole his WWII medal and blamed Max, Jim and Max's relationship was broken irreparably leading to Max leaving the family home at 18.
Jim's son Max became a young father and married the mother of his child, Rachel. Rachel gave birth to Bradley but Max's affair with a woman called Tanya Cross resulted in the end of his marriage to Rachel and he walked out on both of them when Bradley was still very young and never had any contact with Bradley until 2006. In 1994, Max and Tanya had a daughter, Lauren, and they married later that year, two years later having another daughter, Abi.
1993–1999 Carol Jackson arrived on Albert Square in 1993 with her children Bianca, Robbie, Sonia, Billie and her boyfriend Alan Jackson. Alan was the father of her youngest child Billie, and Carol and her three other children had taken his surname, as he was a father and husband figure to them all. When April's fiancé, Nikos (Yorgos Glastras), jilted her at the altar in 1996, Carol and Alan married in their place. Carol's four children had four different fathers. David Wicks was the father of Bianca, who arrived to live in Albert Square in the same year as the Jacksons, Bianca not knowing he was her father. A man called Terry Cant was Sonia's father, who she did not know and never met, and Gary Bolton was Robbie's father, who lived with Carol, Bianca and Robbie as Carol's boyfriend but later left them after he got another woman pregnant with his second son Kevin.
Bianca started a relationship with Ricky Butcher. Bianca's immature behaviour led Ricky to begin an affair with Bianca's best friend Natalie Price. When the affair was revealed, the relationship ended and she started to see a new potential love interest in David Wicks but was devastated when he was revealed to be her father after a teenage fling with Carol in 1976. Despite her initial upset, Bianca built a paternal bond with David. This led her back into the arms of Ricky and they got engaged in 1995. The two married in 1997 and Bianca fell pregnant with Ricky's child who they intended to call Natasha. However, after a test it was discovered that the unborn baby was suffering from spina bifida and Ricky and Bianca made the heartbreaking decision to abort it. Bianca fell pregnant again and gave birth to baby Liam in The Queen Vic.
April got engaged to a Greek man called Nikos whom she met in Greece after she worked and lived there. The wedding was supposed to take place in April 1996 but Nikos jilted April at the altar. After April started a relationship with Michael Rose, Nikos returned to Walford and tried to win April back. He asked her to marry him again and they eventually left Walford and managed to marry him at the second attempt. It has since been revealed that April still lives in Greece with him.
Alan eventually grew tired of life with Carol and started an affair with singer Frankie Pierre but when it came out he and Carol separated. Carol then tried to make a go of things with her old flame David, Bianca's father. This soon ended and she and Alan reunited but they split up yet again when Alan suffered a nervous breakdown. Carol then became engaged to Dan Sullivan and became pregnant with his child but after he and Bianca started an affair, Carol had the baby aborted and called off the engagement. This led to the end of Bianca's marriage to Ricky and she left for Manchester with Liam and Ricky stayed in Walford. Carol then moved away and reunited yet again with Alan and is now living with him, their son Billie, and Alan's grandmother Blossom Jackson.
When Reenie died, Jim came to live in Walford to look after Sonia and Robbie after Carol left. Jim started a slow burning romance with Dot Cotton and he revealed to Dot he and Reenie never really loved each other and spent their entire married lives arguing. After much chasing, Dot finally agreed to marry Jim, and the two lived together in 25 Albert Square.
2000–2005 In 2000 Sonia had underage sex with Martin Fowler and she gave birth to baby Chloe in her living room, not knowing she was pregnant. Sonia decided to put the child up for adoption despite opposition from Martin's mother Pauline.
Robbie and Sonia tracked down Gary (Robbie's father) in Portsmouth in 2001, and he later arrived in Walford to speak to Robbie and gave him a cheque for £10,000. He used this money to take a tour of India and pay for Sonia's nursing course. When he returned he started a relationship with widow Nita Mistry. When she decided to return to India so her parents could help her bring up Anish, as she was struggling, Robbie decided to leave with her.
When Martin ran over and killed Sonia's fiancé Jamie Mitchell, Sonia surprisingly started a relationship with him and they eventually married. When Sonia discovered that Chloe's adoptive parents Neil and Sue Miller were both killed in a car crash she tracked down her daughter, now called Rebecca, and made visits to her at adoptive grandmother Margaret Wilson's house. When Sonia revealed her true identity to Margaret she threw her out, and Martin and Sonia agreed to not visit again. When Pauline discovered their secret however, she started making her own visits to Rebecca and even tried to win custody of her at one point, but Sonia convinced her that Rebecca was best off with her adoptive grandmother. Sonia left Martin when she started a lesbian relationship with Naomi Julien, much to Jim's fury. Martin and Sonia later tried to get guardianship of Rebecca in case anything happened to Margaret, but after learning of Sonia's new relationship, Margaret gave Martin sole custody. Margaret later died and Rebecca went to live with the Fowlers, but Pauline's meddling ways stopped Sonia building any sort of relationship with her daughter. Sonia's relationship with Naomi stopped and she eventually got back together with Martin behind Pauline's back. When Pauline died on Christmas Day, Sonia became a suspect in her murder but when the killer was revealed to be Joe Macer, Sonia, Martin and Rebecca left Walford together to tour the United States and live with Michelle Fowler.
2006–present