Johnny Carter lashes out at Gina Knight in shock EastEnders showdown sparking bitter feud
How far will Johnny go to protect his mother Linda?
ACTOR Charlie Suff is thrown into soap land next week as he takes on the role of Johnny Carter.
Upon his arrival, the returnee bashes Gina Knight in another explosive EastEnders showdown, standing up for his struggling mother Linda.
Johnny Carter was last seen in Albert Square in January, 2018, when he’d decided to leave his large family behind for a fresh start and a legal career in Manchester.
Throughout his years away, the second youngest of the Carter siblings was held at arm’s length from the chaos that unfolded in Walford, from his parents’ tumultuous relationship to his father’s disappearance at sea.
But in scenes airing next week on BBC One, Johnny returns to the fictional borough and is shocked to find his mother Linda Carter (portrayed by Kellie Bright) in a drunken state.
As regular viewers of the long-running show will recall, Linda has been struggling following the departures of all her children and her mother-in-law Shirley.
To make matters worse, Linda has recently had to face the comeback of her rapist, Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) but she’s also keeping a massive secret.
Upon his arrival, Johnny helps a drunk Linda up and in later scenes, at The Vic, he quizzes the family to find out why she’s got so bad.
This prompts Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) to reveal that Dean is back.
Johnny rushes to confront Dean and is spotted by Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden), who follows him into Beale’s Eels.
Ben has to drag Johnny away from Dean, and, with Callum Highway (Tony Clay) they talk over a drink.
Later, at closing time, Johnny punches Dean and warns him to leave Linda alone.
In other scenes, Johnny is determined to stop Linda from drinking by not letting her out of his sight, but it soon becomes too much for her.
After secretly boozing, Linda makes a show of herself by dropping Gina Knight’s (Francesca Henry) birthday cake in front of everyone in The Vic.
Johnny, who has found out Gina dated Dean, lashes out at her for laughing.
Gina hasn’t been the most supportive of Linda and she, in fact, received a huge backlash from viewers when she decided to believe Dean over her stepsister.
But once the villain showed his true colours, Gina did what every EastEnders fan was wishing they could and brutally punched Dean before he could attack her.
Dean recently pushed Linda into falsely admitting she had lied about her 2014 attack to help George avoid legal repercussions for pushing him down the stairs.
However, next week, Johnny and Gina decide to work together, putting the past behind them.
The pair come up with a plan to get the recording from Dean and wipe it in an attempt to help Linda.
Will they manage it?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
