On 13 January 2024, it was announced that Bianca would return to EastEnders in the spring for a short stint to coincide with the departure of her adopted daughter, Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty).

Bianca's major storylines have included her dysfunctional relationship with her mother, Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson); falling out with Ricky prior to their first marriage over his trysts with her childhood friend Natalie Evans (Lucy Speed) and love rival Sam Mitchell (Danniella Westbrook) on separate occasions; reconciling with her estranged biological father David Wicks; forming a strong companionship with her best friend Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon); feuding against Tiffany's volatile husband Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) over their ill-fated marriage; cheating on Ricky and betraying Carol by having an affair with the latter's boyfriend Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass).

Since her 2008 return, her storylines have included coping with the discovery that her new fiancé Tony King (Chris Coghill) is a paedophile who had been sexually abusing Whitney during the course of their romance and subsequent engagement; rekindling her affections with Ricky that leads to the pair getting married for a second time before they eventually divorce once again; going to prison for assault and theft; dealing with money problems; having a close friendship with Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace); romancing with new love interest Terry Spraggan (Terry Alderton) to the point of leaving the square with him; getting stalked by Tony's son Leo King (Tom Wells) over money that the latter's parents had given to her before his death; struggling to deal with depression; and getting kidnapped by her half-sister Sonia Fowler's (Natalie Cassidy) boyfriend Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) after finding out he killed his wife.

Various members of the family began to appear sporadically from November 1993 onwards, but in episodes that aired early in 1994, the Jacksons moved from Walford Towers, a block of flats, to the soap's focal setting of Albert Square.

[6] Bianca has been classified by Rupert Smith, author of EastEnders: 20 years in Albert Square, as a drama queen, a "strong passionate [woman]" and "Walford's trouble-maker-in-chief".

[11] The way the character is portrayed, as a "person who wouldn't take nonsense from anyone", has led Rampton to comment that she embodies "girl power", a cultural phenomenon of the mid-late 1990s.

"[12] The dynamics of their relationship were clear from the start, with Bianca portrayed as the dominant, bossy and authoritative partner, while Ricky was shown as the hen-pecked,[13] dim-witted "loser" or "soft touch", comically under the thumb of his female counterpart.

(a cockney pronunciation of Ricky) at her lover, and Palmer admitted in 2008 that "not a day has gone by in nine years when someone hasn't shouted that from cars and even up at my bedroom window at night.

[17] The characters separated but reconciled later in the year when Ricky supported Bianca through a personal crisis: the revelation that she had unknowingly tried to seduce her estranged father David Wicks (Michael French).

[20] In 1997, the character was featured in a storyline about hydrocephalus ("water on the brain") and spina bifida, a developmental birth defect resulting in an incompletely formed spinal cord of the baby.

[38] EastEnders executive producer Diederick Santer said he was "delighted" that Bianca was returning, commenting: "Millions grew up with her and, like the audience, I can't wait to see her back in the show.

[42] The character returned on-screen on 1 April 2008, but made her first appearance back in the soap's setting of Albert Square the following week, drawing 10.4 million viewers and 42.6% of the total TV viewing audience.

[citation needed] However, James Walton from The Telegraph accused the Jackson family of being melodramatic and "boring", adding "Perhaps the storyline is meant to be an updated version of [1966 BBC drama] Cathy Come Home – yet if so, the writers have forgotten one important thing.

"[46] Bianca's most notable initial storyline upon her return was a pedophilia plot revolving around her new boyfriend Tony King (Chris Coghill), and her 15-year-old step daughter, Whitney.

They had seen a documentary about homelessness and had been struck by an image of a woman and child at a bus stop with nowhere to go, a scene that was used to similar effect in Bianca and her family's return episode.

[47] Diederick Santer commented, "We knew that something like 16% of under-16s have been sexually abused at some point, but if you can't find a story, it's an issue that sits there, dead, on the show.

The NSPCC's statistics suggested that 11% of children under 16 experienced "sexual abuse by a person known but unrelated to them, often a boyfriend or girlfriend, while only 5% have been interfered with by someone unknown or whom they had just met; 1% by a parent or carer; and fewer than 1% by a professional in a position of trust".

Entertainment website Digital Spy reported that: "Show producers have confirmed that the divorced pair's latest love twist will begin at Christmas when Ricky [...] decides to pop the question to his childhood sweetheart.

[65] A spokesman for Palmer said: "Patsy is really sad to be leaving the show as she loves playing Bianca and working with executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins but she knows it's the right decision at this time in her life.

Bianca won't be leaving Albert Square until the Autumn so there's still a lot more to come from her on screen this year – and the door will be left wide open for her return.

[67] The decision to reintroduce the character was made by Jon Sen, the show's new executive producer, who revealed that this was "high on [his] wish list" when he joined the soap.

[72] The story was revealed during the final episode of Bianca's return stint with actor Tom Wells introduced as Leo King, the son of Tony.

Bianca soon meets a man named Tony King (Chris Coghill), who supports her through her pregnancy and adopts Ray's son, Morgan Jackson-King (Devon Higgs), when he is born.

After Morgan is born, Liam returns to live with Bianca when Ricky begins dating a woman named Melinda (Siobhan Hayes), who does not like children.

Bianca soon learns that Sam is evading a prison sentence for being involves in the murder of the pub's former landlord, Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), back in February 2005.

After Reiss returns after a few weeks in Peterborough, Bianca finds out through CCTV footage from Teddy Mitchell (Roland Manookian) that he was at the care home the night Debbie died.

She described Bianca as a "king-sized pain in the backside [...] A screeching and screaming virago with a big mouth and pea-sized brain" and a "prize slapper [who] tormented all those whose paths [she] crossed.

"[84] In 1995, Chris Barker carried out television research on post-transmission perspectives of British Asian teenage viewers of EastEnders, using the character Bianca as one of the focus points.

"[90] In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Bianca 29th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling her a "Flame-haired, fiery-tempered market stall holder" who was most famous for "having affairs", moving to Manchester and Milton Keynes and shouting Ricky's name.

A BBC source reportedly told the Sunday Mirror: "We've recently dethroned Coronation Street at the top of the viewing charts, and this book has the potential to make No.1 in the best-sellers list."