After a year of cheeky chappy Joe Swash lighting up out screens - EastEnders bosses decided he needed a family.
Joe first rose to fame playing wheeler-dealer Mickey Miller and was so well-liked in his recurring role that producers made him a permanent fixture and gave him some relatives.
Although it got quite confusing as one of the new castmembers was Joe's real-life sister and on-screen one who would later become his girlfriend.
Albert Square didn't know what was about to hit them when the rest of the Miller clan rocked up to No. 27 in 2004 along with their mang mutt Genghis.
The chaotic family were described a "troublemakers" and were brought in to "drum up conflict with existing characters" and almost instantly they were fighting with the Fowlers and Slaters.
Mickey's mum Rosie, stepdad Keith, half-brother Darren and half-sister Demi turned out to be the neighbours from hell.
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A year later they were joined by Mickey's older sister Dawn Swann, played by Kara Tointon, who was introduced during a special week of holiday episodes set in France.
It didn't take long for the popular family to be torn apart, with Rosie and Demi being written out in 2006, followed by Mickey and Keith two years later.
There was a lot of anger towards the axings and Joe has since lashing out at the decision, although it's worked out pretty well for the national treasure in the end.
Some of the Miller family stayed in acting after EastEnders, while others moved on to very different career paths and one started working in a pub.
None of the characters remain in Walford, but Joe has stated on a number of occasions that he would like to get back into acting and has "unfinished business" with his character.
Here is a look at what happened to the Miller family after they left EastEnders.
Joe Swash - Mickey Miller
Joe Swash was about to give up on acting just before he landed the role of Mickey Miller back in 2013.
Having only had a few minor roles and an appearance on ITV documentary Club Reps, Joe was fearing he'd never make it in the industry.
He originally auditioned to be Alfie Moon's brother Spencer, but soap bosses decided to have him play loveable rogue Mickey.
His character was only supposed to last for six episodes, but he was so well-liked by viewers that Joe got a permanent job on the soap.
Joe isn't the only member of his family to have appeared in the soap, as real-life sister Demi was brought in to play his on-screen sibling and his son Harry appeared as his baby niece.
Almost as soon as he was cast in EastEnders, Joe's partying started to spiral out of control and he was told to calm down by EastEnders' chiefs because he was "lad about town" and even earned himself the nickname Swashbuckler.
Then in 2005, Joe was left fighting for his life when he was struck down with a devastating brain bug - with his family told to prepare for the worst.
Doctors discovered he had meningitis and encephalitis, swelling of the brain, which meant he had to spend six weeks in hospital.
He had to take three months of unpaid leave from EastEnders while he underwent gruelling physio to help him learn to talk and move again..
In February 2008, it was announced that Joe and David Sphinx, who played his step dad Keith Miller, were both being written out of the soap in an explosive exit.
He was told tyhey had "run out of steam" for his character, but the actor was convince his illness played a part, telling The Sun: "My illness had a massive impact on the job. When I came back I couldn’t find my feet.
"New producers came in and brought in new actors and I got lost down the pecking order."
Angry Joe lashed out at the decision and claimed his character had become little more than "light-relief" - but he briefly returned for two episodes in September 2011 for on-screen brother Darren's wedding.
Months after being axed from the soap, he started dating on-screen sister Kara Tointon and claimed he was "punching well above" his weight.
But the relationship broke down in 2010, with Joe saying: "She genuinely does everything right. It was my fault it broke down. I didn't know what I had until she was gone."
Joe won I'm A Celebrity in 2008 but a few months later he was forced to declare himself bankrupt, explaining: "I fell behind on tax and bills and buried my head in the sand, which was the worst thing to do. I should have faced up to it."
Joe went on to be co-host of spin-off series Get Me Out of Here, NOW! from 2009 onwards, but devastatingly he was bankrupt again four years later.
"I was chucking it away on stuff I didn't need. I went out every night and had a house with a mortgage," he said. "When you are young you just don't think it is ever going to end. I thought I was going to be on EastEnders for years and years."
Joe then started a relationship with Loose Women favourite Stacey Solomon and they are now proud parents to Rex and baby Rose.
They also live with Stacey's sons, Leighton and Zachary, while Joe also has son Harry from a previous relationship.
It seems Joe still hasn't got over his EastEnders exit, as back in 2017 Stacey revealed he was disappointed over his lacklustre final scenes.
"When I speak to Joe about his exit in EastEnders he's always devastated he never got a 'doof doof'," she explained, so could he be coming back?
Kara Tointon - Dawn Swann
Dawn Swann was Mickey's half-sister who was living with their biological dad Mike in France.
Described as a "tart with a heart", Dawn left the continent to come and live in Albert Square, with actress Kara Tointon admitting she was a big fan of her character's wardrobe.
"I love playing Dawn. She's so flirty and confident — nothing fazes her and she knows how to flutter her eyelashes and make the men do whatever she wants," she told The Mirror in 2005.
Kara confessed she had based her character on Katie Price and would often consider how the reality TV star would react to situations when reading her scripts.
In one of EastEnders' most controversial storylines ever, Dawn fell pregnant with a married man's baby and his wife, Dr May Wright, tried to give her a forced C-section before blowing up the house.
Dawn once fleeced her neighbours for a boob job and Kara had to wear chicken fillets, which she would sometimes forget to remove.
She once confessed: "I come home in them sometimes but it’s so unromantic when you take them out!
"I think men are always a bit disappointed when they meet me and I don’t have boobs like Dawn. People were obsessed with her chest."
Bosses decided not to renew Kara's contract and she was axed from the show in March 2009 - with Dawn leaving on a canal boat with Gary Hobbs and daughter Summer.
"I was heartbroken when they told me and I have to admit I did cry," said Kara. "I just have to dust myself down and get back out there. I've already told them that if they do plan to kill Dawn, I will refuse to close my eyes in the dying scenes."
Kara actually dated two of her EastEnders co-stars, including on-screen brother Joe and original Martin Fowler actor James Alexandrou.
They started seeing each other in 2006 but called it off after 18 months, having drifted apart due to his EastEnders exit and her more intense storylines.
Then love blossomed between Kara and Joe before he flew to Australia to take part in I'm a Celebrity in November 2008 - and she even revealed she had marriage on her mind and hoped to start a family with the actor.
But the cracks reportedly started to show when the couple starred in Snow White at Bristol's Hippodrome in 2009 and were said to have had epic rows.
Karaissued a denial, insisting: "We're very happy together, everything's going really well, but you'll have to ask him when we're getting married."
However, in May 2010, the devastated actress pulled the plug and apparently fled to Marbella with friends to 'get her head together'.
The couple split, with Kara never revealing exactly why, but Joe admitted he was to blame and it had "nothing to do" with his former co-star.
Joe was left kicking himself over losing Kara and was forced to watch on as she fell for handsome hunk Artem Chigvintsev on Strictly Come Dancing later that year.
Kara and Artem won the show together and went on to date for four years before splitting in 2014.
The actress then appeared in Mr Selfridge and played Maria in The Sound of Music Live in 2016.
In November 2008, Kara gave birth to her first child, son Frey, with fiancé Marius Jensen and they had their second son, Helly, at the start of the year.
Last year, Kara got rave reviews in her role as Kate Middleton in the stage version of The Windsors - a soap-style parody of the lives of the royal family.
Shana Swash - Demi Miller
Albert Square was overrun with Swashes as Joe was joined by his actual younger sister Shana.
Shana beat Lacey Turner to the role of pregnant 13-year-old Demi, but obviously she went on to get cast as Stacey Slater.
Demi gave birth to baby Aleesha with the help of Pauline Fowler, but then ran away from home with her child's dad Leo as a war escalated between their two families.
They ended up living in a squat during a dark storyline which ended with them getting hook on heroine and Leo dying from an overdose.
When it was announced Demi was being axed from the soap, furious fans started an online petition but Shana's final scenes aired in July 2006.
Shana had stage roles and appeared in an episode of Doctors in 2018, but the actress decided to go in a new direction and started running a restaurant out of a north London gastropub with her carpenter partner Nick Jones.
Nick and Shana have been together since 2016 and got engaged in August last year when he got down on one knee on holiday in Spain.
At the start of 2020, EastEnders fans were in meltdown at the start of last year when Shana came to watch her brother skating on the rink during a training session.
Joe could be heard teasing his younger sister as he asked her why she decided to bring her skates to his training session.
She cheekily replied to her brother, saying: "Because I feel like I'm better than you!"
Joe recently gave an update on his sister's new business venture as Shana launched her own coffee vendor, Swash and Jones Coffee, with partner Nick.
"My sister is opening up her very first Swash and Jones coffee stall, look at this," Joe proudly stated in a video on his Instagram story.
"Super proud of my little sister and her partner," he wrote across a picture of him beaming in front of Shana’s coffee stall.
Gerry Cowper - Rosie Miller
Rosie Miller was played by Gerry Cowper, who was already famous before she joined EastEnders.
She played Rowan Morrison in 1973 horror movie The Wicker Man and Jim Hacker's daughter in Yes Minister, as well as starring in The Bill and Only Fools and Horses.
Gerry had already had a small role in EastEndersin April 2002 as Lindsay, the mother of a schizophrenic called Matt.
Then in 2004 the actress was cast as Mickey's hardworking mum Rosie, who was very protective of her chaotic family and regularly got into rows with Pauline Fowler.
Rosie ended up having an affair with her ex Mike, Mickey and Dawn's dad, then got back with Keith and planned to get married.
However, Keith turned up late to the ceremony with mud on his suit so Rosie jilted him and moved away with Demi and Aleesha to the Cotswolds.
Since she was axed from the soap in 2006, Gerry has been seen in ITV drama Law & Order: UK in 2014.
David Spinx - Keith Miller
David Spinx had also already appeared in EastEnders before being cast as sofa-bound layabout Keith.
In an episode in 199 he played Steve Owen's prison cellmate Sharkey - and he also did the voices on the radios for Barry Evans' cab firm.
Lazy Keith, who was unemployed and spent his days on the couch watching TV documentaries, was sat on his bum from 2004 to 2008.
Keith briefly moved in with Gary and Minty after Rosie cheated on him with her ex, but then they got back together when he proposed.
He clearly didn't want to marry her and kept trying to delay the wedding, which went very badly as he rocked up in a suit covered in mud and was jilted at the alter.
Rosie left the Square so Keith was left alone, but he was the one who saved step daughter Dawn from their burning house and he eventually decided to join the rest of the Millers in the Cotswolds.
David was axed at the same time as Joe because the writers didn't think they could go any further with their characters.
After leaving EastEnders, David has appeared on Come Dine With Me, Casualty and indie movie South of the River.
He has also taken up painting and posts some of his masterpieces on Twitter.
Charlie G Hawkins - Darren Miller
Darren Miller was the longest-standing of the family as he lasted a whopping seven years in Albert Square.
Actor Charlie G Hawkins joined the soap in 2004 and described his character, who is Demi's twin, as "a bit of a rough kid".
"He's a great character to play. There are resemblances of myself in there, although that's a matter of opinion. It's good to play someone like that, where you can have a laugh," said the actor.
Darren's most dramatic story was the 'whodunnit' over Heather Trott's baby - with the Miller boy surprisingly being revealed as George's father while he was with girlfriend Libby Fox.
In April 2011, Charlie stunned producers when he announced he wanted to move on – and has admitted it was one of the toughest decisions of his life.
He told the Mirror he could "barely remember life before EastEnders" and said he was leaving so he could "chill out and enjoy being a normal 20-year-old".
Charlie added: "I've enjoyed my time at EastEnders immensely, it's been a terrific chapter in my life and I've loved every minute of it. I've had tremendous support throughout my duration on the show and I would like to thank Bryan and the whole team for believing in me."
Since then, he has appeared in Casualty, wrote an episode of Eastenders spin-off E20 and co-hosted American football podcast Ice The Kicker with pal Tom Deacon.
Last year, Charlie confessed he struggled to cope with the fame it brought and obsessed over negative comments about him on fan forums.
He told the Distinct Nostalgia podcast: "I would stare at that one comment and it absolutely broke me. It really affected me."
Genghis the dog
No soap family is complete without a beloved pooch - and the Miller's had Irish Wolfhound Genghis.
Genghis was branded "Walford's biggest and dosiest character" and "as strangely loveable as the rest of his family".
The mangey mutt once devoured Peggy Mitchell's buffet and Ruby Allen actress Louisa Lytton confessed she never dared go near the dog on set.
There was some controversy amongst the Irish Wolfhound community as some keen enthusiasts complained that the pet pooch was totally unsuited to city living in Albert Square.
Because the scraggy old dog was never credited no one knows his real name, but he left with Mickey and Keith in 2008.
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