What EastEnders’ Branning stars are doing now – from working as a chef and theatre roles to millionaire fashion mogul

EASTENDERS has had a Branning on the Square for decades – but things really kicked off when Max and his crew rolled into town.

The bald-headed loverman (who actually wasn’t quite so bald back then) brought along daughters Lauren and Abi with son Bradley joining soon after.

Almost no plot was complete without one of them getting stuck into some drama and, with their grim habit of falling off rooves, the family had a string of shocking exits.

Come Christmas there was always a Branning at the heart of the drama – usually cheat-a-holic Max, let’s face it.

Here we take a look at what the successful bunch of stars have been up to since they dominated Albert Square…

Jake Wood (Max)

Jake Wood bowed out of the soap after his character either ran out of plots or people to sleep with, in 2019.

Suddenly free to change his appearance and do what he wanted for practically the first time in 15 years he grew an enormous bushy beard that he showed off on The Chase.

He also embraced his love of boxing by stepping up his acclaimed where he interviews many of his heroes.

The star also got to spend more time with his wife Alison who, in a very un-Max-like revelation, he’s been happily married to for more than 20 years.

And starting this month Jake is appearing alongside singer Lily Allen in the stage play 2:22 A Ghost Story in London’s West End.

How about that for living life to the Max.

Charlie Clements (Bradley)

With his love of an old-man golf sweater and as one of very few characters not to work in Walford (he disappeared, quite rarely it must be said, to toil in the City) Bradley was always a bit different.

A fan favourite, he was rewarded with an explosive exit in 2010, when he smashed evil rapist Archie Mitchell in the face.

He then fell off the roof of the Vic being chased by the cops and tumbled to his death – while Charlie swapped the Square for a string of stage roles.

During lockdown, the hard-grafting star, 34, took a job as a chef before hanging up his apron and working in a garden centre.

Charlie, who is now a dad of three, explained: “It was just a way of me supporting the family. At the end of the day the kids and the family come first. I’ve never been afraid of work.”

He later popped up in Casualty, joined the cast of long-running whodunit The Mousetrap in London’s West End and continues to act on stage.

Jacqueline Jossa (Lauren)

Jac Jossa spent eight years on Albert Square as Max’s daughter Lauren before producers chopped her and screen sister Abi.

She quickly used the soap as a springboard to reality TV, stepping out of the Branning shadow and marrying Towie’s Dan Osbourne just before her exit.

She went on win I’m A Celebrity in 2019 but never forgot her EastEnders roots – building a miniature Queen Vic in her garden.

The jungle proved to be Jac’s path to even greater fame and riches, with big-money endorsement deals to add to her £75,000 fee for doing the show.

The mum-of-two, 28, bagged a six-figure deal to release her own In The Style range with the brand taking her on glamorous shoots all over the world.

Lorna Fitzgerald (Abi)

Still only 25 now, Lorna was the youngest Branning daughter but had the family’s manipulative streak, once faking a pregnancy to fool Ben Mitchell.

Like Jac she was chopped in 2018 and left the show by falling off a roof, giving birth and being declared braindead – a dramatic feat rare even by EastEnders standards.

Free from soap schedules for the first time in 12 years, she threw herself into stage work and starred in Hitchcock adaptation The Lady Vanishes.

She is about to appear at the Edinburgh Fringe in as one half of a young couple trying to start a family, which fans can stream online.