In an exclusive and candid discussion, EastEnders actor Jake Wood has drawn a sharp contrast between his own stable family life and the relentless turmoil faced by his on-screen alter ego, serial womaniser Max Branning.
From Albert Square chaos to Hampshire calm
While Max Branning's fictional life is a whirlwind of affairs, arrests, and familial breakdowns, Jake Wood's reality is decidedly different. The 53-year-old actor, who returned to the BBC One soap last year after a break, has been happily married to wife Alison since 2001, renewing their vows in 2018. They share two children, Amber, 20, and Buster, 17, and reside in an old school house in Hampshire.
This stability stands in stark relief to Max's upcoming plotline, teased in a 'flash forward' episode on New Year's Day. The scene showed Max waking up beside a mystery pregnant bride on 1st January 2027, only to be arrested for murder before the episode concluded. This is merely the latest drama for a character who, during Wood's previous 15-year stint, racked up 4 marriages, 20 affairs, 4 children, and even being buried alive.
'Family is f***ing hell' but times have changed
Despite his personal contentment, Wood holds a realistic view of family dynamics. "Family is f***ing hell," he stated bluntly on his podcast, 'Wood Wehn In The Membrane', with comedian Henning Wehn. "It's never straightforward, is it? I mean, any family that I know that is large … there is always drama. Every family I can think of has got something, some secret or some trauma."
He believes societal expectations have shifted dramatically. "Fifty, sixty years ago … you were expected to toe the line and be part of the family, regardless of anyone else's behaviour within that, whether that was abusive or causing trauma. You were just expected to suck it up and get on with it," Wood reflected. His view now is clear: "Just because you're family, it's no excuse for being abusive."
The fascination with 'family business' crime dynasties
Interestingly, Wood finds the chaotic, often criminal families of soap operas like EastEnders deeply compelling. He expressed a particular intrigue with multi-generational crime families. "It's fascinating, isn't it? When you get a whole family and then you get generations of criminals going back. It's like the family business, isn't it?" he mused, citing Sicilian families as "the daddies of that."
Yet, for his own life, he defines family by shared values. "You're a family by the values that you hold and the way that you live your life," he asserted, highlighting love, mutual respect, and support as the true foundations. He welcomes the decline of the rigid '2.2 children' nuclear model, seeing more choice in blended, single-parent, and same-sex parent families as a positive development.
As a father, Wood sees his role as a lifelong commitment. "That's part of the deal, isn't it? If you bring little humans into life. It's not like you bring them up and then you let them free off into the jungle and never see them again," he said, acknowledging the modern challenges of rising costs delaying independence. His mantra to his children is simple: "I will help to support you until that time you can support yourselves."
He also champions the importance of allowing children to learn from their own missteps. "They have to make mistakes. Mistakes are great things. And they should have the freedom to make mistakes because those are the best lessons. That's the only way they're going to learn," he concluded, framing parenthood as a mutual, evolving journey.
