Caroline "Carol" Jackson (née Branning) is the daughter of Jim and Reenie Branning. She is also the mother of Sonia, Robbie, Bianca, and Billie Jackson. She made her first appearance on the 16 November 1993 and last on 2 October 2015. She was portrayed by Lindsey Coulson.
Backstory[]
Caroline "Carol" Branning was born in the East End of London to Jim and Reenie Branning on 3rd October 1962. When she was 13 and with David Wicks, he wanted to hitchhike into Europe, staying in hostels, or sleeping on the beach, but then Carol fell pregnant. Her family tried to force her to have an abortion but she refused. Carol's brother Derek Branning hated David and after learning about Carol's pregnancy, Derek beat David up severely and terrorised his family, which resulted in David and his family leaving Walford for Romford in 1976. Carol gave birth to a daughter, Bianca Jackson, in July 1977. By then Carol had lost contact with David. She had numerous relationships with men and had three more children: Robbie Jackson in 1978 by a man named Gary Bolton; Sonia Jackson in 1985 by a man called Terry Cant; and Billie Jackson in 1988 with Alan Jackson, whom she married.
Storylines[]
1993-1997: Arrival and departure[]
Carol moves to Albert Square with her partner Alan and her four children Bianca, Robbie, Sonia, and Billie. In January 1994, Carol is shocked to see that David has moved back to Walford, and is also living in Albert Square with his mother Pat Butcher, stepfather Frank Butcher, and stepsiblings Ricky and Janine Butcher. Carol must come to terms with her ex living nearby. When it looks like Bianca is about to start a relationship with David, Carol must reveal to David that Bianca is actually his daughter, whom David thought Carol had aborted. Carol starts a rivalry with Pat over this. In February 1995, David tells Bianca that he is her father.
Carol and Alan get married after Carol's sister April is jilted at the altar, despite Carol's father Jim and brother Derek disapproving of the marriage because Alan is black. However, Alan soon becomes jealous of Carol's friendship with David and starts an affair, which provokes Carol into having an affair with David. These affairs are short-lived, and Carol and Alan reunite. After Billie witnesses an armed robbery, the Jackson family (without Bianca) are moved away from Walford on the Witness Protection Programme.
1999: Relationship with Dan Sullivan and departure[]
During this time, Carol separates from Alan, and starts a relationship with Dan Sullivan. When the Jacksons return to Walford, Bianca realises that she had a relationship with Dan when she was fifteen. She keeps this from Carol, but they soon begin an affair. When Carol finds out about the affair, she kicks Dan out, tells Ricky Butcher (Bianca's husband), and disowns Bianca. She then moves to Balham with Billie.
2010-2015: Return and Departure[]
Carol comes uninvited to Ricky and Bianca's second wedding, to try and stop her son Billie from attending. Despite initially feuding, Carol and Bianca make up, and Carol moves to Walford. Billie and Carol fight regularly over Carol's controlling parenting, and Billie's gang connections. When Jack Branning gets accidentally shot by one of Billie's gang members, who wanted to shoot Billie, Billie blames himself, and joins the army. Billie is allowed to come home on his birthday, and Carol organises a party for him and his friends. During the party, Billie drinks too much alcohol, and the next day, he is found dead on the sofa. Carol is distraught, and blames her family, until her brother, Max, tells her Billie only joined the army to get away from her. She bans her family from attending Billie's funeral, so only her, Alan, and Alan's mother Blossom attend. In her grief, Carol tries to kiss Alan, but he rejects her as he has married again, and has a son. Carol plans to commit suicide by overdose, but is interrupted by one of Billie's ex gang members, Connor Stanley. Connor and Carol comfort each other, and end up having sex. Carol however, disapproves of Connor's criminal background, and they break up and get back together many times. During one of the breaks, Connor starts dating Carol's step-granddaughter, Whitney Dean. Connor sleeps with Whitney and Carol at the same time, until Bianca finds out and hits him with a metal pole, causing her to go to prison. In 2011, Carol started a relationship with Eddie Moon, until she finds out he is seeing Vanessa Gold. In 2012, when David returns to Walford to visit his dying mother Pat, old feelings start to resurface. Carol's brother Derek however hates David because of an old rivalry, and him getting an underage Carol pregnant, so he forbids the reunion. During an argument with Carol, Derek slaps her, which frightens her. The feud between David and Derek eventually escalates to violence. David persuades Carol to leave Walford with him, but after seeing how much she is needed by her grandchildren, he decides to leave without her.
When Bianca is sent back to prison in Suffolk for theft and assault, Carol, along with her grandchildren move away from Walford in order to be closer to her. Carol and her family return to Walford a few months later. On Christmas Day 2012, Derek dies of a heart attack, which upsets and relieves the Branning family. On the day of Derek's funeral, Carol clashes with Max's secret wife Kirsty, telling her that Max doesn't want her in his life.
In late 2013, Carol begins a relationship with Masood Ahmed, but when they arrange a quiet night in at Carol's house, David returns with a whole lot of trouble. He has been having an affair with his boss's wife Naomi, and he has money which his boss, Don, wants. Don orders his henchmen to beat David up, which is severe. The next few weeks, Carol is torn between David and Masood, and doesn't know who she loves. She eventually opts for David, and leaves Masood to go on a meltdown. In January 2014, Carol finds a lump on her breast and fears she may have breast cancer. She has the lump checked out and a few weeks later, Carol is diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. This devastates Carol, and only tells David, Bianca and Sonia. In July 2014, She joins Tina to secretly sell weed. Carol stops doing it and reveals that Tina was the one keeping drugs in the cafe when Tiffany takes them. When Charlie leaves his phone at the Butchers, Carol hears Nick Cotton's voice in a message and confronts him. After months of debating, Carol decides to have a double mastectomy and after the operation, Charlie comes to explain what she heard on his phone. Following this, she orders Charlie to take a DNA test to prove that he is actually Dot's grandson. Later on in the year, Carol positively discovers she no longer has cancer, however she is still feeling down due to Bianca and her family planning to move away from Walford.
In March 2015, during a friendly outing between a lonely Carol and Billy Mitchell, she drunkenly kisses him and then she unexpectedly walks off from the scene. The next day, Carol experiences a hangover and is on a fierce warpath, she snaps at Whitney causing Sonia to quickly realise that something isn't right and that Carol has an issue. Sonia chooses to confront Carol over her erratic behaviour although they are distracted by learning that Liam Butcher is skipping school. After learning this, Carol furiously rushes to the Beale house and finds Liam with Cindy Williams Jr, Sonia is surprised when Carol chooses to not discipline Liam for his behaviour, this causes Sonia's concerns of Carol's odd behaviour to increase. In another confrontation, Carol breaks down when Sonia tries to get to the bottom of the situation. As Sonia clearly cannot get Carol to open up to her, she arranges for Carol to speak to a counsellor from a cancer charity. Carol is reluctant at first however she soon opens up to the counsellor and reveals all of her fears, worries and concerns that are playing on her mind, she reveals that she is fearful of her cancer possibly coming back.
The next month, April 2015, Carol receives a dreadful phone call informing her that Jim has died. Carol plans on telling Dot Branning about the devastating news, however she puts off her visit and tries to concentrate on some other things, although grief gets the better of her causing her to angrily lash out at Max and Whitney in resentment of Jim. A few months later, Carol befriends Buster Briggs and they have some good times together, but when Buster's at-the-time girlfriend, Shirley Carter, sees the pair together, it quickly gets heated and Shirley punches Carol in the face. Later, Carol finds out there is an opportunity for her to have breast reconstruction, however Carol rejects her family and goes for some drinks with Buster and they reminisce about old times and also how Carol wished she stayed rebellious and adventurous after having children, in response, Buster encourages her to make her own free choices. This encouragement causes Carol to be more rebellious and alienate towards her family. Some time later, Shirley finds a bra behind her sofa and furiously confronts Carol, she lies to Shirley by saying that she had sex with Buster, however Carol later admits to Shirley that she lied and Shirley helps Carol regain her confidence regarding her mastectomy scars.
Max is charged with the murder of Lucy Beale and this news daunts on Carol as she begins to drink when unable to raise the legal fees. Gossip quickly spreads and this angers Carol, she begins to lose faith in Max's innocence when Lucy's blood is found on his shoes. Many of Max's insecurities are brought to light during his trial which causes Carol to come to terms with the extent of Max's innocence. Later on in that day, to her surprise, Carol finds Robbie in her kitchen, who attempts to persuade Carol into coming to Milton Keynes to live with him and Bianca, Carol refuses and instead chooses to go on the run with Max, who had broken out of court after wrongfully being found guilty at the trial. Before they can get away, Max is arrested and taken away from Carol. As everything gets on top of Carol and she can no longer deal with the pressure, she chooses to leave Walford. Shortly before leaving, she buys a dog for Robbie and his son, Sami. Carol then takes her father's motorbike and rides away from Walford whilst not knowing or caring where she'll end up. Despite this, Carol embraces the thought of a new life and freedom.
2022: Visit to Germany and inheriting Dot Branning's ring[]
In December 2022, Carol visits Tiffany in Germany and is unable attend Dot’s funeral. However, Carol inherits Dot’s engagement ring.
Fight count[]
Slaps[]
- Robbie Jackson (23 December 1993)
- Bianca Jackson (15 July 1999)
- Bianca Jackson (5 September 1999)
- Connor Stanley (13 December 2010)
- David Wicks (13 March 2014)
Total: 5
Individual characters slapped: 4
Total slaps: 5
Resident history[]
| Address | Years |
|---|---|
| 25 Albert Square | 1994-1997, 1999 |
| Balham | 1999-2010 |
| 29B Albert Square | 2010-2011 |
| 31 Albert Square | 2010, 2011–2015 |