John Summers was the husband of Brenda Summers, who sought refuge at 3 Coronation Street after an incident of domestic violence in July 1978. John was a Gas Board worker and had two children, Wayne and Samantha, with Brenda. However their marriage was troubled as John had a temper and sometimes beat his wife, attributing his violence to depression and blaming it on Brenda for getting him worked up. Brenda stayed with her husband as she believed he was genuinely sorry when it was over and praised him for never hitting the kids.
When Brenda phoned John to tell him she was staying with Emily Bishop, John went to 3 Coronation Street to fetch her, barging past Emily into the house and ignoring her claim that Brenda wasn't there, proceeding to search the entire house before satisfying himself that Emily was being truthful. Later, he dumped Wayne and Samantha on Emily's doorstep, not being prepared to put up with the kids if Brenda didn't return to him.
A few days later, John paid a final visit to the house to plead his case. He acted the good father and husband, hugging his children and promising Brenda that he wouldn't hit her again, all while belittling Emily as a public menace. To Emily's horror, Brenda took her kids and went back to John.