Jo Joyner: ‘Soap actors are treated like a different breed’

“Can we not talk about soaps too much?” asks Jo Joyner, halfway through our interview. “Actually I’m going to stop now.” It’s a reasonable request.

Although the 46-year-old actor is locked into the public imagination as Tanya Branning – the EastEnders beautician who buried her first husband alive – it’s been well over a decade since she quit the show. There’s a no nonsense-ness to Joyner – both in person and on screen – that allows her to bring credibility to even the most melodramatic story arc. Over 12 years and 679 episodes she grounded narratives about secret weddings and daughters tumbling from a pub roof.

She repeatedly fell apart and picked herself back up, taking the audience with her every time. Since shedding Branning’s false lashes, Joyner’s proved a relatable presence on TV screens in thrillers (including Netflix’s 2021 adaptation of Harlan Coben’s Stay Close ) and comedy dramas (as a determined headteacher in Channel 4’s multicultural school Ackley Bridge , and a plucky private detective in the BBC’s cosy crime series Shakespeare & Hathaway ). She has terrific comic timing and raises one of the most withering eyebrows in the business.

Her public persona is equally down to earth: on Twitter she’ll ask for recommendations about what to watch while ironing, or which blenders offer the best value for money. Exuding familiar warmth and practical grit in equal measure, she’s been well cast as an everywoman-turned-sleuth in a pair.