Carol Jackson

Carol Ann Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lindsey Coulson. The character was introduced in 1993 as the mother of the Jackson family. Coulson decided to quit the role in 1997, but she returned temporarily in 1999 within a storyline that marked Carol's daughter Bianca's (Patsy Palmer) exit. On 25 October 2009 it was confirmed that she would return along with other members of the Jackson family, Sonia (Natalie Cassidy), Robbie (Dean Gaffney) and Billie (Devon Anderson), on 15 February 2010, although her first appearance in 2010 is in EastEnders: Last Tango in Walford, an episode released exclusively to DVD on 8 February 2010. Coulson chose to leave the show for a third time in June 2015, with her exit aired on 2 October 2015.

Carol is depicted as a tough, working-class grafter, fiercely defensive of her four children. Her storylines include relationships with several men including David Wicks (Michael French), Alan Jackson (Howard Antony), Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass), Connor Stanley (Arinze Kene), Eddie Moon (David Essex) and Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra), and her breast cancer diagnosis in January 2014.