Derek Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Terence Beesley in 1996 and then Jamie Foreman from 2011 to 2012.

Derek first appears when he attends his sister April Branning's (Debbie Arnold) wedding to her Greek fiancé Nikos (Yorgos Glastras).

Derek and Max then prepare to leave for Manchester, but they are stopped by his niece, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), saying that Tanya has cancer and needs help.

After the local B&B is destroyed in an explosion, Derek convinces his nephew Liam Butcher (James Forde) to retrieve some valuable copper pipes from the building, leaving his great-grandmother, Pat, infuriated.

Pat is then diagnosed with incurable cancer, and when Derek visits her, he teases her about dying, causing a row with Tanya, who suffers a panic attack.

When David hints that he is re-kindling his relationship with Carol, Derek furiously tells him that once Pat's funeral has taken place, he is going to come after him.

When Derek asks Michael's half-brothers, Anthony (Matt Lapinskas) and Tyler (Tony Discipline) for £4000 that they owe him for selling some of his goods, they are unable to pay.

He is released without charge and confronts Anthony and Tyler, saying that somebody called the police and because he is still on probation, he is being watched closer and can no longer continue with his dodgy deals.

Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) and Alfie then attempt to intercept the alcohol deliveries to cut Derek out of the scam.

Alice admits that she should not have bothered tracking him down, but Derek asks her to meet with him the next week so he can introduce her to his family, telling her he is a good man who has done bad things.

Daniel Kilkelly of media entertainment website Digital Spy wrote that upon his introduction, viewers would be left wondering if he is still dangerous and destructive.

[16] Discussing Derek's background and personality, Foreman told TV Choice "There's always this little undercurrent of, 'This guy isn't who we want around for long', if you see what I mean.

[21] Scott Maslen teased of an upcoming storyline where Derek hires a hitman to terrorise Roxy, who is the mother of Jack's daughter.

[22] Maslen elaborated saying that Jack first discovers Derek's plan when he visits the Mitchell's household and finds that Roxy hasn't returned home.

[24] Foreman commented: "We hit the ground running to bring Derek to the Square and Pam St Clement was phenomenal.

He added that it would be easy to play a typical gangster who "growls at everyone", but he cares about showing the true side of these types of characters.

In addition the actor stated that "you're about to see a bit more of the missing years – I'm finding out things about my character I didn't know existed".

[25] While he wanted to remain secretive about the plans for Derek, Foreman revealed that Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) would have involvement in the storyline.

An EastEnders representative told them that Derek often talks of the "importance of family"; which will make their attempts at forming a "proper relationship" interesting.

[28] Foreman told Allison Jones from Inside Soap that Derek has a "patriarchal attitude" where "everyone matters" because family is most important to him.

[28] Carol stands by her decision; so he conjures up a "frantic scheme" and attempts to influence Ray Dixon (Chucky Venn) into keeping them around.

"[34] Stewart later called Derek a "vicious and sadistic thug" and despite criticising some of the character's storylines, described Foreman's performance in the role as "superb.

[37] The Guardian's Sarah Dempster said that Derek played by Foreman has the "face of a dyspeptic pug and the charm of an abandoned Threshers."

She added: "Within seconds of his arrival the bastard was crashing through the Square like a herniated tank, spraying wide-boy aphorisms everywhere, insulting Pat's earrings, calling Michael Moon's handshake "a bit mincey" and banging on about his time "inside" and ow fings ain't wot they used to be wot wiv the lack of "respect" and the current proliferation of Liffooanians.

[41] He also added that Derek is nothing like Dirty Den, Johnny Allen, Steve Owen, Jack, Max or "Whispering David Essex".

They questioned whether Derek could even pull off a soft side and predicted that the transition would be like watching "a speeding car screeching and skidding into a U-turn".

[25] Carena Crawford from All About Soap said that Derek needed to ditch his "ridiculous" flat cap, which made him look more like Del Boy than David Beckham.

The writer also predicted that their feud would generate weeks of "fuming facial expressions and gurning glances as they vie to become ruler of Walford".

[43] David Brown from Radio Times said that Derek "connives like an East End Jabba the Hutt" in his scheme to prevent Carol from leaving.

[44] Another writer for the Daily Mirror said: "Call Dirty Derek Branning an over-protective father, or just a psychopath, but Lucy isn't safe when he wants revenge because she spiked his precious daughter Alice's drinks last week.