2006–2013 Tanya arrives in
Albert Square after her husband
Max Branning's (
Jake Wood) car breaks down, not realising in fact Max is visiting his family. She finds out he had an affair with
Gemma Clewes (
Natalie J. Robb) but forgives him. To make it up to her, Max buys 10 Turpin Road for Tanya, which she turns into a beauty salon named Booty. Tanya, after much pressure from Max, gives birth to Oscar. Unbeknown to Tanya, Max has started an affair with
Stacey Slater (
Lacey Turner), who is Max's son
Bradley Branning's (
Charlie Clements) former girlfriend. When the affair is revealed on Christmas Day on a video recording recorded by Tanya and Max's daughter,
Lauren Branning (
Madeline Duggan/
Jacqueline Jossa), Tanya asks for a divorce and starts a relationship with Stacey's brother
Sean Slater (
Robert Kazinsky). Tanya plots to bury Max alive and with the help of Sean, they drug Max and bury him in the woods. Tanya later feels guilty, digs him up and ends her relationship with Sean. Tanya then has to face her sister,
Rainie (
Tanya Franks), turning up as she did the year before, claiming she is clean of drugs, though she tests positive, so Tanya orders her to leave. Tanya then starts a relationship with Max's brother
Jack Branning (
Scott Maslen) and Max tries to split them up. Tanya and Max later share a kiss, after Max is abducted and beaten by Jack. Max is knocked down in a deliberate hit-and-run. Tanya admits to the police that she tried to kill Max; however, Lauren was the real culprit. After the police find out Lauren was the driver, Max and Tanya suffer a bumpy relationship, which ends up with Tanya forgiving Max and allowing him to move back in, but when she finds out they are in debt and Max has been hiding it, she leaves with Lauren and Oscar after finding out Booty was to close down, with daughter
Abi Branning (
Lorna Fitzgerald) refusing to go with Tanya and staying with Max. Tanya returns to Walford with her new fiancé
Greg Jessop (
Stefan Booth). Tanya's mother,
Cora Cross (
Ann Mitchell), and Rainie arrive in Walford for her wedding, much to Tanya's dismay. Greg and Tanya marry, and Tanya soon starts an affair with Max. Greg later buys the beauty salon from
Roxy Mitchell (
Rita Simons) and later pushes Tanya to have another baby, though Tanya is against the idea. Tanya allows Rainie and Cora to move in. Tanya and Max plan to reveal their affair, but Tanya finds out that she may have
cervical cancer. After discovering this, she breaks up with Max, but he decides to tell the truth to his fiancé,
Vanessa Gold (
Zöe Lucker) who reveals all to Greg. Heartbroken, Greg leaves Walford and when Max realises Tanya does not want to be with him either, he leaves too. Tanya is diagnosed with cervical cancer and tells only Lauren and forbids her from telling anyone else. Greg briefly returns but cannot handle the news that Tanya has cancer and quickly leaves again. Tanya then decides to stop her therapy, but does not tell Lauren about this. Later, Tanya agrees to allow Cora to move back in, after she has been thrown out by
Dot Branning (
June Brown). Tanya's doctor,
Yusef Khan (
Ace Bhatti), later confronts Tanya and asks why she has stopped her treatment. Tanya goes to the hospital where she tells her doctor that she wants no more treatment as she does not have the strength to fight, despite the fact she could die. Max returns to Walford with his brother
Derek Branning (
Jamie Foreman). Max insults Tanya, and Tanya throws him out. As Tanya starts to throw her mother and sister out, Lauren reveals that Tanya has cancer and confronts her about stopping her therapy. Tanya then tells Cora and Rainie the truth about how her father died: he did not die peacefully as they believed, but was in constant pain and so Tanya helped him to die. Max then reconciles with Tanya and they become a couple again. She learns that she has been given the all-clear from cancer but is worried that it might return. She finds it difficult to be close to Max, but after a frank discussion over their marriage and sex life, Max reassures Tanya that she is all that matters to him. When Derek discovers that Tanya scared his daughter
Alice Branning (
Jasmyn Banks) away, he threatens to kill Tanya if she does it again. When Tanya discovers that cars at the car lot are being repossessed, she and Max argue, which leads to passion and they have sex for the first time since Tanya's all-clear from cancer. Tanya announces that her divorce from Greg will soon be finalised and proposes to Max. Lauren tells Tanya that Derek stole from
Lucy Beale (
Hetti Bywater) and she confronts him about it. Derek, in response, taunts Tanya about what he and Max did in
Manchester. She confronts Max, who says he was involved in criminal dealings causing someone to get hurt. He then accepts her proposal from earlier and they get engaged. Tanya discovers a birth certificate for a sister called
Ava Anderton (
Clare Perkins). She confronts Cora, who refuses to talk about it, but eventually tells Tanya that Ava died not long after her birth and it hurt so much she never told anyone, not even the father. Tanya then tells Cora that she can talk to her any time. When
Ian Beale (
Adam Woodyatt) goes missing, Tanya helps to bring him back to Walford, which makes her decide she wants Rainie at her wedding, but Cora lies to her that Rainie does not want to attend, when in fact Rainie does not want to see Cora. Patrick tells Tanya the truth about Ava: that she is alive, and Cora gave her up for adoption, so Tanya secretly tracks down Ava to her place of work, a school in
Dalston. Tanya is shocked that Ava is mixed-race, and decides not to see her again. Tanya leaves her purse behind and Ava returns it, meeting Cora. Cora is shocked when Ava says her name, and is angry at Tanya, disowning her. Lauren is involved in a car crash and tells Tanya that she is in love with her cousin,
Joey Branning (
David Witts). Derek blackmails Tanya to keep Lauren and Joey's relationship secret from the rest of the family, and Joey is forced by Derek to end his relationship with Lauren. On Christmas Day, Tanya is stunned when Max's secret wife
Kirsty Branning (
Kierston Wareing) arrives moments before she is due to remarry Max. Max insists he thought they were divorced (Derek had lied to him) and Tanya and Max continue their relationship, but when Tanya finds Kirsty's keys in Max's pocket (given to Lauren by Kirsty), Tanya assumes Kirsty and Max are still involved. She tells Kirsty to sign divorce papers, but Kirsty refuses. Lauren also discovers that Tanya has not attended a hospital appointment, when Tanya said she was given the all-clear from cancer. Kirsty agrees to the divorce, realising she is hurting Max. Max shows Tanya this by saying Kirsty is leaving. Tanya realises Max still loves Kirsty because he refuses to have sex with her and is sad about Kirsty leaving. Max confirms this, so Tanya ejects Max from the house, saying their relationship is over for good, and she celebrates the break-up. She does not cope though, and is nearly drawn back to Max. She decides that to resist temptation she must leave Walford, and Max is deeply disappointed. She returns a few weeks later to find Max, Kirsty, Abi and Lauren having a meal together and laughing. Lauren continues to drink, but Tanya refuses to believe she is addicted until she keeps Lauren in the house and she reveals that she has been sipping vodka from a water bottle. Tanya locks Lauren in the house but she escapes through the upstairs window. Later, Lauren gets drunk on a night out and leaves with a stranger; she does not return the next morning. Eventually, when she does come back, her skin and eyes are yellow and she collapses in pain. She is taken to hospital where Tanya and Max are told she is an alcoholic, has
alcoholic hepatitis, and one more drink could kill her. The doctor suggests that the best treatment for Lauren is residential care. Later, Lauren tells her family that she cannot stand her parents' constant arguing, so Tanya decides to take Lauren, Abi and Oscar to Exeter, where Lauren can get help for her alcoholism. Abi refuses to leave, so Tanya leaves Walford with Lauren and Oscar in a taxi, after telling a heartbroken Max she will always love him. Lauren soon returns to Albert Square, but Tanya and Oscar remain in Exeter. In January 2014, Tanya's best friend,
Jane Beale (
Laurie Brett), reveals to Max that Tanya is now in a relationship with a man named Tim, and that they are planning on getting engaged.
2015 In February 2015, Tanya returns to Walford to attend Ian and Jane's wedding, and after the reception, she agrees to sit and have a conversation with Max. During the conversation, she reveals that she is taking part in a fashion course in Manchester and asks Max if Oscar can move in with him for a while, as he would be stuck with a nanny most of the time if he went with her, due to Tanya's commitment to the course. Tanya also explains her concerns about Abi's recent troubling behaviour leading to being accused of
killing Lucy, and she and Max end up arguing over whether each other are to blame for this. Before leaving, Tanya admits that she was thinking of rebuilding her relationship with Max, but Jane assures her that that would have been one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Max is falsely accused of the murder of Lucy in July 2015 and after he is arrested, Oscar is sent back to live with Tanya, who denies Max any contact with his son, although Max is later released after
Bobby Beale (Eliot Carrington) confesses to the crime. When Cora visits Walford, she senses that Lauren does not love her fiancé
Steven Beale (
Aaron Sidwell) and questions whether he is controlling her. She then arranges for Lauren to visit Tanya for relationship advice. Later, Tanya agrees to let Max see Oscar for his birthday but Cora turns up instead and tells Max that she has told Tanya all about his work with Weyland & Co. and that she is not allowing Max to see Oscar.
2017–2018 Tanya returns on Christmas Day to take Lauren and Abi away from Walford, informing Ian and his mother,
Kathy Beale (
Gillian Taylforth), that Lauren is moving to Glasgow with her boyfriend,
Josh Hemmings (
Eddie Eyre). Tanya goes to collect Abi and confronts Max over his recent behaviour and is disgusted that Max and Stacey have resumed their affair. When Stacey defends Max, Tanya tells Stacey that Jane has told her that he killed Steven and tried to kill Jane. Abi overhears this and tells Lauren. As they prepare to leave, they see Max on the roof of The Queen Vic and Lauren and Abi attempt to talk him down. Max agrees to come down but Lauren and Abi slip and fall off the roof. Tanya accompanies them to the hospital, where Lauren undergoes surgery whilst Abi has a CT scan. Tanya initially accepts Max's comfort but then pushes him away. They are then told that whilst Lauren is expected to make a full recovery from her injuries, Abi has suffered critical brain damage and remains in a coma. Tanya is devastated and leaves the hospital in tears. A few days later, she plans to visit Lauren and Abi with Cora, but Cora comes alone and slaps Max, blaming him for his daughters' injuries. She later apologises to Max before learning that Abi is brain-dead and that she will never recover. Tanya avoids being around Max in the hospital and when Abi's life support is due to be withdrawn, Max asks if it can be withdrawn at Abi's time of birth. Cora tells Max that Tanya does not want him present. Max finds Tanya in the hospital's chapel, who is angry with Max that Abi has to die because of him, and agrees to stay away. At the last minute, however, Tanya requests Max to be there when the life support is withdrawn. Before Abi's funeral, Tanya's friends talk about her being unable to attend the funeral as she has had a nervous breakdown. Lauren lies to Max that the funeral has already taken place, but later admits that Tanya does not want him there. On the day of the funeral, Cora shouts at Max, urging him to stay away as he has done enough damage to his family, and mentions that she had to sedate a grief-stricken Tanya to get her into the car to go to the funeral. Tanya arrives at the church with Cora, but is unable to get out and tells Lauren that she feels like she has failed as a mother. Lauren reassures Tanya it is fine for her to miss the service as Abi loved her and at the end; Tanya says goodbye to Lauren. Months later, Cora reveals that Tanya has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital because of the increasing trauma of losing Abi. When Lauren returns for Dot's funeral in December 2022, she reveals that Tanya has been caring for Cora after she injured her hip, and is upset to miss her funeral. When Oscar (now played by
Pierre Counihan-Moullier) returns in July 2025, he reveals that Tanya kicked him out due to his involvement in a gang. When Oscar unintentionally attacks and injures
Patrick Trueman (
Rudolph Walker), he explains to Lauren that Tanya was unable to look after him growing up due to the emotional toll that Abi's death took on her. He therefore stopped going to school and in an effort to avoid burdening a grieving Tanya, he started to spend more time away from home, eventually turning to crime. When Max returns, he mentions that he left their granddaughter
AJ in Tanya's care. ==Reception==