Jo Joyner, known for Little Disasters, The Wives, For Her Sins, Ackley Bridge and EastEnders, stars as Alison in the four-part thriller Riptide15:34, 29 Jun 2026Jo Joyner will be back on screens this week as Channel 5 airs psychological thriller Riptide.‌The four-part drama, which also stars Shameless and The Flats actor Ciarán Griffiths, Peter O’Brien, recognised for Neighbours, The Unusual Suspects, and Outlander star David Berry, first aired in December 2022.‌The repeat comes fresh off the back of Little Disasters, which also saw EastEnders star Jo take on the lead role. In Riptide, Jo plays Alison Weston, whose life is plunged into despair when her new Australian husband vanishes after a morning surf.‌Speaking about playing Alison, Jo said: "She is such a warm and layered character whose world is turned upside down, just when it seemed like her life was finally coming together."The series questions whether Sean got caught in a dangerous riptide or whether there is more to his disappearance than meets the eye.Jo Joyner's TV roles‌Jo is most famously recognised for her portrayal of Tanya Branning in the BBC soap EastEnders from 2006 to 2018.She has also made a name for herself as Mandy Carter in the Channel 4 series Ackley Bridge, where she starred from 2017 until 2021.Between 2018 and 2025, Jo played Luella Shakespeare in Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators.‌She has also starred as DC Erin Cartwright in the Harlan Corben adaptation Stay Close and has had roles in Peacock, The Wives and Little Disasters, the HBO hit that recently aired on Channel 5.Who is Jo Joyner's husband, Neil Madden?Jo's husband, Neil Madden, is also no stranger to the world of television. Neil, now a drama teacher, has also dabbled in acting, having starred in shows such as The Bill, Lewis, Holby City and Silent Witness.‌Jo and Neil tied the knot in 2007. The couple share two children, twins, who were born in 2009.Speaking about filming for Riptide in 2022, which took place in Melbourne and Victoria in Australia, Jo revealed that family was part of the reason she took the job. Asked if she'd been to Australia before, Jo said: "I’ve been to Perth because my husband’s family live there."So we’ve been to Perth, but that was very different to Melbourne. And we’ve also got cousins in Melbourne. So what was really lovely was, in the middle of this shoot, we had the Perth family and the Melbourne family and all of us all together for a long weekend. So, again, we hadn’t seen the Melbourne lot for eight years, and we wouldn’t have seen my brother-in-law for another eight. So that was another reason to do the job."Article continues belowRiptide will repeat on Channel 5 on Monday, June 29 at 9pm.