Abi Branning

the EastEnders character introduced in 2006
Fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders

Abi Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lorna Fitzgerald. She was introduced by executive producer Kate Harwood on 3 July 2006 as an extension to the Branning family, along with father Max (Jake Wood), mother Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner) and older sister Lauren Branning (Madeline Duggan/Jacqueline Jossa). Her storylines involve her friendships and relationships with Ben Mitchell (Charlie Jones/Joshua Pascoe/Harry Reid) and Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), her toxic friendship with Babe Smith (Annette Badland), faking a pregnancy so that Ben would not leave her for Paul Coker (Jonny Labey), being a suspect in the murder of Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater), her affair with Lauren's fiancé, Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell), and falling pregnant by him. In September 2017, it was announced that Fitzgerald and Jossa had been axed by executive consultant John Yorke. Abi's exit storyline involved her and Lauren falling from the roof of The Queen Victoria public house on Christmas Day 2017, leading to Abi giving birth prematurely to her daughter, also named Abi, and being confirmed brainstem dead in later episodes. Abi's final scenes aired on 19 January 2018 after her life support is withdrawn. The character's funeral took place on 16 February 2018. For her portrayal as Abi, Fitzgerald was nominated for Best Young Actor at the 2010 Inside Soap Awards, and went on to win Best Dramatic Performance from a Young Actor or Actress at the 2012 British Soap Awards. Kate White of Inside Soap praised her portrayal of Abi, saying that Fitzgerald is the "brightest young star in soap", adding "Abi's destined for great dramatic things". She and her immediate family, father Max (Wood), mother Tanya (Joyner) and older sister Lauren (Duggan, recast to Jossa in 2010), are an extension of the Branning family, who have appeared in EastEnders since 1993. Fitzgerald, in her first major television role, began filming for the soap in May 2006 and made her first on screen appearance in July. Fitzgerald's mother commented on her daughter's casting: "Personally, I feel I want to show how proud we are of her and to thank everyone who has prayed for her and helped her in any way. At first, it is just the look they go for. Then it is more intensive and she had to read from a script. By the second audition, she was still up against 60 or 70 people. You start thinking about it when she gets to the third audition, but when the agent rang up and said she had got the part it was an overwhelming feeling. You don't know what it means until that point". In 2014, she told BBC Radio 1 that when she met Wood and Joyner, her on screen parents, she realised it did not matter that she had messed up her lines in her last audition, because she looked like them both. Fitzgerald was required to cry on her first day of filming, and admitted in 2014 that this was embarrassing, and she was unable to produce tears, but was "just making noises". She has been described as "bubbly" and "self assured" with a nose for mischief. Jon Wise from The People said that after Abi received a makeover in 2010, she "actually turned out to be quite pretty". In 2012, Fitzgerald told Inside Soap Laura Jane Tyler that Abi has grown up in her first six years on screen, and is now sensible, "like a mother hen" and has had to mature quickly because of the dramatic situations she has been involved in. being injured in a collision with Deano Wicks' (Di Angelo) car and helping her friend Ben (Jones) with his abuse from stepmother Stella Crawford (Thompson) In February 2011, Abi was involved in a car accident with Max and would suffer severe injuries after their car collides with a lorry on the way to Tanya's wedding to her new partner Greg (Booth). The crash scenes were filmed on 6 March 2011 and aired on 14 April 2011. After these minor storylines, Joyner said that Fitzgerald should be involved in more complex storylines in 2012. She said, "I think it's going to be an exciting year for Lorna. She's been a natural on the show ever since she was younger, and I think she's one of our best actresses. What's lovely about this year is that she'll be doing her GCSEs, and then once that's out of the way, she can get something that's a bit heavier and a bit bigger. She'll be old enough to work longer hours, so I think they'd be mad if they didn't give her something to sink her teeth into at some point this year". Jossa, in 2012, wanted Lauren and Abi to bond more. She commented: "I think realistically they would when they're going through a family problem like this. It would bring the family a little bit closer. I think they are quite close already and they have a lot of family banter! They may not like each other as people, but they love each other as family". Borthwick admitted that he is enjoying filming Jay and Abi's relationship.

On 10 September 2017, it was announced that Fitzgerald had been axed from the show by executive consultant John Yorke, along with Jacqueline Jossa. A spokesperson said: "We can confirm Jacqueline and Lorna will be leaving. They have been wonderful to work with and we wish them all the best for the future." Fitzgerald's final episode was broadcast on 19 January 2018, in which the character dies. At the end of the episode, instead of the usual closing title sequence, the image, focused on Abi's face, fades to black and no theme music is played.

Fitzgerald was nominated for the "Best Young Actor" at the 2010 Inside Soap Awards for her portrayal of Abi though lost out to Coronation Street'''s, Alex Bain, who plays Simon Barlow. Fitzgerald won the award for "Best Dramatic Performance from a Young Actor or Actress" at the 2012 British Soap Awards 2012 an award which Tony Stewart from the Daily Mirror said was "well deserved". Fitzgerald said she did not expect to win the award. Her colleague, Steven Murphy, said Inside Soap had "long admired" Fitzgerald. Stewart said, due to Max's past events with his family, what Abi might say when Max objects to her relationship with Jay, "It won't be her setting a gerbil on him", calling her a "goody two shoes". Two writers from the Daily Mirror mocked the storyline where Abi turns down the trip to Costa Rica. One said, "An extreme case of soap agoraphobia as brilliant Abi sensibly turns down the chance to spend eight weeks in the tropical paradise of Costa Rica. But in the tiny micro world of EastEnders, even the three mile odyssey from Walford to the West End is considered an epic journey. So Central America is simply out of the question" with another saying, "Abi was a little girl arranging tearful funerals for her pets. But now she's a young teenager, secretly engaged to boyfriend Jay and planning to run away together. He then gives Abi an ultimatum: him or her trip to Costa Rica. Best pass her the suncream, then". However, Abi, along with the younger members of the cast were thought to be the blame of declining ratings for the show; "In the last two months, viewers have seen lots of Lauren, Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater), Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), Fatboy (Ricky Norwood), Ben Jay, Abi and Anthony Moon (Matt Lapinskas) – but not nearly so much of the classic characters". Inside Soap noted that Abi and Jay's relationship was popular with viewers. In August 2017, Fitzgerald was longlisted for "Best Bad Girl" at the 2017 Inside Soap Awards, while she and Aaron Sidwell (Steven Beale) were longlisted for "Best Partnership". Fitzgerald made the viewer voted shortlist in the "Best Bad Girl" category, but lost out to Gillian Kearney, who portrays Emma Barton in Emmerdale. The scene where Lauren and Abi fell from the roof of The Queen Vic was awarded "Scene of the Year" at the 2018 British Soap Awards, tying with Doctors who also won the same award for "The Bollywood Proposal". Abi's death was nominated for "Most devastating Soap Death" at the 2018 Digital Spy'' Reader Awards; it came in seventh place with 6.4% of the total votes.