Jim Branning

James Archibald "Jim" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by John Bardon, first appearing on 29 April 1996 and becoming a regular character in 1999 and remained in the series until 2011.

Jim was temporarily written out of the show in August 2007 due to Bardon suffering a stroke. A storyline was created that Jim also suffered a stroke. It was reported on 10 March 2008 that Bardon would be returning to the role of Jim in summer 2008. Bardon returned to film four episodes in the latter half of 2008. He returned permanently from the episode broadcast on 20 August 2009. On 1 April 2011 it was reported by the Daily Mirror that Bardon had filmed his final scenes and had left. He departed on 26 May 2011, and, although it was said the character may re-appear in the future if Bardon's health improved, this did not happen and the actor died on 12 September 2014, more than three years after leaving the series. Following Bardon's death it was announced in March 2015 that EastEnders would pay tribute to him and the character by staging a funeral for Jim.

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the public service broadcaster of the United Kingdom, headquartered at Broadcasting House in London.

The BBC is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with over 20,950 staff in total, of whom 16,672 are in public sector broadcasting; including part-time, flexible as well as fixed contract staff, the total number is 35,402.

The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBC's extensive radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. From 1 April 2014, it also funds the BBC World Service, launched in 1932, which provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in Arabic, and Persian, and broadcasts in 28 languages.

Jack Branning

Jack Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Scott Maslen. He made his first appearance on 29 October 2007. He is the youngest child of Jim and Reenie Branning and the brother of April Branning, Carol Jackson, Derek Branning, Suzy Branning and Max Branning. The character was introduced to the show during a period when EastEnders was being routinely criticised in the media for its reliance on resurrecting old characters. The casting of Scott Maslen provoked some controversy, being the first time an actor had been poached from one mainstream soap to another. It was quickly established that Jack is a morally ambiguous character, with a murky past in the police force resulting in the paralysis of his young daughter. Tabloid media have praised the character for his role as resident Romeo, commenting frequently on his good looks and attractiveness, although broadsheet press have been more critical of Maslen's acting. Maslen took a three-month-long break from the role to participate in the 2010 series of Strictly Come Dancing. Maslen left the role on 15 October 2013 after 6 years on the show. Jack made a previously unannounced return to the soap on 24 December 2015, before leaving once again on 1 January 2016. He will make a full-time return later in 2016.

John Bardon

John Bardon (born John Michael Jones, 25 August 1939 – 12 September 2014), was an English stage and screen actor. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award in 1988 (1987 season) as 'Best Actor in a Musical' for Kiss Me, Kate, sharing the award with co-star Emil Wolk. He was best known for playing the patriarch Jim Branning on EastEnders for 13 years. On 12 September 2014 the BBC announced that Bardon had died at age 75.

Acting career

Bardon was born in Brentford, Middlesex. He may be best known for having played Jim Branning on EastEnders. His character, the father of established character Carol Jackson, first appeared briefly in 1996. The character of Jim returned to the series in 1999 and this time became a regular character, later marrying Dot Cotton (June Brown). Bardon filmed his final scenes for EastEnders in March 2011 after years of poor health.

He also was a regular in Rumpole of the Bailey, as a member of the "clan Timson, a family of South London villains", as described by Rumpole. He had made notable guest appearances in Dad's Army in 1975 in the episode "Ring Dem Bells" (in addition to this, he played Private Walker in the 1975-76 stage adaptation of Dad's Army, as original television actor James Beck had died in 1973) and Are You Being Served? in 1976 in the episode "No Sale". He also starred in the British police drama The Sweeney, in which he played villain Doc Boyd in the episode "Faces", first broadcast on Monday 8 September 1975. In the same year, he also appeared as a bookmaker in the film One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing. In 1978 he was cast as Del Rogers in G. F. Newman's Law and Order on BBC2.

Albert Square

Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders in the equally fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End. The square's design was based on Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after Prince Albert. The public house, The Queen Victoria, was also given its name due to this. One of the key characteristics of the pub is the window twitching by any of the occupants throughout the years. They are often known to look out of the windows, giving a view of the whole Square. This is especially common in dramatic storylines.

Central to the Square is the garden. The garden is home to Arthur Fowler's bench, which was placed there in memory of him. The bench is also known as the Bench of Tears, as it is often the place where characters will go and cry.

The square is the centre of all of the everyday drama in all of Walford's residents' lives; most of the characters in EastEnders live on the square. Although a major place on the show, there are other places which are used in the show, like the market.