robbie jackson, played by dean gaffney from 1993 to 2003, is the eldest son of carol jackson (lindsey coulson). the character was axed in 2003 by executive producer louise berridge. he makes brief returns in 2004 and 2010 for two family weddings, and in 2015 for carol's exit storyline. robbie has been described as "unlucky-in-life". introduced as a 15-year-old school boy, robbie is initially portrayed as troublesome; frequently playing truant, occasionally shoplifting and, as author kate lock suggests, "generally making a nuisance of himself". however, lock observes that this aspect of the character was toned down eventually, and "the unfortunate robbie became less of a lout and more of a [...] prat, forever mucking things up and being the fall guy." gaffney reprised the role briefly in 2004, when he returned as robbie to attend his sister sonia's (natalie cassidy) wedding. the character's return was only scripted for a couple of episodes. gaffney has expressed an interest in returning, commenting in 2006. on 25 october 2009, it was announced that gaffney would once again reprise his role. the family return for bianca's (patsy palmer) second wedding to ricky butcher (sid owen) as part of the show's 25th anniversary. executive producer diederick santer explained that he wanted great stories to get people talking, saying "the wedding is the perfect opportunity for us to bring back the much-loved jackson characters – carol, sonia, robbie and billie (devon anderson)."