WE NEED TO HAVE UNDERSTANDING, TO FIND THINGS WE ALL HAVE IN COMMON
WHEN Jo Joyner upped sticks and waved goodbye to Walford in 2013, she did so with family in mind.
The former EastEnders star – who’d played fan favourite Tanya Branning for seven years – said at the time, “In years to come, I wouldn’t be going, ‘Ooh, great, I’ve got lots more money in the bank,’ I would be saying, ‘Wow, where did my children go?”’
Fast forward five years, and while the London-born actress, 41, has relocated to the leafy market town of Stratford-uponAvon, her flourishing career has showed little sign of slowing.
The mother-of-two has gone on to star in the likes of Ordinary Lies, Marley’s Ghosts, Porters and Shakespeare & Hathaway, to name but a few. She has even reprised the role of Tanya briefly – EastEnders’ 30th birthday and on Christmas Day – much to her fans’ delight. Reflecting on whether she’s working more than she intended, Jo confesses: “A little bit. I am. But you know what? You’ll never hear an actor say it, will you? “I’m really lucky and they’re all lovely jobs. But I think maybe next year I might have a bit more of a pause.”
Today she’s on set filming Channel 4’s critically acclaimed series, Ackley Bridge.
Back for a second term and a bumper 12 episodes, the high school drama, set in the a fictional Yorkshire town, will once again follow the trials and tribulations at an academy made up from two formerly isolated comprehensives situated amidst a largely divided white and Asian population.
Jo reprise her role as driven head teacher Mandy Carter – and other regular (L-R) Sunetra Sarker as Kaneez, Jo Joyner as Mandy and Liz White as Emma in Ackley Bridge characters will return too, including Steve Bell (played by Paul Nicholls), Missy (Poppy Lee Friar), Nas (Amy-Leigh Hickman), Emma (Liz White), Kameez (Sunetra Sarker) and Sadiq (Adil Ray).
“We’re doing twice as much this year, which is great because we’re getting to really look at lots of other characters and go into their stories,” says Jo.
For those in need of an update, we last saw working-class-girl-madegood Mandy in a world of bother, as her professional and personal lives collided after her affair with Sadiq was made public.
This time around, viewers will get more of an insight into who Mandy was before embarking on her career in education.
“I remember saying to [the writers] last year, ‘I’d really like to know why she’s so driven and why education means so much to her’. So that’s exactly what they’ve done.
“It reasons as to why she has a soft spot for these troubled kids – and also why she doesn’t accept
Ackley Bridge returns to Channel 4, Tuesday, June 5 at 8pm