Rainie Cross

Rainie Cross
EastEnders character
Portrayed by	Tanya Franks
Duration	2007–2008, 2010–2011, 2014–2015, 2018–2022
First appearance	Episode 3410 2 August 2007 (2007-08-02)
Last appearance	Episode 6513 25 August 2022 (2022-08-25)
Classification	Former; regular
Introduced by	Diederick Santer (2007) Bryan Kirkwood (2010) Dominic Treadwell-Collins (2014) John Yorke (2018)
Spin-off appearances	The Queen Vic Quiz Night (2020)
In-universe information Other names Rainie Branning Rainie Highway Occupation Barmaid Cleaner Prostitute Car salesperson Undertaker Family Branning Father Bill Cross Mother Cora Cross Sisters Tanya Branning Half-sisters Ava Hartman Husband Max Branning (2018–2020) Stuart Highway (2020–present) Adoptive sons Roland Highway Nephews Oscar Branning Dexter Hartman Nieces Lauren Branning Abi Branning Other relatives Abi Branning

Rainie Highway (also Cross and Branning) is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, played by Tanya Franks. Introduced as the drug-addicted sister of Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner), Franks has had three separate guest stints in 2007 (two episodes), 2008 (four episodes) and 2010 (seven episodes) and between 12 April and 8 December 2011. Rainie returned on 16 June 2014, when she was revealed as Ian Beale's (Adam Woodyatt) mystery phone contact, having been with Ian on Good Friday, the night of Lucy Beale's (Hetti Bywater) murder (see "Who Killed Lucy Beale?") but departed again not long after. In January 2015, it was confirmed that Rainie would return for the conclusion of the "Who Killed Lucy Beale?" storyline.^[1] Rainie made another guest appearance on 19 January 2018 and returned full-time to the show on 24 April 2018, now married to her former brother-in-law, Max Branning (Jake Wood). In June 2022, it was announced that Franks had left the show, with Rainie's final episode airing on 29 June 2022.^[2] She reappeared for a brief stint on 23 until 25 August 2022 to coincide with the departure of her husband Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ).

Since her permanent reintroduction, Rainie has had sex with both Max and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), joined Max in a custody battle with her mother Cora Cross (Ann Mitchell) over Max and Tanya's granddaughter Abi, has feuded with Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) and kidnapped Abi. Rainie's other storylines have included a custody battle between Max and the Beale family over Abi, another drug relapse and addiction to painkillers, and her imprisonment for assaulting Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), taking over the local funeral parlour alongside her husband Stuart, hiring Bernadette Taylor (Clair Norris) as a surrogate for her and Stuart leading to the birth of their son Roland, and supporting Stuart through his breast cancer diagnosis.

Described as "the slightly broken sister who's one step away from a vodka bottle", Rainie's storylines have often centred on her addictions to drugs and alcohol. During her seven episode guest stint in 2010, Rainie was involved in a highly criticised crack cocaine storyline with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden). It was branded "inappropriate" and "horrid" by the Daily Record. EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy (who plays Sonia Fowler) also criticised the storyline, saying she was "shocked", but Franks defended the storyline, though she herself was not surprised that viewers had complained.