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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 Albert Square. He proceeded to impact his reign through several other characters by going to extreme lengths to maintain control over those around him — notably in the case of his intense feud with the 'Mitchell Brothers' Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and his younger brother Grant (Ross Kemp).
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, Danny Moon (Jake Maskall), from the square in retribution for Danny burning down his house. He falls out with Phil and Grant's mother, Peggy (Barbara Windsor), after she turns his daughter Ruby (Louisa Lytton) against him. He also destroys his own relationship with former mistress Tina Stewart (Charlotte Avery); hired Peggy's nephew Billy (Perry Fenwick) to become Danny's replacement until he later fires him for conspiring with his family; developed a conflict with Ruby's best-friend, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), over the way her rebellious friendship strains his daughter's education; blackmailed Danny's brother Jake (Joel Beckett) with the discovery that his girlfriend Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) murdered her estranged husband Den (Leslie Grantham) and framed Peggy's daughter Sam (Kim Medcalf) for the crime; constantly tormented Ruby's boyfriend Juley Smith (Joseph Kpobie) upon learning that he is the reason she lost her virginity to him; and arranged for popular hard man Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) to be fatally stabbed on New Year's Eve 2005; after being attacked by the latter in retaliation for threatening his adoptive sister-turned-recent wife Sharon (Letitia Dean).
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 Ruby's request, although not before it is revealed that Danny had killed Dennis on Johnny's 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 programme. His last appearance was screened during Ruby's 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.
This was Murray's second role in the soap, having appeared as a minor character in 1991 called "Mr. X".