Rainie Highway (also Cross and Branning) is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, played by Tanya Franks.

[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).

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).

Repentant, Rainie tells Tanya that she has stopped using drugs and has kicked her habit; she pledges to stay in Walford to support her sister through her break-up, proving that she has changed.

Tanya's daughter, Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald), wants Rainie to stay and Max agrees.

She steals money out of Max's sister Carol Jackson's (Lindsey Coulson) purse, which she uses to buy crack cocaine.

She starts looking for her drugs where a drunken Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) approaches, finds Rainie's crack cocaine and is tempted to try some after she says it helps her block out her memories.

Phil's girlfriend Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) offers to help him get clean but throws Rainie out of the house, calling her pathetic.

However, she faces several temptations by people offering her drugs, eventually buying some from Ryan Malloy (Neil McDermott).

She gets a job at the R&R club, unaware that she only got it because her boss, Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) wanted to irritate Phil.

Phil tells her about the incident and they start to kiss, but are interrupted by Pat Evans (Pam St Clement).

Rainie is pleased to have been invited to the wedding but declines to attend, stating that Cora is the reason for her alcohol and drug addictions, requesting that she will leave her alone from now on.

She blackmails Ian, threatening to tell his fiancée Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and son Peter Beale (Ben Hardy) that he was seeing her as a prostitute on Good Friday, the night of Lucy's death.

[6][7] When Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) sees Rainie, she reveals what Ian has done,[8] but he is unable to tell Denise when he suffers a stroke.

When Max returns to Walford following a break away after Abi's funeral, he marries Rainie and later introduces her as his wife to the residents.

When Cora offers Rainie the chance to leave Max, relocate to Exeter, run a tearoom and be part of Abi's upbringing with her and Tanya, Rainie takes a cheque from Cora for £50,000, but contacts social worker Calvin and Jamahl visits in Calvin's place.

They initially ask their colleague Tiffany Butcher-Baker (Maisie Smith) to be a surrogate but she later backs out of the deal, to Rainie and Stuart’s disappointment.

Rainie leaves Walford in June 2022 when she believes her marriage is not salvageable but returns a few months later to support Stuart when he holds a group of people hostage at the doctor’s surgery.

Selfish, and frequently self-pitying, Rainie was quick to point the finger of blame at Tanya and her mum Cora, rather than take responsibility for her actions.In April 2011, it was reported by The Sun that Rainie would have a one-night stand with Jack Branning on 6 May 2011[25] after he discovers his son is dead and she comforts him.

[26] In May 2011, it was announced that Cora would return to the series, and executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said he was "keen to establish the Cross women—Rainie completes the mix as the slightly broken sister who's one step away from a vodka bottle.

[24] It finishes saying, "But behind the wild partying, Rainie is a lost soul with a soft, vulnerable side that yearns to get her life back on track and impress her older sister Tanya.

Franks explained that after being thrown out of the house by Tanya's ex-husband Max, and moving in with Phil that, "it gets quite dark and dirty, really.

"[19] Franks was given advice from the charity DrugScope on how to act the part and also undertook some of her own research, and she said she believed the scenes to be very realistic.

[33] Franks has commented that she is excited about exploring the family dynamic between the Cross ladies in upcoming storylines and her future in EastEnders.

[34] In an interview with Digital Spy, Kirkwood said that he was 'delighted' at the expansion of Tanya's family and that "The new characters are excellent additions to a cast that's already very strong.

storyline, a story that began in April 2014 when Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) was murdered, and climaxed as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of EastEnders in February 2015.

With John Yorke at the helm at the moment, the show is in good hands and I'm excited to explore the next chapter in Rainie's journey.

[...] We worked closely with drug and alcohol charities, including Addaction and DrugScope, throughout the editorial process to ensure that we handled the storyline accurately and sensitively.