In October 2013 , Bright was cast as Linda Carter in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders '' . Linda made her first on screen appearance on 19 December 2013 , but officially arrived on Albert Square with her husband , Mick ( played by Danny Dyer ) and her children on 26 December 2013 . The Carter family were created by the show 's executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins who planned to completely revamp the show . Since her arrival , Bright 's character Linda has been a part of some of the show 's biggest storylines such as struggling to accept that her son Johnny ( Sam Strike ) is gay . In October 2014 , Linda was involved in a controversial storyline where she was raped by Dean Wicks ( Matt Di Angelo ) . On filming this particular storyline , Bright stated that " It is a challenging storyline , but it is an important storyline and I feel honoured to have been given it " . Bright was praised for her performance during this storyline . Bright won the 2014 Digital Spy 's Readers Award for Best Female Soap Actress . Along with Dyer , Bright was nominated for " Best On-screen Partnership " at The British Soap Awards 2014 for the relationship between Mick and Linda . In 2015 , she was nominated for the " Serial Drama Performance " award at the National Television Awards , however the award was won by Dyer . She has been nominated for " Best Actress " and " Best Dramatic Performance " at The British Soap Awards 2015 . Bright won both
National Television Awards
20th National Television Awards
Kellie Bright