Tanya Franks has settled into a very happy and loving relationship with Dame Barbara Windsor's widower Scott Mitchell, and this morning he praised her on ITV's Lorraine for being "incredibly supportive" of his Alzheimer's campaigning work in honour of his beloved late wife.
Fans of BBC's EastEnders will recognise Tanya as Barbara's fellow soap star, as she played the role of Rainie Highway on the show for 15 years, and has been a familiar face across TV dramas throughout her acting career. Tanya joined the soap in 2007 as Tanya Branning's troubled sister Rainie Cross and stirred up trouble for the Brannings on Albert Square from 2007 to 2008, 2010 to 2011, 2014 to 2015.
She then joined the EastEnders family fulltime from 2018 and married Stewart Highway in 2020, before the couple left Walford last August with their son Roland. Here, we take a look at the actress' life off-screen and her former romances before love blossomed with Scott...
Famous ex-husband
Tanya was previously married to The Bill actor James Barriscale (Getty)
She is best known for her role as Rainie Cross on EastEnders (BBC / Kieron McCarron)Tanya has previously been married to fellow actor James Barriscale, who fans may also recognise from EastEnders as well as ITV's police drama The Bill, which ended in 2010. James appeared in five episodes of EastEnders, playing character Jonathan Malnet who was the adoptive father of Jade Green, making his first appearance in 2015. James has also been in films such as The Death of Stalin and Terminator: Dark Fate. The pair were still pictured together last year and the date or cause of their split isn't known.
Finding love again
Tanya had been friends with Scott prior to their romance, and she too campaigned about the disease both because of Barbara and because her own family had been impacted by Alzheimer's. Through their experiences and Tanya's support of Scott the pair found love again, with Scott able to move on after his wife's death - while he said he would never forget his life with Barbara, continuing to keep her memory alive while also keeping up his campaigning.
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On World Alzheimer's Day, Scott spoke to Lorraine Kelly about a new campaign that aims to raise awareness of the condition, and shared how "incredibly supportive" Tanya is of his campaigning for beloved Barbara. He said: "I'm very, very lucky... We are very happy, she is off on tour… it's really lovely. She's incredibly supportive of the work I do for the campaigning, so there is no fear there or worry of oh, it's about my late wife, because she has had her own personal family experience with this illness. She knows what it's all about so thank goodness, life feels really good. Me feeling miserable now or being alone isn't gonna bring [Barbara] back, and she wouldn't want that. I know that the one person who would be happy for me is Barbara Windsor."
Scott said Barbara would be 'so happy' as he opened up on his romance with Tanya (ITV)Earlier this year, the couple went official with their romance whilst on holiday in Greece. Scott told The Sun: "Life feels really good right now and we are enjoying some special time together." A source also told the newspaper: "His and Barbara's friends are delighted he's found someone to share his life with. It's fairly early days but Scott is cautiously now looking forward to the future. They made the decision to update their wider circles while on holiday in Greece and everyone was over the moon." The source added that the new couple are "taking things slowly" but there's "so much friendship and respect".
Barbara died in 2020 after battling Alzheimer's disease. The EastEnders actress, who played icon Peggy Mitchell, was first diagnosed in 2014 before her condition was made public in 2018. Scott cared for his wife before sadly she moved into a care home months before her death, due to her condition worsening.
Past TV roles
As an actress, Tanya is well known for her portrayal of Rainie in EastEnders, but the star has appeared across other TV dramas and soaps, too. Tanya started out her TV career as Karen Ellis in the Channel 5 soap, Family Affairs. After this she had a short appearance in BBC's Holby City before joining ITV police drama The Bill as DI Morell in 2004.
Alongside her part-time EastEnders role, Tanya has continued to act in several miniseries and short film projects for a number of years before landing the role as Lucy Stephens in the first two seasons of Broadchurch. She later appeared in episodes of Chewing Gum and Silent Witness, before joining the BBC One soap full-time in 2018.
Going alcohol-free
Tanya's on screen character has battled addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine. Rainie's addiction struggles centred around many of her soap storylines and the troubled sibling of Tanya Branning (played by Jo Joyner) was embroiled in Phil Mitchell's crack cocaine addiction storyline in 2010 to 2011. However, in recent years Rainie has got sober and has supported her husband Stewart Highway in his own addiction battles.
Far from her character's addictions, Tanya doesn't drink and gave up alcohol in 2018 (BBC / Kieron McCarron)But for the actress, Rainie's life couldn't be further removed from Tanya's own lifestyle. The star doesn't drink and has given up wheat and sugar as part of a healthy regime. Explaining her decision in an interview in 2018 to the Mirror, Tanya said: "I had friends who were giving up alcohol and I didn't want to drink when I was with them. And I'd started feeling lethargic on long days filming, and wondered if it was something I was eating. So I gave up lots of things. I've never looked back."
Family life
Tanya has previously spoken about her stepdad Derek, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2013 aged 81, and his confusion of seeing Tanya's on-screen character Rainie. In 2019, Tanya explained: "My family and I will all be sitting down to watch the EastEnders Christmas special together this year – it's an important part of anyone's festive season, even more so if you're in it!
"But it can cause confusion for my stepfather Derek. Because now when he watches EastEnders, he sometimes gets muddled between fact and fiction. When I'm not there, he'll watch me on TV and say to my mum, 'Is Tanya still in the bathroom?'" She added: "Because change is happening, and I want to spend the time with Derek as much as I hope he wants to spend the time with us. While we can still enjoy celebrations together, let's do it, I want to keep hold of these moments."
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