Not that he'll read this but it's Ted's birthday today so... happy birthday Ted!

Happy Birthday Ted (at least we know Ted's birthday if not Johnny - if EE writers see this this is a less than subtle hint that Johnny needs a on screen birthday)

With all the axings (and now another one has been added to the list), i'm really worried about Johnny. He's barely been given any screentime - I guess the only hope is that because Kellie's going on maternity leave, and Lee's going that Johnny'll be staying to keep the Carters going

I think if Johnny was being axed it would have been announced by now, probably when Lee's axing was announced. I hope anyway.

I assume Ted was brought in on a year's contract so if he is axed we won't hear anything for a while yet. I think the biggest indicator will be if he's used effectively over the winter. If he isn't then it will be a clear sign that SOC is just waiting out the end of his contract.

Ted must have started in February with his first on screen appearance being in early April. We are therefore only about 4 months away from the end of his contract and would assume a decision is made whether he stays or goes

I am nervous everytime there is talk of an EE exit but surely with Lee gone and Linda away for several months getting rid of Johnny as well and leaving Mick alone in the Vic (aside from Shirley) would not make much sense. I must admit with every week that passes by and still no storyline for Johnny , still no hint of a romance or even a friendship with Ben you do begin to wonder if he has a future.

It depends what SOC's attitude towards the Carters is. They've been written as noticeably unsympathetic and ignorant during the current storyline that's leading to Sonia's exit (although to be fair SOC might not have had much of a hand in this as we're only really now starting to see his work on screen and this story has been rumbling under for a while.) I know from someone 'in the know' on Twitter that Danny Dyer is signed until 2018, as I'd imagine Kellie Bright is too, but the plan may be to axe all their family around them so that they're more inclined to leave when their contract ends.

It's impossible to predict how SOC feels about Johnny as we've had no indication of his vision other than which characters he sees as superfluous. I would probably categorise Johnny with the likes of Lee, Kyle, Les, Pam and Buster as characters who haven't received much development and are easy targets for the chop. So in that respect it is worrying. On the plus side, it did sound in the statement put out for Lee's departure that his exit would open up storylines for his family which may indicate that there is something big to come for the Carters.

I guess we won't know for at least a couple of months.

You know how #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend trended after Civil War - I think we need to get #GiveJohnnyCarterABoyfriend (or #GiveJohnnyCarterAStoryline) trending. Show that we want more of Johnny, especially with all the axings going on

I'd happily join in if someone started it but wouldn't have the first idea how to get something like that going!

Latest rumours are that Aunt Babe may be leaving (actress may have quit) which if true reduces the Carter clan further.

This would leave MIck, Johnny, Whitney, Shirley and TIna with Sylvie still around left by early 2017. Johnny and Tina's future are in doubt and Sylvie will surely leave as well as there will be nobody to look after her. It is not out of the question that Whitney will leave after Lee goes or maybe leaves with Lee.

The new few months are going to be extraordinary for the Carter family and we have no idea how the writers are going to deal with the departures especially Linda and Lee and where it all leave the Carter family apart from being very small unless new family members are brought in.

It seems to me the off screen drama is beginning to overshadow the on screen storylines for example the lovely scenes with Lee and Whitney on Friday with the baby was lost because we know Lee is going and there will no happy ending.

I just hope we get some clarity on Johnny future soon and they can put us out of misery one way or another as it seems the uncertainty is dragging on coupled by the fact that Johnny had nothing to do at the moment

The Sun are pretty reliable when it comes to this sort of thing, so I don't think it's a rumour, I think she's definitely been axed or Anette has quit.

I think this will go one of either two ways now. Either SOC really is axing all the 'peripheral' Carter family members, leaving just the big hitters of Mick, Linda and Shirley, or he wants to see a scaled back but still relevant Carter family with Mick, Linda, Shirley, Johnny and Tina. I assume Sylvie will also go soon so I'm not including her.

Axing Babe and Buster makes sense to me: Buster never really worked all that well as a character, and Babe is too difficult to redeem at this point. Lee was the biggest shock but it may genuinely be that his exit is designed to generate big drama for the family and for Whitney and that the door will be left open for him to return, as the statement said (though I think they'll recast him if this happens.)

I'm a bit worried about Ted's instagram at the moment with pictures of him smoking and checking out scantily-clad girls in Vegas: Danny-Boy's twitter also became noticeably more 'crude' after he was axed. It could be nothing but it's something that just struck me. Could this Vegas holiday be a result of finding out he's also not going to have his contract renewed? It's difficult to say.

There is apparently a press event in October and this may give us our first indication of what the plans are for the Carters, though I suspect anything on the Carters will mainly focus on Lee and Whitney's wedding and Linda and Lee's exits so we may not get any specific Johnny mentions.

At this point, as disappointed as I'll be about Johnny leaving, I'm kind of ready for it like I was with Sam leaving and the hints we got a good couple of months before it was announced that it was happening, so I'm not going to get any hopes up about Johnny staying. In fact I'm going to assume he is going until I hear otherwise.

I think the Las Vegas trip is a just a lads holiday looks likely to have been planned a while ago hopefully nothing much than that. Ted has posted similar "cheeky" snaps like that so nothing he has not done before

I agree that at the moment it feels like we waiting to hear the news that Johnny is being axed as opposed to a new romance or that he actually has a storyline. I was so excited that Johnny was returning but after the first week it has been so sad to see what has been going on in EE on screen and off screen

I've given up all hope! In more bad news, on IMDB someone is saying that apparently Leatherface film is in trouble, and is a mess, hence why there is no trailer or release date yet

On a more positive note, Johnny is in all but Friday's episode next week, but fairly low down the cast list so presumably just scenes in The Vic.

DS have, rather bizarrely, decided to write an article about Ted's holiday using the two pictures and the tweets he sent to the airline this morning:

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/east...oliday-photos/

I suppose it's good that they're interested enough in him to write an article but it's not really the stuff I want to be reading on Ted/Johnny! Hopefully there's something more exciting to report on soon...

Didn't think much of Johnny's appearances in the last couple of episodes. He's still very much in spectator/commentator mode.

It looks like Bonded by Blood 2 with Sam Strike may put back again possibly to January 2017

Still listed on Amazon as being released on DVD next week but with no trailer or no publicity at all from anyone involved in the film suggest the January 2017 which I have seen on another site is more likely. This is just another delay to a serious of delays on the release which has hit this film possibly due to the distributor

Let's hope the film does get released sometime!

Which site did you see that on?

HMV website says January 2007 for the DVD release including the option of buying 1 and 2 together.

Odd to have two retailers saying different release details I guess we will find out soon enough which is one correct

There is speculation that Sharon might take over as Manager at the Vic when Linda leaves.

I would not mind Sharon back at the Vic and maybe taking on a surrogate role as Mum to Johnny in Linda's absence . There were hints of that when Johnny worked at the Albert and it would be good if that relationship could be revived given this possible opportunity

Sharon working at the Vic could bring Ben and Johnny together as friends or more for a storyline that Sharon has deal to with.

I think that set-up would work, and I'd really love to see them revisit Sharon and Johnny's friendship. However I'd also like to see them focus on Mick and Johnny's relationship, once Linda and Lee gone, as I think both of them need some work at the moment and it would be good to see how they cope with being the only ones left in the immediate family (apart from maybe Ollie if he doesn't go with Linda.)

Episode update: Johnny is in every episode this week apart from Friday, and every episode next week apart from Tuesday. Next Friday he is quite high up the cast list and interestingly not grouped at the bottom of the Carters as he normally is but above them. He is below the Cokers who get top billing and some of the Mitchells (Ben, Sharon, Honey and Billy.) This is the episode of Paul's killers plea hearing, so I'm wondering if he attends the trial. With Jay not around, it's possible he goes along to support Ben.

Good that we see a bit more of Johnny in the next couple of weeks and we know that the Lee/Whitney wedding in early November will take centre stage for most of October with the build up so he should be part of that. Whitney has her hen night next Friday but no mention of Lee's stag night

All we need now is Johnny actually getting a storyline of his own but I doubt that will happen before Christmas with everything that is going on with the Carters including the exits coming up. I assume (hope) that once this is out the way in the New Year with a slimmed down Carter family they will focus on Johnny with his own storyline

Do we know if the hen party is actually next Friday or if Whitney is simply planning it at the moment? If the wedding is not until November then I think the beginning of October might be a bit too early for it, as soaps tend to do the hen/stag parties much closer to the wedding than you'd normally see in real life. Still no word yet on whether Johnny is going to be Lee's best man or whether he'll go with one of his army mates which might explain their attendance at the wedding.

Depending on the circumstances of Lee and Linda leaving, there is potential for a good, angsty storyline for Johnny or maybe him getting into a relationship to distract himself from what's happening with his family. Equally, though, if SOC's intention is to axe him, we may just get him failing to cope and going off again to join Nancy overseas. I'd imagine we'll hear in the early part of 2017 if Ted is going. I'm not really getting my hopes up for any Johnny storyline until we know one way or another if the plan is to keep him.

No Johnny mentions in the midnight spoilers and there are a couple of pictures from the court room which he isn't in, so maybe he isn't at the hearing. Whitney's hen party is definitely next Friday, so hopefully we'll get a stag do happening soon.

It was quite nice to see Johnny taking a bit of responsibility last night for Sylvie but there's not much else to say about his appearance other than it still feels they're simply using him for these type of scenes because it's convenient to do so rather than because they're trying to develop his character.

It was nice to see Johnny have a few scenes today interacting with a few characters such as Sharon, Vincent and Kim as well as family members.