Johnny Allen (EastEnders)
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Johnny Allen | |||||||||
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EastEnders character | |||||||||
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Portrayed by | Billy Murray | ||||||||
Duration | 2005–2006 | ||||||||
First appearance | Episode 2866 4 January 2005 | ||||||||
Last appearance | Episode 3243 20 October 2006 | ||||||||
Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||
Created by | Kathleen Hutchison | ||||||||
Introduced by | Kathleen Hutchinson (2005) Kate Harwood (2006) | ||||||||
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Johnny Allen is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Billy Murray. He first appeared on 4 January 2005 and became the show's primary antagonist until the character was killed off on 20 October 2006.
Hailed as one of the show's biggest villains to date, the character was an East End crime boss who quickly emerged as the new gangland kingpin of
The character's story arc begins with Johnny usurping fellow mob boss Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs) from his position as the square's reigning crime kingpin. This ultimately leads Andy to try to swindle £750,000 from Johnny in his requested "job." This fails after Johnny intercepts his plan — thanks to Andy's bodyguard, Eddie (Daren Elliott Holmes) — and he ends up killing Andy by throwing him from a motorway bridge in the shows’ 20th-anniversary episode. Soon afterward, Johnny forces the local Ferreira family out of Walford before establishing an unlikely friendship with his old acquaintance Pat Harris (Pam St Clement).
He exiles his errand boy,
Towards the end of March 2006, Johnny represented the titular "Get Johnny Week" scenario — in which Phil and Grant, who were both previously ex-lovers of Sharon, sought to avenge her loss due to Dennis' murder to bring Johnny to justice! The storyline culminates with Johnny surrendering himself to the police at Rubys’ request, although not before it is revealed that Danny had killed Dennis on Johnnys’ orders — shortly before Danny at the story’s climax is then killed by his own brother Jake!
In October 2006, nearly seven months after being sentenced to life imprisonment for his gangland activities, the characters story arc ended with Johnny being axed from the program. His last appearance was screened during Rubys’ eighteenth birthday, wherein Johnny attempted to perpetuate the death of Stacey's brother Sean (Robert Kazinsky) after finding out that he has been forging a romantic business partnership with Ruby to extract control of both her financial welfare and family assets; however, this failed when Johnny ended up having a fatal heart attack in prison, and he dies in hospital off-screen.
Storylines
Johnny Allen makes his first appearance on 4 January 2005, when he arrives in
As he quickly helps the Moon brothers with their problems, Johnny expands his business in Walford; he buys the nightclub
In February, tensions continued to rise between Johnny and Andy when the pair had another meeting with Jake. Claiming that he is retiring from his criminal life, Johnny authorizes Andy and Jake to work together on a package deal for him; Jake will oversee Andy being given a case containing £750,000 worth in cash, which Andy will then deliver to Johnny to mark the opening of his nightclub Scarlet. However, Jake later requests that Johnny be pulled out of the deal after being attacked in a fight; Johnny agrees and tells Andy that he will have to do the job on his own. Andy takes the news badly, up to the point where he publicly insults his estranged wife Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) and employee Pat Evans (Pam St Clement) — whom Johnny was once acquainted with years ago — in The Queen Victoria public house. This prompts Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), the pub's landlord and Johnny's old friend, to throw out Andy and his bodyguard, Eddie (Daren Elliott Holmes) — with Johnny's help. Outraged over his humiliation, Andy vows to get revenge on Johnny and hatches a plan to take his £750,000 in their upcoming transaction and flee Walford with the money. Andy tricks Danny into aiding him with his plan under the guise that Danny can prove himself to Johnny after Andy tricks him into believing that Johnny favors Jake and that his brother values him to be weak. On the opening night of Scarlet, Andy succeeds with his plan and betrays Danny by ditching him on the street. Just as Andy is about to flee Walford, Eddie stops the car and claims he needs to go to the bathroom. In reality, Eddie betrays Andy by informing Johnny of his plan. In response, Johnny has Jake intercept Andy and has him come out of the car for 'a conversation'. Realizing too late that Eddie betrayed him, Andy obliges and talks with Johnny as they walk on a motorway bridge. The conversation seemingly ends with the pair going separate ways, as Johnny offers Andy a handshake before giving him 'one final tip.' At that moment, Johnny — after telling Andy, 'Enjoy your flight!' — suddenly throws Andy off the motorway bridge, killing him on impact. As the police arrive on the scene, Johnny orders Eddie to leave before he and Jake return to the square. The next morning, Andy's death becomes public knowledge — though the police depict his demise to be suicide. While the Moon brothers are unnerved by Andy's death, Johnny remains calm and later attends Andy's funeral with Pat, even though she had earlier accused Johnny of murdering Andy.
Following Andy's murder, Johnny employs the Moon brothers to work for him at Scarlet. He soon fires them after Jake and Danny buy stolen alcohol to use in Scarlet, which Johnny is quick to discover. Johnny later recruits Sam's cousin Billy (Perry Fenwick) to replace the Moon brothers and even steals Danny's idea for a salsa night at the club. Danny soon confronts Johnny about this, but Johnny just brushes him off and calls Danny a liability. In response to this, Danny goes to Johnny's house in a drunken state and sets it on fire to try and get his attention. Johnny deduces that Danny is responsible for setting his house on fire and plans to kill him with his own handgun. He abducts Danny in his car and takes Jake along with him when the latter tries to save his brothers. After driving the brothers into the woods, Johnny locks Jake in the car and takes Danny with him for execution. Johnny prepares to kill Danny when Jake, who escaped from the car, intervenes and stops them. Johnny initially considers killing the pair but ultimately orders them to leave Albert Square and never return. While Danny appears to have left the Square for good, Jake returns two months later to support Alfie over family matters; Johnny allows Jake to stay in Walford and later hires him to be his personal bodyguard in the midst of expanding his criminal reign.
When Johnny's former mistress,
Johnny's feud with Peggy continues as she appears to turn his daughter against him, up to the point where Ruby confides to her best friend,
In November, Johnny noticed that the
In December, Johnny continues to clash with Phil and later becomes with his love rival
Towards the end of March, Phil tracks down Johnny at his new mansion in the Essex countryside. Phil convinces Grant to help confront Johnny, where the former intends to bring Johnny to justice for Dennis's murder — as he had promised to Sharon. Reluctant at first, Grant agrees, and the Mitchell brothers set off for Johnny's mansion. They chase Johnny down to his office, where Ruby walks out on her father after discovering that he had been withholding alcohol in his safe — even though he claimed to have gotten rid of them. As Ruby leaves, Grant goes to calm her down while Phil uses this opportunity to come face-to-face with Johnny. They talk, and Johnny admits to having Dennis killed, prompting Phil to attack him until Grant stops his brother. Johnny flees, and the Mitchell brothers pursue him until they end up at a scrapyard, where Johnny captures Phil and Grant at gunpoint. It is at this point that Johnny orders Danny to kill Dennis, and Danny has been working at Johnny's mansion since then. When Jake learns about his brother working for Johnny, he arrives at the mansion to take him home — trying to convince him that Johnny is just using him for dirty work. However, Danny refuses to leave the mansion and even ignores Jake when his brother reminds him about the time Johnny originally planned to kill them both. The pair end up in a fight when Danny reveals to Jake that he killed Dennis on Johnny's orders, and Jake attacks him in response; the fight ends with Danny knocking his brother unconscious after being punched by Jake whilst holding him at gunpoint. Johnny later orders Danny to execute Phil and Grant, but Jake intervenes and shoots Danny — killing him, despite the fact that Jake had merely tried to shoot Danny in the leg or arm to stop him from killing the Mitchell brothers. As Jake buries Danny's body and the Mitchell brothers rush back to the mansion, Ruby uncovers Danny's phone and learns the truth about Dennis's murder. She calls the police on her father and urges him to turn himself in — threatening to change her name and disown Johnny otherwise. After learning from Ruby that it is the second anniversary of when her mother and sister were killed, Johnny obliges and is arrested; he is later sentenced to life imprisonment after confessing to all of his crimes, including the murders of Andy and Dennis.
In October, Johnny is contacted by Jake — who shares his concerns with him about Ruby's new relationship with Stacey's hothead brother Sean (Robert Kazinsky). This prompts Johnny to arrange for Sean to visit him, where his attempts to threaten Sean to end his relationship with Ruby are rebuffed — with Sean taunting Johnny at the hint that his plan with dating Ruby is to assert control of her assets. Johnny lashes out at Sean but is forced back into his cell. Humiliated and angry, Johnny desperately attempts to phone Jake in a bid to have Sean killed. Unfortunately, he suffers a heart attack from stress just as he begins to dial. Believing that Jake is on the phone, Johnny proceeds to whisper, 'Jake... kill him for me' before falling unconscious. Johnny's cellmate Cahill (John Ashton) hears his last words and mistakenly believes that Jake is the one he wants to be killed; Jake is later approached by mobsters just as he prepares to leave the square that night after Ruby ends her association with Jake upon blaming him for her father's heart attack, and is presumably killed as a result of this. Elsewhere, Johnny is rushed to hospital, and he dies before Ruby can visit him — leaving her heartbroken. She later arranges for her father's funeral at the end of the month.
Nearly a decade later, in January 2014, Johnny's name resurfaced when Phil — in light of helping his cousin Ronnie (Samantha Womack) cover up the murder of their business rival Carl White (Daniel Coonan) — finally confesses to Sharon that he was the reason Dennis had attacked Johnny and then Johnny had Dennis killed in retaliation. In 2018, Ruby returns to the square and, the following year, buys the nightclub that her father used to own; henceforth, some of Johnny's legacy lives on over the course of Ruby's ownership of the club.
Creation and development
Johnny and his casting was announced on 25 October 2004.
"Get Johnny Week"
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8b/Johnny%26Danny.jpg/150px-Johnny%26Danny.jpg)
"Get Johnny Week" is a week-long storyline that was first screened in late March 2006. The storyline focuses on Johnny after he retires from his life of crime and reunites the Mitchell brothers, Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp).[3] The week finishes with Johnny's daughter, Ruby, persuading him to hand himself into the police for the murder of Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman). Johnny gives in to his daughter's wish and is then imprisoned for the murders of Dennis and Andy. However, the episodes were not well received by viewers, and producer Kate Harwood received criticism for the storyline.
Departure
Murray opted to leave the soap in August 2005, just eight months after his first appearance. Speaking of his departure, Murray stated that the decision to leave had been agreed with executive producer Kate Harwood. He went on to explain, "I sat down recently with the boss, and we decided it would be much better for Johnny to go out with a bang than to hang around the Square for years, aging gracefully."[4] Thus, Murray departed after "Get Johnny Week" when his character was imprisoned.
Johnny is not seen again until October 2006, when Ruby's new boyfriend, Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky), visits him in prison to taunt him. Furious, Johnny tries to arrange Sean's murder with Jake Moon (Joel Beckett). He fails and dies of a heart attack soon after, accidentally ordering Jake's death in the process.
Reception
In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Johnny 87th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling him the "East End gangster."[5]
See also
References
- ^ "Billy Murray to join 'EastEnders'". BBC. 25 October 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- Hachette Filipacchi UK. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ "Ross Kemp signs to EastEnders", BBC. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ "EastEnders' Billy bows out". Daily Mirror. 24 August 2005. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ Sara Wallis; Ian Hyland (12 June 2020). "100 Best EastEnders characters ever". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 20 October 2023.