Shortly after Carmel moves to the Square, her brother Darren (Gary McDonald) and his children, Junior (Aaron Carrington) and Aisha (Aisha Jacob), join her. Darren and Carmel are complete opposite of each other; Darren is inconsiderate and often dabbles on the wrong side of the law with dodgy scams, such as porn video laundering and instigating a counterfeit money ring. Carmel despairs over his thoughtless behaviour and criminal antics, but he ignores her and she regularly takes over caring for his two young children. Junior proves to be troublesome, and after Carmel discovers that he has been playing truant from school for some time, she reports Darren to the truancy officer as an irresponsible parent. This does not please Darren and he is even more annoyed when Carmel refuses flatly to put up with his behaviour any longer. Animosity between the two increases when Carmel starts dating Matthew Jackson (Steven Hartley) later that year; Darren is unhappy about his sister dating a white man. Carmel defends Matthew against her brother's racism, and after Darren cons Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), she throws him out. Darren then leaves alone, leaving his children so Carmel sends them to her parents as she only has a one bedroom flat.