Yeah he needs Daran Little/Leo Richardson.

I was against this Johnny/Ben plot from Day 1 and it seems I've been proven right. There was a small point just before Halloween where it looked like it could have gone somewhere, but now its just tiring to watch. I even think Sam Strike could have left because of maybe where the writers wanted to take Johnny with this Ben plot - and tbh with the current Ben/Abi thing I don't blame him. But it would be nice to see more of Johnny and less of bored Sam (as much as I like both Johnny and the actor).

I actually miss the random scenes with Johnny in conversation with the Carters, they seem like so long ago now.

Sorry my mistake on the shouting bit I did get confused with what you had said

Agree with everything you say and I have hopes that Linda/Johnny scene next week will be really nice.

Sadly the exit will be rushed but hopefully the goodbye scenes with the Carter family will be emotional and heartfelt

This crossed my mind too - maybe Sam left before the inevitable pairing with Ben took place. When it was first announced that Ben had been recast I was cautiously optimistic about it but he has turned out to be the same creepy weirdo! I still don't understand why they made Ben go back in the closet when he had been out for years and even Phil was past caring. Strange storytelling.

I noticed that Sam's voice was different last night too, a bit more gruff, and he does seem to be on autopilot a bit. I suppose we've all been there when we are working our notice to leave a job.

He has only got about 5 episodes left now so we should try and make the most of him. Like a lot of you I am just wanting closure now.

To be honest, I think Sam has been acting differently since after his couple of weeks off after the Gianluca stuff. From that point on he became much less 'Johnny'. I don't know if this was a director's thing - trying to make Johnny look more confident because everything with his Ma was resolved etc... It could be that the change in Sam indicated this was the point he had made up his mind that he didn't want to stay.

Saying he left because he wasn't keen on the Ben storyline doesn't make a lot of sense to me - its a soap, people are paired with everyone and do all sorts of out of character stuff all the time. This is almost to be expected!

Johnny's last appearence looks like it will be 19 December.

Johnny and the whole extended Carter family are on the cast list and I would expect this is when he leaves. No Whitney or Ben so no goodbyes scenes with them. There is no mention of Luca on the cast list but EE may be holding it back for a surprise appearence. I am thinking that Luca does not return and Johnny leaves by himself

Leo Richardson is the writer for the episode so hopefully we will get lovely individual scenes with Johnny saying goodbye to Mick, Linda and maybe one with the three Carter kids bringing Johnny's story to a close.

It is going to be really emotional episode that is for sure

Good News!!! Leo Richardson has wrote some of my absolute favourite episodes!! Specifically Carter centric episodes. This is good news! Hopefully we will get an emotional Johnny exit with Julia's Theme with the Carter family present.

I'm glad it's Leo writing it, I wanted either him or Daran.

I think it will definitely be an emotional episode but hopefully it will be well written and Johnny's exit won't feel too jarring or false.

I was feeling postive about Johnny's exit yesterday not so today

The detailed spoilers for 18 and 19 December make no mention of Johnny leaving. The couple making the life changing decision on the 18th is actually Kat and Alfie. On the 19th Johnny's last day the big scene is with Linda and Stacey where she might reveal she was raped. There is also more on the Lucy murder. If he leaves on the 19th it does not look it will there will be much of a focus on Johnny's exit

It is strange that EE are being so secretive over Johnny's exit to the point where they have not referenced at all in any of the previews or advanced spoliers. It does now appear Johnny just leaves straight away without any exit build up which seems to be more likely that Luca just turns up and asks him to go away with him and he does!

I am not getting a good feeling about Johnny's exit.

I don't think they tend to talk about character's exits in spoilers all that much, even the relatively low key ones. I think we have to accept that Johnny won't be getting a 'big' exit but hopefully with Leo writing it, we'll get a few nice scenes that make us smile and that will leave the door open for Johnny to return at some point in the future.

I do think that Linda will probably tell Stacey as a result of being emotional from Johnny leaving; I can see that being the catalyst event that makes her drop her guard. So it makes sense as to why that's at the end of the episode.

I think Linda finds out that Stacey and Dean are a couple which is why is she goes over and I assume tries to talk her out of it and that is where it all starts.

I guess we do have to accept that it will be a low key exit but hopefeully we do get some nice scenes. Maybe a low key exit is what EE wants so that can bring him back sooner rather than later so don't want too much fuss.

I'm starting to think now that Johnny will leave either on the 23rd or Christmas Eve. We know he's not there for Christmas itself but he seems fairly involved in the Santa grotto on the 18/19 December episodes. It would be a bit random and sudden for Johnny to suddenly get out of his elf costume (which he looks cute in btw but isn't exactly jumping for joy looking at the photos), get on his Vespa and leave the Square randomly. They might be holding something back.

That said I do feel comfortable with the idea of Leo Richardson writing Johnny's leaving episode.

Looks like Johnny is going to be around longer than we thought:

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2030199

I'm now wondering if he's the resident set to depart on Boxing Day?

Surely he would not leave on Boxing day knowing what he knows after Christmas Day. It hints the boxing day exit may not go ahead anyway.

Unless the reason it doesn't go as planned is because he decides he's going to stay due to everything that's happened. Linda might then persuade him to leave as she doesn't want him being affected by it all?

I guess it's either Boxing Day or the 23rd he goes, but I'd rather it was Boxing Day tbh!

On Johnny's Wikipedia page it just updated saying his last appearance will be 23rd December. Considering he isn't in the Monday ep it would be random. I'd rather leave Johnny leave on Christmas Eve rather than suddenly appear on one episode for that week, announce he's leaving then leave on the same ep. I think its clear Johnny won't be there for Christmas Day itself.

Well that was a surprise I expected Johnny to leave on the 19th.

It seems very unlikely that Johnny will be around on Boxing Day so I would assume he goes on 23th but who knows. I am giving up predicating what might happen

Maybe Dexter might be the one leaving on Boxing Day.

The way the spoiler is written doesn't sound like it will be Johnny leaving on 26th. The first sentence is about 'the Carters' and the one about someone leaving says "elsewhere" - suggesting a family other than the Carters

Latest Eastender pictures of the Carter Family on Christmas Day confirm what we thought. Looks like 23 December will be the last episode

I am not sure I can watch the first part of the Christmas Day episode with the Carter Family having their "perfect" family Christmas I don't think I will be ready to watch it as it comes so soon after Johnny goes. It just won't seem right to me. I am looking forward to when it all kicks off as it looks like it wlll be amazing

As Johnny leaves so close to Christmas does anyone think there is a chance he just goes on holiday with Luca and never returns. We just get some news later on that he has decided to stay on in Italy to study. It just seems hard to believe Johnny leaving his family permantly two days before Christmas.

Oh dear, I was really hoping he'd leave on Boxing Day instead. And now it probably won't be Leo or Daran writing the episode and I don't really trust any of the other writers to do his leaving scenes justice.

Oh well. I will still be watching the Christmas Day episode but it definitely won't feel the same. I'm sure they could have come to an agreement with Sam about staying a bit longer and leaving after filming the Christmas episodes. As it is I just can't believe that Johnny wouldn't stay for a few more days with his family and fly out in the new year.

I still don't understand why they could not have come to an agreement for Sam to stay on until end October/early November extending his contract a little. It would mean he would be on screen until January maybe after Stan's funeral and they could develop a more natural exit storyline.

It was not as if Sam was doing anything from mid October when he left as he went on holiday until early November. Surely Sam would have wanted to do the xmas show it is a massive deal and would really enhance his CV to be on the most watched show of the year and be part of what will I am sure be an explosive episode

It all adds to the mysterious nature of Sam's departure

Indeed. I'm sure Sam would have stayed if they'd persuaded him to. Or maybe I'm just being naive. It just seems such a shame that he won't be there for such a big episode when it probably would only have involved a couple more weeks filming for him.

It;s all so odd and confusing, I'm becoming more and more convinced there's a twist and him leaving won't be what it seems to be... fingers crossed!

Good to see Johnny a little more chirpy tonight. And congratulations to him on his grades as well

I just hope he's careful on that scooter. He may have been a bit of a grump lately but I still care about my Johnny.

When will the new spoilers be released? is it in 10 minutes? Can someone link me please? 😃

They're still keeping it hush hush. However on the EastEnders website Johnny is credited on Christmas Day.

He manages to get a selfie in with his family before he goes though. I'm thinking 23rd is when he leaves - or maybe he leaves on Christmas Day before the reveals.