Room for another Branning? Max and Jack's bad boy brother Derek moves to Albert Square
By Emily Sheridan
Last updated at 2:50 PM on 15th November 2011
With the Mitchell family rapidly shrinking following the departure of matriarch Peggy, the Branning family have become one of the dominant clans in Albert Square.
And the complicated family are set to get even bigger when Max, Jack and Carol's bad boy older brother Derek becomes the latest new addition to EastEnders.
Actor Jamie Foreman, 53, joins the cast as ex-con Derek next week and it won't be long before he's making his presence known to his new neighbours.
Ready to rumble: Derek Branning (Jamie Foreman) moves to Albert Square to see her brother Max Branning (Jake Wood) and ex-sister-in-law Tanya Jessop (Jo Joyner)
And playing a bad boy shouldn't come too hard to Foreman, as he's the real-life son of Freddie 'Brown Bread Fred' Foreman, a former gangster associate of the notorious Krays brothers.
Jamie, 53, said: 'I am hugely excited to be joining such an iconic show. EastEnders is full of fantastic actors so it is a role I couldn't refuse. The Brannings are such a great family to be joining and I am extremely interested to see how Derek is going to fit in.'
Jamie has been acting since the Seventies, with roles in Nil By Mouth, Layer Cake and Law & Order UK.
EastEnders' executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said: 'Loyal EastEnders viewers may know that the fearsome Derek Branning, eldest son of Jim, has been a shadowy presence looming over the rest of the family for years.
Settling in: Foreman was spotted chatting to Wood as they filmed Pat Evans' funeral scenes in London yesterday
'So it's a real coup to sign Jamie Foreman to play the biggest, baddest Branning brother.
'Jamie has an incredible acting pedigree, having starred in some of the best British movies of recent times, and we can't wait for him to bring his unique talents to Walford.'
Derek was previously played by Terrence Beesley, who appeared in several episodes of the soap in the mid-Nineties.
A racist character, he had huge issues with younger sister Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson) marrying now ex-husband Alan Jackson because he was black.
Notorious: Jamie's father Freddie Foreman (left) with Ronnie Kray (centre) and Christine Keeler in the Sixties
Derek and his father Jim (John Bardon) stormed out of Carol and Alan's 1996 wedding in protest.
Despite the character's absence over the past 15 years, he has been referred to by his remaining on-screen family.
In a conversation in 2007, Max reveals Derek would be unable to attend his son Bradley's wedding to Stacey because he's in prison.
But now, obviously out of prison, it looks like Derek is trying to repair his rift with his family.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2061749/EastEnders-Max-Jacks-bad-boy-brother-Derek-Branning-moves-Albert-Square.html#ixzz1do3XRivj
