Why did Tanya leave EastEnders? Jo Joyner has been dodging the comeback question ever since
Tanya Branning arrived in Albert Square on 27 June 2006 and spent seven years at the centre of the loudest storylines EastEnders had going — divorcing Max, drugging him and burying him alive, cervical cancer, and the discovery that her husband had a secret second wife.
Then, in the spring of 2013, Jo Joyner handed in her notice. The reason was almost boringly simple.
The short answer
Joyner chose to go. Her departure was announced on 1 April 2013 and she made her final regular appearance on 28 June 2013, after seven years in the role. In her statement at the time she said Tanya had been on enough of a rollercoaster, and that as a mother and an actress she wanted to explore other work for a while. No fallout, no sacking.
The reason she's given since
Joyner has been blunter in the years since about the tone of the job. Talking to the Sunday Mirror in 2018 about why she chases a comedy after every drama:
"Otherwise you end up with the Walford frown."
She told Inside Soap in 2020 that the seven years of jobbing work she'd done before EastEnders — No Angels, Fat Friends, Spooks — made walking away far less frightening than it is for actors whose first job it was.
How Tanya was written out
The exit ran through Lauren's alcoholism. Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) collapsed, was hospitalised, and doctors found serious liver damage. Tanya left Walford for Exeter, taking Lauren and young Oscar with her to get her daughter sober. Max stayed behind on the Square.
The comebacks so far
Tanya hasn't stayed gone — Joyner has returned three separate times:
- February 2015 — two episodes for the show's 30th anniversary week.
- 25–26 December 2017 — a surprise Christmas return, in time to watch Abi and Lauren fall from the roof of the Queen Vic.
- January and February 2018 — two further episodes covering Abi's death and Lauren's departure. Her last appearance aired on 16 February 2018.
Will she come back properly?
She's never shut the door and never walked through it either. On the Distinct Nostalgia podcast in 2020 she said she'd "never say never", pointing to her fondness for the Brannings and her curiosity about who they'd all have become by now. She's repeated some version of that in nearly every interview since.
As of 2026, Tanya's last scene on the Square remains the one from February 2018.
For the record: Lauren Branning is back in Walford. Her mum's return is the one that keeps getting talked about and never scheduled.