EXCLUSIVE: EastEnders’ Jake Wood says, ‘Family is f***ing hell, but crime families are fascinating’

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Jake Wood who plays Max Branning in Eastenders says he’s nothing like his character.(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Kieron McCarron)

Serial womaniser Max Branning may well rank his fifth wedding day among his most memorable – even though it isn’t happening until New Year’s Day 2027.

For a much-hyped ‘flash forward’ episode of the BBC 1 soap, which aired on January 1, showed Max waking up beside his mystery pregnant bride, only to be arrested in connection with a murder before the episode was over.

But there’s no need to fast forward by a year to find drama in the life of Max, played by Jake Wood. While other EastEnders enjoyed family get togethers on Christmas Day, he slept with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) having fallen out with the entire Branning clan.

According to Jake – who rejoined the soap last year after quitting in 2021 and becoming a professional artist – Max managed 4 marriages, 20 affairs and had four children, as well as being buried alive, during his last 15 year stint in Albert Square.

In contrast, Jake, 53, is so happy with wife Alison Wood – mother to their daughter Amber, 20, an aspiring model, and son Buster, 17, a keen footballer – that they married in 2001 and renewed their vows in 2018. But he doesn’t believe Max has the monopoly on mixed up families, saying: “Family is f***ing hell. It’s never straightforward, is it?

“I mean, any family that I know that is large … there is always drama. Every family I can think of has got something, some secret or some trauma. It’s very rarely what you see on the surface.” But he does feel times have changed and people are no longer expected to tolerate bad behaviour, just because people are family,

Speaking on Wood Wehn In The Membrane, his podcast with comedian Henning Wehn, he says: “Fifty, sixty years ago … you were expected to toe the line and be part of the family, regardless of anyone else’s behaviour within that, whether that was abusive or causing trauma. You were just expected to suck it up and get on with it.” Now, he continues: “Just because you’re family, it’s no excuse for being abusive.”

Despite having a strong moral code when it comes to his own family, who live in an old school house in Hampshire, it’s not that surprising Jake is drawn to The Brannings, as he finds crime families endlessly intriguing. He says: “It’s fascinating, isn’t it? When you get a whole family and then you get generations of criminals going back. It’s like the family business, isn’t it? You’re sort of born into those families and then you continue the, you know, the family tradition! I suppose the Sicilians are like the daddies of that.”

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Max Branning (Jake Wood) slept with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) on Christmas Day having fallen out with the entire Branning clan.(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)

Generally, however, Jake – who recently appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice – believes: ”You’re a family by the values that you hold and the way that you live your life. “ He also feels families have changed a lot in the last 100 years, as the world has opened up and they are less likely to stay in the same geographical area. And he thinks the traditional nuclear family, with 2.2 children, is now a thing of the past. He says “It’s not that traditional anymore. You get blended families, single parent families, same sex parents.

“Everything’s much more individual and it seems like people have got much more choice now. I think it’s a really good thing. There were so many restrictions before. When I was at school, if your mum and dad were divorced, kids would get bullied for that.”

And Jake believes core values are far more important than tradition when it comes to family life. “The main thing is, if there’s love in a family, that’s everything, isn’t it?” he says. “Love, mutual respect, support. If you’ve got all of those things, yeah, happy days, crack on.” He feels it’s important as a father to be there to provide for and listen to his kids whenever they need him – especially as rising costs make it harder for them to become independent.

“That’s part of the deal, isn’t it?” he says. “If you bring little humans into life. It’s not like you bring them up and then you let them free off into the jungle and never see them again.” And he sees helping them financially, when they need him, as a privilege, saying: “You’re always a parent to them and then if you want to do it responsibly and you have the means to be able to do that and you want to do that, then that’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?” His mantra towards his kids is, says Jake: “I will help to support you until that time you can support yourselves.”

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Jake Wood, Alison Murray and their children attend the UK Premiere of “Nativity 3: Dude Where’s My Donkey?” in 2014.(Image: Getty Images)

Despite being a protective dad, he doesn’t worry too much about his kids’ relationship choices and feels, generally, that making mistakes in life is healthy. He says: “You hope that you’ve brought them up to be able to make good choices. That’s all you can do, really. I mean, they teach you as much as you teach them. You’re both learning together. It’s a two-way thing. It’s not like you know everything as a parent and they’ve just got to fit into that.

“Whatever they do and the choices they make, you have to adjust because they have to make mistakes. Mistakes are great things. And they should have the freedom to make mistakes because those are the best lessons. That’s the only way they’re going to learn.””