He made brief returns in 2004 and 2010 for two family weddings and again on 22 September 2015 to tie in with the exit of his on-screen mother, Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson) on 2 October 2015.

The character left the series on 19 September 2019, which was confirmed as a permanent departure the following month due to concerns over Gaffney's off-set behaviour.

Initially a troublesome teen, Robbie has little success at school and is frequently in trouble for his behaviour, along with his friend Kevin (John Pickard).

Although Sarah initiated the intercourse, she is unable to cope with what has occurred and runs away, leaving her father Ted Hills (Brian Croucher) to assume that Robbie has raped his daughter.

He leaves angrily, but Gary later traces Robbie to Walford and gives him a large cheque which allows him to travel around India, and pay for sister Sonia's nursing training.

Robbie goes with her and Anish to live in Mumbai, and he leaves Wellard in the care of his friend, Gus Smith (Mohammed George).

He returns again for Bianca's wedding to Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen) in February 2010, and is upset to hear that Wellard has died.

Although she agrees, she later decides that she wants an adventure and plans to travel the world on Jim's motorbike, but not before buying Robbie and Sami a puppy, Wellard II, for their move to Milton Keynes.

However Mr Lister (Nick Wilton) orders Robbie to reinstate Felix, demanding modernisation of the market by Christmas.

[3][4] When the deadline is up, Mr Lister is unimpressed, but organises for an independent visitor to shop at the market as a shopper without the date announced.

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.

[5] Introduced as a 15-year-old school boy, Robbie was initially portrayed as troublesome; frequently playing truant, occasionally shoplifting and, as author Kate Lock suggests, "generally making a nuisance of himself".

However, Lock observes that this aspect of the character was toned down eventually, and "the unfortunate Robbie became less of a lout and more of a [...] prat, forever mucking things up and being the fall guy.

"[6] In November 2002, executive producer Louise Berridge announced that Robbie Jackson was being axed from EastEnders, along with his screen girlfriend Nita Mistry (Bindya Solanki).

"[10] On 25 October 2009, it was announced that Gaffney would once again reprise his role, along with other Jackson family members Carol, Sonia and Billie.

I was thrilled when Diederick [Santer, executive producer] called me personally to ask for Robbie to return once more and working alongside Lindsey [Coulson], Natalie [Cassidy] and Patsy [Palmer] again makes it all the more special.

"[11] A source told entertainment website Digital Spy: "Everything's being kept hush-hush about the Jacksons' return at the moment, but there are certainly a load of questions to be answered.

Executive producer Diederick Santer explained that he wanted great stories to get people talking, saying "The wedding is the perfect opportunity for us to bring back the much-loved Jackson characters – Carol, Sonia, Robbie and Billie.

"[16] Gaffney said that Robbie returns with more maturity, although his job as market inspector leads him to clash with Martin Fowler (James Bye), Donna Yates (Lisa Hammond) and Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami).

However, on 13 October, it was confirmed that these scenes had been Gaffney's final ones, as bosses had decided not to renew his contract following allegations that he had asked a stranger to send him inappropriate photos.