Max Branning

Maxwell "Max" Branning made his first appearance 27 June 2006. He is portrayed by Jake Wood. He then departed in 2015 after the square thought he murdered Lucy Beale.

Kill Count
Steven Beale - After pushing Steven into a kitchen counter, the pointed end struck him in the stomach and Steven later died in hospital from internal injuries.

Total - 1

Backstory
Max grew up in a poor part of London and was hated by his father and his brother Jack. Jim's hatred towards Max was a result of his brother Jack setting him up for stealing Jim's dad's war medals. When Max was 13 Jim locked him in a coffin and laughed about it Max later walked out on his siblings and parents in 1989 and was not seen again. Also when Max was 13 he went for a joy ride on Jim's motorbike and nearly killed himself flying into a brick wall.

Arrival
Max arrived in Albert Square in 2006 in search for the son he abandoned years previously. he was reunited with his father and finally got to meet his long lost son, Bradley.

Max then buys a house on the square much to Jims disgust and begins moving his family into Walford

Affair With Stacey
Max thinks Bradley is too good for his girlfriend Stacey Slater, and when gets pregnant, he gives Bradley money for an abortion, telling him a baby will ruin his life. However, the abortion causes their relationship to end. To hurt Bradley, Stacey makes a move on Max and they have sex. They begin an affair, but Tanya tells Max she is pregnant by him. He tries to save his marriage despite promising Stacey that he will leave Tanya. Tanya confides in Stacey that she is pregnant, so Stacey gives Max an ultimatum: either he tell Tanya the truth or she will. Within thirty minutes, Max takes his family to Spain, and a few weeks later tells Bradley they are moving there permanently.

Max returns with his family as he wants to be with Stacey, only to find that she and Bradley have reconciled and are now engaged. Stacey rejects Max's advances. On the night of Bradley and Stacey's wedding, Max kisses Stacey, and although she rejects him again, Max's daughter Lauren captures the kiss on video. Soon after, Tanya and Max's son Oscar is born.

Not A Merry Christmas
Max and Stacey then continue with their families until Christmas Eve when they are caught in the act by Max's eldest daughter Lauren, who catches Max trying to make a move on Stacey on her wedding day. The Branning's and the Slater's then gather for Christmas Day, unaware of what Lauren is planning to expose. Max and Stacey's affair is finally revealed to the whole family when they find the DVD that is under the Christmas tree. The family then play the DVD, although Lauren does try and stop them, and discover this dirty secret. This causes a lot of fights within the two families and Max and Stacey find themselves outcasts.

Payback
Tanya files for divorce, but it is messy, with Max interfering with her romance with Sean Slater and threatening to expose her as an unfit mother. Having had enough of Max, Tanya works with Sean, and drugs Max and puts him in a coffin before burying him alive in the woods. An attack of conscience prompts Tanya to dig Max up and after a brief scuffle in which he tries to strangle her, he decides to leave Walford as he can see how much devastation he had caused.

Max Is Back
Max's departure drives Tanya and the kids to his brother Jack, who begins to take Max's place as the father of the family. Everyone accepts Jack over Max, except Maxs youngest daughter Abi who secretly brings her Dad back to Walford.

Max returns in 2008 and sets out to break Jack and Tanya's relationship, causing many confrontations within the Branning family. He also tries to rekindle his romance with Stacey and tries to salvage something from his relationship with his Father and siblings.

Max starts making people's life a living hell. He framed his brother Jack for a crime he did not commit, he threatens to take the kids off Tanya, he ruins his fathers birthday and he drives his kids into the arms of Jack.

Whodunnit
Discovering he was the one who framed him for robbery, Jack abducts Max and beats him up, after which, Max and Tanya kiss. Later that evening he is the victim of a deliberate hit-and-run, which Tanya confesses to and is arrested. However, Lauren later admits that she was driving the car and turns herself in to the police. She reveals she tried to kill Max because he attacked her boyfriend, Peter Beale and forced him to end their relationship. Tanya is released and Lauren is taken into care. Lauren is found not guilty of attempted murder, but guilty of grievous bodily harm, and she decides to return home.

Debts
Max and Tanya start a secret relationship, and Tanya later allows Max to move back with his family. Max gets into debt and starts conning people with false insurance claims, including Phil Mitchell, Heather Trott, Ian Beale and Masood Ahmed. However his dodgy schemes are found out, and after failing to con his ex-wife Rachel out of money, the debt collectors arrive at the house and take his assets. Once the extent of Max's debts, lies and cons become clear, Tanya resolves to leave him. She gets in the car to go but Abi refuses, saying they need to stick together, so Tanya leaves with Lauren and Oscar. Sinking into depression after losing his family, Max then sends Abi to live with her mother, as he cannot look after her.

Branning and Son
Max and Bradley decide to go into business together, and Roxy Mitchell rents the car lot to them. After Archie's murder on Christmas Day 2009, Max discovers that Bradley punched Archie because he raped and impregnated Stacey. When the police come for Bradley, Max helps him flee with Stacey, but the police chase Bradley to a rooftop where he stumbles and falls to his death. As Max and Stacey cry, she admits to him that she killed Archie. Falling into a deep depression, Max's sister Carol moves in to help out. Max then has a brief fling with Stacey's friend, Becca Swanson. Stacey has gone missing, but Max follows Becca one day who leads him to Stacey. After an emotional confrontation, Max takes Stacey home, and the pair agree to tell no one about Archie's murder.

Vanessa
In June 2010 Vanessa Gold buys a car from Max. They begin an affair and after solving problems with her ex husband Harry and going back and forward with their affair they plan to get married. It's going to be a double wedding with Vanessa her daughter Jody and her fiancé Darren Miller. Mean while Max and Tanya begin an affair behind Vannessa and Greg their back. The affair is revealed and Vanessa trashes Max his place in fury. Carol and Jack throw Vanessa out because Tanya and the kids need a place to live now Greg knows about the affair.

Max Vs Harry
Vanessa ends her affair with Max in order to save her daughter Jodie's relationship with Darren, as Jodie plans to break up with Darren because she feels she is betraying her father every time she sees Vanessa with Max. When she returns the next day to collect some clothes, Max and Vanessa kiss but she stops it. Lauren turns up at Max's unannounced, and Tanya follows, revealing that Lauren was expelled from school in America for smoking drugs. The next day Max upsets Abi by joking to Darren that Abi must fancy her, not realising she really does, and Lauren by trying to get involved in her personal life. Tanya arrives to speak to Lauren, and realises Max is heartbroken about Vanessa. She later visits Vanessa and convinces her to take Max back, which she does. Max then comforts Carol after the death of her son Billie. After Billie's funeral, Lauren is angry at Max for not talking about Bradley, saying that Max is wrong for calling him a decent man, so Max tells her he did not kill Archie. Lauren thinks he must know who did so she visits Jack and tells him what Max said. Jack says Max is just protecting her and probably cannot accept that Bradley is a killer. At a party, Max angrily confronts Jay Brown after he makes sexual remarks to Lauren. Max discovers that Harry has been putting nude pictures of Vanessa around Walford and vows revenge but Vanessa stops him, telling him that Harry is not Jodie's real father.

Harry starts taking revenge by throwing a brick through their window, destroying Vanessa's clothes and killing Jodie's cat. Max and Jack threaten Harry, thinking it is over, but Jack is grabbed by two men the night before his wedding to Ronnie, and Max finds him the next day in the boot of his car. Lauren concludes that Max killed Archie, because he has been displaying violent behaviour, but Max tells her that he made a promise to the killer to protect them. After Stacey tells Lauren that Max is looking after her, Lauren tells Max that she has worked out that Stacey is the killer. Max is a sex man and all he wants is sex

Charged with Lucy Beale's murder/ Return
In July 2015 after Ben Mitchell had been arrested for Lucy's murder Max's daughter, Abi Branning confronted the police saying she believes Max killed Lucy. Whilst searching his house DI Keeble discover blood on Max's shoes which was later identified as Lucy's. At his trial Max protests he is innocent and after the trial he phones Stacey Branning claiming he knows who killed Lucy (beknown to him it was in fact Bobby Beale) it led to a fight in the square between Stacey and Abi. In August 2015 Abi confessed to Max's sister, Carol Branning that she and Max had cleaned the garage the day after Lucy was killed. Abi informed the police who once again identified as Lucy's. Meanwhile Max is beaten up in prison by a gang of thug's. Later that day Carol visits Max in prison she say's she believes Max did kill Lucy and again he protests his innocence. He is then dragged away prison guard's.

In 2015 Ian Beale told police that Lucy who was killed in 2014 that max had killed her after phil Mitchell took hostage of Jane Beale and said that if she did not do things he would tell the police that bobby killed Lucy which was true.

Max was found guilty of Lucy's murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison - 20 after being wrongfully charged for the murder of Lucy Beale and one year for escaping Royal custody after being found guilty. He was later released in June 2016 after Bobby Beale confessed to the police that he killed Lucy. Max is currently residing in an unknown location and is planning revenge on the Beales for setting him up.

In late 2016 Max returned to walford after being released from prison knowing that the square might hate him but is he planning revenge or will he get better.