EastEnders fans were delighted when Tanya Branning returned to Walford on Christmas Day to sort out the rest of her family once and for all.
The legendary character – played by Jo Joyner – arrived in the Square to take her daughters, Abi and Lauren, away from their vengeful dad Max.
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Tanya had discovered through her best friend Jane Beale that Max had killed Steven Beale and had left Jane to die in a burning building as part of his revenge plan against everyone who wronged him.
She was left devastated however when both her girls plummeted from the roof of the Queen Vic after attempting to stop Max from throwing himself off.
As the sisters were rushed to hospital, Tanya was at their sides – and was still there on Boxing Day when Lauren had spinal surgery and Abi had a brain scan.
Viewers last saw her, with Max, being told that there was ‘news’ about one of the girls.
We later found out that Abi was brain-stem dead with zero chance of recovery. Doctors delivered her unborn baby – which had escaped the whole horror fall unharmed – in case Abi went into cardiac arrest.
But during these crucial scenes, Tanya was nowhere to be scene and fans were left puzzled as to why she wouldn’t be by her daughters’ sides during these life changing scenes.
They were even more baffled when she didn’t show up as doctors pushed for Abi’s machine to be switched off.
In an interview with OK! magazine, Jacqueline Jossa who plays Lauren Branning, revealed the real reason why Tanya has been missing on-screen.
She said: “It was so nice to work with Jo again; it’s a shame she couldn’t have done more episodes but she had other filming commitments.”
And Easties scribe Matthew Berry backed up this line, responding to a fan who questioned her absence on Twitter.
So that’s the very simple reason behind Tanya’s absence.
Jac, who has just announced her second pregnancy, also went on to say that her on-screen mum had actually guessed she was expecting while they filmed the dramatic festive scenes.
She said: “We were standing in the rain and she said: ‘It’s a good job no one is pregnant,’ then she looked straight at me and gave me a knowing look!
“I wasn’t planning on telling any of them but she caught me off guard and I ended up confessing.”
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Jacqueline will be bowing out as Lauren next month, but revealed the door has been left open for her to return.
EastEnders continues tonight at 7.30pm