EastEnders spoilers: Violent showdown as ‘absolutely furious’ Johnny Carter returns and brutally 𝕒tt𝕒cks Dean Wicks

Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff) wastes little time in making his presence felt in EastEnders upon his return as he sets about making Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) pay for traumatising mum Linda (Kellie Bright).

The popular character, who was last seen six years ago, stages quite a comeback in upcoming scenes, arriving to help Linda, who is in the throes of alcoholism.

Linda’s reasons for turning to the booze are largely due to the events of Christmas Day, which saw her kill Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), who was trying to strangle her best friend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) to death.

Sharon, in addition to four other Walford women, assisted Linda in covering up the crime, burying deceased Keanu’s corpse under the cafe, which has now re-opened under Nish Panesar’s (Navin Chowdhry) rule.

Johnny makes his presence felt as he confronts rapist Dean

But while Linda’s tracks appear to be well and truly covered, the impact of her actions on that fateful night have weighed on her ever since, thus leading her back to the booze.

Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe), unaware of her daughter’s predicament, has been doing all she can to keep Linda afloat, but out of options and in the absence of Mick (Danny Dyer), who is presumed dead following his disappearance at sea, she turns to the one person capable of getting through to her.

‘Johnny is back in Walford because he has caught wind from his Gran that things aren’t going too well for Linda,’ actor Charlie Suff told us. ‘There’s a lot of worry about his mum, and the family needs Johnny back home to steer the ship and get things back on track.’

It’s safe to say that Johnny is properly knocked for six when he sees just how much of a hold the booze has on Linda.

‘He is absolutely devastated,’ admitted Charlie, who is quick to remind viewers that Johnny has never really saw Linda in such a state before. ‘Johnny spends his initial time in the Square really trying to grapple with what is going on with Linda because a lot has happened to her since he was last there.’

In a bid to get to the bottom of what exactly has led Linda to the alcohol again, Johnny quizzes his loved ones, hoping they can shed some light on the matter and Elaine reluctantly breaks the news that Dean is back in the Square.

Landlady Elaine isn’t necessarily wrong, as it was the return of Dean, who raped her back in 2014, that led to Linda seeking solace in the bottom of a bottle but her reliance on the substance has increased significantly due to what happened at Christmas.

Armed with Elaine’s revelation, Johnny makes a beeline for Beale’s Eels to confront Dean, hellbent on making his feelings known. ‘I don’t think Johnny quite realises what he’s doing at that moment with Dean,’ said Charlie of the scenes in question.

‘It’s one of the first things he does, and he’s totally consumed by fury and rage. His mouth is speaking before his brain. Dean has always been this character who is older than him and Johnny has been a young boy in his eyes but Johnny has grown up since he’s been away, and he can handle Dean now.’

Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden), confused to see Johnny back in the Square, follows his former flame to the pie and mash shop, urging him to proceed with caution as he interrupts a tense showdown between the lawyer and his so-called uncle.

In a bid to calm him down, Ben takes Johnny for a drink with Callum Highway (Tony Clay), where they talk and catch up. But a number of hours later, Johnny makes his way back to Beale’s Eels, where he punches Dean and orders him to leave Linda alone.

Hoping to have put Dean in his place, Johnny subsequently turns his attention back to Linda, determined to keep her off the drink by watching her every move, but it soon becomes apparent that this isn’t the right course of action at all.

‘It’s something that Johnny can’t control, so his knee-jerk reaction is to try to control it as much as possible, but he soon realises that doesn’t work,’ revealed Charlie.After that, he just wants to be a shoulder for Linda to cry on. For her to know that he’s got her back, no matter what, will hopefully give her the strength to change.’

Linda, however, manages to sneak a drink or two when her son’s back is turned and, as a result, she makes quite a show of herself at Gina Knight’s (Francesca Henry) birthday party, dropping the cake in front of everyone.

Gina proceeds to laugh at poor Linda and Johnny, who has found out at this stage that she previously dated Dean, shoots her daggers and lashes out at her. Ben and Callum are left somewhat concerned by Johnny’s anger, with Ben offering to help him sort Dean out once and for all. Callum offers his input too, promising that, whatever they do, it’ll all be above board and legal.

After giving it some thought, Johnny decides to launch a civil case against Dean. Callum, however, is quick to dispel such an idea, filling him in on Linda’s ‘confession’.

Fans will recall that Dean blackmailed a vulnerable Linda into claiming that he didn’t rape her. Linda did as she was asked, unaware the vile rapist was recording her and he later played it aloud to a pub full of people, which proved instrumental in driving Linda to drink.

Despite Callum’s revelation, Johnny isn’t giving up that easily as he and Gina put their heads together and come up with a plot to get the recording from Dean, hoping to erase it from existence.

Dean is initially sceptical when Gina shows interest in him again but despite his reservations he agrees to go out with her. However, he later works out what she and Johnny are up to. Linda, meanwhile, witnesses a scene involving all three of them in the cafe and forces herself to enter, despite her fear of being close to Keanu’s corpse.

The argument between Johnny and Dean escalates and Linda injures herself on a smashed glass, which results in her going absolutely ballistic, screaming at the top of her lungs, which renders Johnny speechless.

‘He is completely flummoxed,’ added Charlie of the scenes in question. ‘He doesn’t understand what is going on at all. Linda hasn’t given him any specifics as to what is really going on with her.

‘Johnny keeps thinking he’s understood the situation and why she’s drinking and so upset, but then something else happens that changes things. He keeps landing back to square one but this is a moment that is a real shock to him, and Johnny realises something deeper is going on.’

The question is: will he get to the bottom of Linda’s pain and anguish? Will he work out the real reason why she’s back on the booze? We’ll just have to wait and see but fans can certainly expect a lot more drama ahead as Johnny settles back to the Square.

‘I think Johnny is coming back with a bang, wanting to show the people of Walford that he’s all grown up and not to be messed with,’ concluded Charlie.

Consider me very excited for what’s to come.