Jim Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by John Bardon, first appearing on 29 April 1996 and became a regular character in 1999. He remained in the series until 2011. Jim was temporarily written out of the show in August 2007 due to Bardon suffering a stroke, and a storyline was created in which his character also suffered a stroke. Bardon returned to film four episodes in the latter half of 2008, and returned permanently from the episode broadcast on 20 August 2009. On 1 April 2011 it was reported by the Daily Mirror that Bardon had filmed his final scenes and had left. He departed on 26 May 2011, and, although it was said the character may re-appear in the future if Bardon's health improved, this did not happen and the actor died on 12 September 2014, more than three years after leaving the series. Following Bardon's death, it was announced in March 2015 that EastEnders would pay tribute to him and the character by staging a funeral for Jim.