ann mitchell played max branning's wife in eastenders.
ann mitchell played max branning's wife in eastenders.
who plays max branning's wife in eastenders?
ann mitchell
the branning family were introduced as an extension to the established jackson family consisting of carol jackson (lindsay coulson), her children bianca jackson (patsy palmer), robbie jackson (dean gaffney), sonia fowler (natalie cassidy) and billie jackson (devon anderson), her husband alan jackson (howard antony) and his grandmother blossom jackson (mona hammond). carol's father jim branning, played by john bardon, had appeared in the show in 1996 as a guest character and was reintroduced in 1999 as a regular by matthew robinson. three other of jim's children, april branning (debbie arnold), derek branning (terence beesley) and sue branning (julie christian-young) also appeared in 1995 and 1996, as well as his first wife reenie branning (joy graham), who died off screen in 1999, allowing jim to move in with his grandchildren. jim was paired romantically with dot cotton (june brown), and the couple married on screen in february 2002. the family was extended in 2005 with the arrival of jim's grandson bradley branning (charlie clements), in january 2006. bradley's arrival prompted a series of complaints from residents in the hertfordshire town of tring, where bradley had allegedly lived before he moved to east london, as they thought their town had been portrayed as "snobbish". the bbc responded by saying that tring was chosen following a storyline conference in the town, where the production team enjoyed their stay, saying that bradley was not a snob but was portrayed as a character who led a sheltered life because his father left him when he was young. in 2006, scriptwriters decided to pair bradley with the character stacey slater, played by lacey turner. meanwhile, actor jake wood was introduced as bradley's estranged father max branning, along with his second wife tanya branning (jo joyner) and their two daughters lauren branning (madeline duggan from 2006 to 2010, jacqueline jossa since 2010) and abi branning (lorna fitzgerald). max, a serial womaniser, had left bradley with his mother rachel branning, played by sukie smith in 2006 and pooky quesnel from 2007 onwards, after an affair with tanya, and had not seen his son for several years. max arrived with a mistress, gemma clewes (natalie j. robb), who was warned off by bradley. scott maslen was announced as the latest member of the branning clan, jim's youngest son jack branning, in july 2007. minor appearances followed from jack's ex-wife selina branning and daughter penny branning (mia mckenna-bruce). sue, renamed suzy, was reintroduced in 2008 played by maggie o'neill, though she departed later that year. bardon suffered a stroke in 2007, and a storyline was written in which jim tended to a sick carol, and suffered a stroke while he was there. dot and jim remained together, with jim making sporadic appearances throughout 2008 and 2009 to visit dot, and bardon made a more permanent return to the show in late 2009, which lasted until 2011.
branning family
the watts and mitchell families have been central to many notable "eastenders" storylines, the show having been dominated by the watts in the 1980s, with the 1990s focusing on the mitchells. the early 2000s saw a shift in attention towards the newly introduced female slater clan, before a renewal of emphasis upon the restored watts family beginning in 2003. since 2006, "eastenders" has largely been dominated by the mitchell and branning families, though the early 2010s also saw a renewed focus on the moon family, and from 2013 onwards, on the carters. in 2014, the fowlers were revived and merged with the slaters, with martin fowler (james bye) marrying stacey slater (lacey turner). the taylor family were introduced in 2017 and have been one of the show's main focuses. the beales are the show's longest running family, having been in "eastenders" since it began in 1985. key people involved in the production of "eastenders" have stressed how important the idea of strong families is to the programme. peggy mitchell (barbara windsor), in particular, is notorious for her ceaseless repetition of such statements as "you're a mitchell!" and "it's all about family!" pauline fowler is also known for her insistence on family and mentioning her brother and husband to instill loyalty from family members. her mother lou beale is renowned for her family meetings and traditional approach to family. more recently, derek branning (jamie foreman) regularly expresses the importance of a strong family unit. as the eldest sibling, he is constantly asserting his position as head of his family and reminding everyone to pull together in times of trouble. additionally, derek commonly refers to himself, max branning (jake wood) and jack branning (scott maslen) as "the branning brothers."
eastenders