Johnny Carter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portrayed by Charlie Suff.

Sam Strike first portrayed the role from 2013 until he exited in 2014, his final appearance on 25 December 2014 via a Skype call on Christmas Day.

Johnny's storylines have included a brief romance with Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) before coming out as gay which his mother Linda (Kellie Bright) initially struggles to accept, his relationship with Gianluca Cavallo (Gabriele Lombardo), supporting Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid) after his boyfriend Paul Coker (Jonny Labey) is murdered in a homophobic attack, being injured in a robbery at The Queen Victoria public house and discovering that his brother Lee (Danny-Boy Hatchard) was responsible, being shot by Ted Murray (Christopher Timothy), and helping Linda and "The Six" cover up the murder of Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters).

Johnny makes his first appearance on 26 December 2013, moving into The Queen Victoria public house with parents, Mick (Danny Dyer) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).

Linda finds it extremely difficult to come to terms with Johnny's sexuality, which leads to numerous arguments with Mick and Shirley.

Johnny manages to secure a job as a barman in Sharon Rickman's (Letitia Dean) new bar, The Albert.

Furious, Johnny rows with his mother, calling her a "stupid bitch", and decides to leave Walford, ashamed of what he said.

Ben has told his father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) that his homosexuality was a phase, but confuses Johnny by flirting with him at times and rejecting him at others.

Initially, Linda finds this hard to accept, but she soon relents, and Johnny leaves with her blessing, after telling Ben to stop denying who he is.

During a heart-to-heart talk, he admits he and Gianluca have split up, and Linda tells him she was raped by his uncle Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo).

He apologises the next day and persuades Mick to stop blaming Nancy for the accident that has left their brother Ollie Carter with possible brain damage.

Johnny decides to not return to Italy and convinces his university tutor to let him take his second year exam.

After he is discharged, Johnny writes a letter to the judge in Ted and Joyce's defence, which helps to avoid a conviction.

Johnny (now played by Charlie Suff) returns to Walford in February 2024, after his grandmother Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) contacts him to help Linda who has been drinking heavily.

Whilst drinking, Linda later reveals to Johnny that she murdered Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) to protect Sharon, and helped bury his body under the floor of Bridge Street café with Sharon, Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal).

Johnny agrees to help the women cover up the crime, but informs them that the meat thermometer used to kill Keanu has gone missing.

Johnny represents Sharon in her interviews but finds himself stressed when Kathy, Stacey and Suki attempt to use the weapon as leverage against the others.

Johnny supports Linda during Keanu's funeral in June and convinces police officer and family friend Callum Highway (Tony Clay) from further investigating the crime.

Johnny kicks Linda out of the Queen Vic when he realises the negative effect her alcoholism is having on Ollie, and is horrified when she goes missing afterwards.

Sam Strike's casting as Johnny was announced on 29 October 2013, on which the actor said: "I'm really excited to be joining EastEnders and the Carter family.

I've grown up watching Danny [Dyer] and Kellie [Bright], both of whom are lovely, so to be playing their son is kind of surreal.

"[9] On 14 November it was announced that Strike had decided to leave the show as he did not feel that the character was necessary to the current storylines[10] and that he had already filmed his final scenes.

In February 2016, it was announced that the role of Johnny was being recast and the character would return later in the year, but that the casting process was still ongoing at that point.

On his departure, the actor commented, "It was a really tough decision to leave, but at this stage in my career it's very important to keep being challenged & experience new things!