EastEnders legend Jo Joyner returns to Walford set for Branning 'family reunion' - 8 years after last Tanya appearance

Jo Joyner has returned to the set of EastEnders after eight years.

The Tanya Branning star, who originally appeared in the BBC soap between 2006 and 2013, shared a series of snaps from the iconic studios in Elstree, Hertfordshire, yesterday (22 September).

Despite making returns in 2015, and between 2017 and 2018, Joyner isn't reprising her role on this occasion.

"When you're filming round the corner so you pop in to see the faaaaaamily," she captioned one snap, which showed her posing with co-stars Jake Wood, Jacqueline Jossa and Robert Kazinsky, who play Tanya's ex-hubby Max Branning, daughter Lauren Beale and former lover Sean Slater.

Joyner was also pictured with Pierre Counihan-Moullier, saying she'd "finally [met her] son". Counihan-Moullier plays the Brannings' now adult son Oscar, and although the character returned to the serial last year, he hasn't shared scenes with Tanya during his tenure.

Another photo, which Joyner accompanied with the words "Happy Days", saw her with Wood, Jossa and Kazinsky on the Bridge Street Market set.

As the show films well in advance of broadcast, Christmas lights and wreaths can be seen lining the road and market stalls.

Sadly, amid excitement from fans who were hopeful of a comeback, a picture posted this morning showed her in costume as a "1940s lawyer". It's likely that this project is being shot at Elstree Film Studios, across the road from the BBC's base.

There's certainly still appetite and opportunity for Tanya to return.

Oscar recently reflected on how difficult his mum found the passing of sister Abi (Lorna Fitzgerald), in a conversation with Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace), who was grieving her daughter Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan).

He also compared his dad's excessive alcohol consumption to Tanya.

Next year, we'll see the outcome of a flash-forward episode centred on Max. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, including which Walford woman he's planning to marry, and the identity of the pregnant woman in his bed.

It was presumed that the latter character would be Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy), who is currently expecting Max's sixth child. However, with Khan Levy departing in today's instalment for her own real-life maternity leave, it's now looking unlikely.

Could Tanya fall into the picture somehow?

Read more:

• EastEnders star teases "fire and carnage" when Penny Branning's baby paternity secret is revealed
• EastEnders favourite Balvinder Sopal teases Ash return is "grenade" to the Panesar family unit this autumn
• EastEnders announces hard-hitting Amy Mitchell storyline as BBC soap works with charities

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Authors

Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.