Mick and Linda Carter waved goodbye to their beloved son Johnny in tonight’s episode – but his exit from the show left viewers feeling a little underwhelmed.
Johnny farewelled Walford as he headed up to Manchester to take a new job at a law firm. But there was no fanfare to signal his departure, just Mick and Linda hugging him goodbye outside the Vic, before he jumped into a taxi.
Johnny’s departure comes hot on the heels of the Carters saving the Vic from closing, and apparently the family had spent the entire weekend popping the champagne corks.
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But their celebrations didn’t go unnoticed by gangster Aidan, who’s been desperately trying to find out who stole his loot from the recent heist. And with Mick suddenly in the money, Aidan jumped to the obvious conclusion – that the pub landlord must have robbed him!
Determined to get to the bottom of Mick’s sudden windfall, Aidan started asking questions round the Square. And poor Johnny was scared witless when the ex-con bowled him up at the bus stop wanting answers about the money…
With the pressure building, Johnny was forced to come up with a cover story about his family’s fortune. But rather than say they’d borrowed money from a relative or had a surprise win on a scratchcard, he came up with a more elaborate story – and told Aidan they’d sold his granddad’s war medals!
Unsurprisingly, Aidan didn’t fall for his lie. And not long after, the villain stormed the Vic demanding to see some proof of these medals – leaving the Carters panicking that the game was up!
It was Johnny who ended up saving his parents from Aidan’s wrath, after he remembered a school project he once did about a war hero called Perry Carter. He’d even mocked up a fake news story – and it was enough to convince Aidan that they were telling the truth about selling the precious medals!
With Aidan off their backs, Johnny said a tearful goodbye to his parents, before getting into a taxi. Linda was clearly devastated to see the back of her beloved ‘sausage’ – but EastEnders fans were confused that he was just disappearing with not so much as a leaving party…
Bye Johnny but I’m not sure anyone will notice the difference #eastenders
— Snakecharmer (@snakecharmer888) January 29, 2018
Bye Sausage, come back never. #EastEnders
— Craig ★CT★ Thurston (@CtTweets08) January 29, 2018
can’t believe johnny’s leaving eastenders he deserved better :((((
— kailan (@bisexualdingle) January 29, 2018
This is a worse exit than when Johnny 1.0 got on his motorcycle and that’s saying something #Eastenders
— Darren Hardie (@DarrenHardie) January 29, 2018
Bye to the character who only got one storyline! Goodbye Johnny Carter #EastEnders
— Gossip Enders (@GossipEnders) January 29, 2018
Johnny’s exit didn’t exactly set the world alight to say the least… #EastEnders
— ……… (@dervlapatricia) January 29, 2018
Johnny was the last of the grown-up Carter children to fly the nest, with just little’un Ollie left now. Lee departed the show last year, after the character was written out. And this is the second time Johnny has exited Walford, after the first actor to play him – Sam Strike – bowed out of EastEnders to pursue new opportunities.
Nancy is currently travelling the world with boyfriend Tamwar – but with actress Maddy Hill having been recently announced as a new addition to the Casualty cast, it’s unlikely she’ll be back any time soon.
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So with their grown-up children all having left home now, what does this mean for the future of the Carter family? Will we be seeing some random relatives brought in to fill the void?
EastEnders continues tomorrow at 7.30 on BBC1.