EastEnders legend Jo Joyner returns to set and fans are freaking out
Can Tanya sort this lot out?!
The Branning clan are an absolute mess in EastEnders, aren’t they?
But then again, what’s new?
Would a motherly influence and – potentially – Max Branning’s (Jake Wood) true love, Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner) help them get back on a steady footing?
Probably not – she was as chaotic as the rest of them – but seeing Jo reunite with her on-screen family has left fans salivating at the prospect of the former Branning matriarch returning to Walford.
It’s been eight years since we’ve seen our Tan’ on Albert Square, but with actress Jo working near the EastEnders set, she popped over to catch up with her ex-husband, her daughter, the son she’s never met and that bloke that helped her bury her husband alive.
Uploading a picture to her story alongside Jake, Jacqueline Jossa, Rob Kazinsky and Pierre Counihan-Moullier, she captioned the sweet snap: ‘When you’re filming round the corner so you pop in to see the faaaaaamily, and finally meet your son!’
Tanya was last seen dealing with the fallout of the death of her daughter, Abi (Lorna Fitzgerald), being admitted to a psychiatric facility off-screen as she struggled to cope with the bereavement.
The last we heard from her, she’d taken custody of Abi’s daughter, AJ, after Max left her unattended to chase a bit of skirt, and has remained off-screen ever since.
According to social media, though, the appetite for a Tanya comeback is very much whetted!
The Branning landscape Tanya would return to would be a messy one, wouldn’t it?
Max is currently feeling the full force of wife-of-twenty-minutes Cindy Beale’s (Michelle Collins) thirst for vengeance, after she discovered that, not only was Max sleeping with Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan-Levy), but he’s knocked her up, too!
Luckily for him, she doesn’t yet know that his heart actually lies with Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), and the real reason he binned her off after his mid-ceremony collapse is because he wants to be with her.
Things aren’t going much better for Lauren Branning, either.
Drawn like a moth to an incredibly dangerous flame, Lauren did everything she could to resist giving into temptation with Mark Fowler Jr (Stephen Aaron-Sipple), determined to stay loyal to her decent, loving husband, Peter Beale (Thomas Law), with Mark even actually leaving Walford at her request.
…then he comes back.
Our Oscar Branning has found himself in various pickles, too, after falling in love with sometimes-killer Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), then also falling in love with her twin brother, Josh Goodwin (Joshua Vaughan).
He eventually got busted for keeping a foot in both camps, but the death of their biological mum, Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) sent Oscar straight back to Josh’s bedroom, with Max lambasting his son for his actions after Max had been the last person to see Zoe before her untimely death.
As far as the reunion with Rob goes, Tanya and his character Sean Slater is pretty grim, with the two engaging in a dark, toxic affair after Max was busted sleeping with Sean’s sister, Stacey (Lacey Turner).
Their plot culminated in them teaming up to recreate Max’s childhood nightmare of being buried alive, though Tanya regretted their actions and actively dug her nightmare ex-husband back up.
