Phil Mitchell

Backstory
Phil, named after his paternal grandfather Philip who died when he was young, is the eldest child of Peggy and Eric Mitchell. He endured an unhappy childhood due to his abusive father, whose violence continued until Phil was big enough to fight back. Phil and his younger brother Grant were close, and had a reputation for their thuggish behaviour. had a running with local serial killer Lucas Johnson (played by Don Gilet).

Arrival
Phil and Grant arrive in Walford, buying the garage on Turpin Way, known as The Arches.[2] Phil goes into partnership at The Queen Victoria public house with Grant and his fiancée Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), and moves in with them. Following a failed romance with Anne Howes (Cassie Stuart), Phil grows close to Sharon, who turns to him for comfort during Grant's violent outbursts. Sharon and Phil sleep together but she chooses to stay with Grant, who remains unaware of the betrayal.[2] Sharon and Grant's reconciliation is brief, and amidst more rowing and physical violence, Grant is arrested and imprisoned. In his absence, Phil and Sharon continue their affair, and when Grant is released a reformed man, Sharon reconciles with him, leaving Phil heartbroken.[25] On the rebound, Phil enters into a marriage of convenience with Nadia Borovac (Anna Barkan), a Romanian refugee, enabling her to stay legally in the UK, with Nadia departing after the wedding.[2] Phil begins a romance with Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), but Nadia returns, needing Phil to play her husband in more realistic ways to prevent deportation.[2] She moves in with him while she is investigated. Nadia seduces and sleeps with a drunken Phil, and he regrets it, denying it to Kathy after Nadia informs her. Nadia disappears after Grant threatens to kill her, though Phil later bribes her into agreeing to a divorce.[26]

Kathy
When Kathy discovers that Phil is responsible for torching Frank Butcher's (Mike Reid) car lot in an insurance scam, killing a homeless boy, she leaves him. He wins her back by proposing marriage, leaving Sharon jealous. Intent on winning him back, Sharon kisses Phil, but he stops himself from kissing her back. During Phil and Kathy's engagement party, Grant listens to a cassette of Sharon confessing to the affair and plays it at the party. Kathy is incensed, and Grant beats Phil so badly that he is hospitalised with a ruptured spleen and a blood clot to the brain.[25] Phil undergoes surgery, which stirs remorse in Grant. He pressures Phil into blaming Sharon for their affair and Grant chases her out of Walford. Phil and Grant make peace, but things between them are not the same. Kathy and Phil eventually sort out their differences and get married.[25] Kathy falls pregnant and gives birth to Ben (Matthew Silver). Phil feels neglected and depressed so turns to alcohol, developing an addiction. He becomes abusive and neglectful of Ben, so Kathy leaves him. Realising what he has lost, Phil gives up drinking to rebuild his marriage. He attends Alcoholics Anonymous, which helps reveal the basis of his problem—the physical abuse he received from his father and his fear he will do the same to Ben. Kathy takes him back but when he attends counselling, he begins an affair with a fellow alcoholic named Lorna Cartwright (Janet Dibley), who later starts stalking him. With their relationship in jeopardy, Phil takes Kathy to Paris, hoping that it can bring them closer, but it has the opposite effect when Phil confesses to the affair and Kathy throws her wedding ring into the river.[25] Phil begins sleeping rough, gambling, and blaming Kathy for his decline. Kathy decides to leave Walford to live in South Africa, letting it be known that an offer of reconciliation from Phil would make her reconsider. Phil waits until the last minute but is stalled by Lorna, who locks herself in his bathroom and attempts suicide. Kathy leaves for the airport and Phil follows but is accosted by Kathy's son Ian Beale, who persuades him that Kathy is better off without him. Phil agonises over the loss of his son.[25]

To take his mind of things, Phil gets involved in a protection racket with Annie Palmer, who he is also having casual sex with, but he grows tired of being bossed around by her and quits.[27]

Brotherly Love
He starts seeing Lisa Shaw (Lucy Benjamin), but the relationship stalls when Kathy returns briefly, continuing an affair with Grant. However, before she is due to return to South Africa, she asks Phil to leave with her. Phil cannot go as Grant has planned an armed robbery and Phil will not let his brother do the job alone. Infuriated with Phil's loyalty to Grant, Kathy reveals their recent tryst, leading to Phil confronting Grant after the heist and Grant confessing that he slept with Kathy to get revenge on Phil for sleeping with Sharon. While trying to escape the police in a getaway car, Phil pulls out a handgun and shoots at the dashboard, which causes Grant to crash into the River Thames. Phil is rescued, but Grant's body is not recovered, though he survives and flees to Brazil.[25] When Grant sends Phil his half of The Queen Victoria, he sells it to Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass) for £5 to spite Peggy due to her favouritism towards Grant.

Who Shot Phil
Phil and Dan's allegiance ends after Dan tells the police about a motor scam Phil has been involved in, and Phil cons Dan into giving control of the pub back to Peggy.[25] Phil is unsupportive when Lisa has a miscarriage and she becomes unstable. He turns his attention to her best friend Melanie Healy (Tamzin Outhwaite) and they sleep together. Phil grows jealous when Melanie reunites with Steve Owen (Martin Kemp) and becomes abusive to Lisa. Thinking a baby will improve things, Lisa stops taking her contraceptive pills. However, Melanie overhears Phil stating he does not want another baby, so she encourages Lisa to end the relationship, confessing to their affair. Lisa leaves Phil, and unknown to him, she is pregnant with his baby. Mark Fowler (Todd Carty) persuades her to pretend the baby is his.[25] Phil gains many enemies: Lisa; Steve, who has discovered Melanie slept with Phil; Ian, who wants revenge for Phil's bullying; Mark, who wants to avenge Lisa; and Dan. On Steve and Melanie's wedding night, Phil is shot in the back by someone hiding in the bushes, collapsing in a pool of blood, and is hospitalised.[25] Steve is prime suspect and is arrested. However, it was not Steve and after being discharged from hospital a month later, Phil confronts the real culprit, Lisa. She had stolen Steve's gun in a moment of madness. Realising he drove Lisa to it, Phil decides to let her off and frames Dan for the deed with the help of Ritchie Stringer (Gareth Hunt), who supplies Dan with the gun. Not realising he is being set up, Dan holds Phil at gunpoint, demanding money. However, the police arrive, arresting Dan for attempted murder.[25] Steve is called as a witness at Dan's trial, and Phil persuades him to give a false testimony, further implicating Dan, but to everyone's astonishment he is found not guilty. Dan seeks revenge, so he kidnaps Melanie, the only common link between Phil and Steve, threatening to kill her unless they each give him £100,000. They work together to rescue Melanie but Dan escapes with the money.[25]

Phil begins a second relationship with Sharon, who has returned, and they run The Queen Victoria together. Phil wants children, but Sharon reveals she is infertile and tells him Lisa's baby, Louise (Rachel Cox), is really his daughter. Phil ends their relationship and confronts Lisa, demanding to be part of his child's life. Steve offers to take Lisa to California, but when she is unable to leave, Steve absconds with Louise. Phil is informed and chases after Steve in his car. Steve crashes into a wall and Phil rescues Louise but cannot save Steve, who dies when the car explodes.[25] Phil knows he must win Lisa back to gain custody of Louise, and Lisa is easily swayed. Phil slowly begins excluding Lisa from Louise's life, so in desperation, Lisa flees to Portugal with Louise. Phil's nephew Jamie (Jack Ryder) helps her escape, earning him a beating from Phil. Phil goes to Portugal and returns a month later with Louise. Some of Phil's neighbours suspect he has murdered Lisa.[25]

Marriage to Kate & Exit
Phil falls for Kate Morton (Jill Halfpenny), not knowing she is an undercover police officer, investigating Lisa's disappearance. After gaining a confession from Phil that he manipulated Lisa into handing over Louise, Kate reveals her true identity, and says she loves him and will quit her job, but Phil threatens to kill her.[25] Kate disappears, but several months later, Phil finds her while she is working undercover for gangster Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett). Phil saves Kate's life when Jack orders her dead, with Jack calling off the hit but telling Phil he owes him. Kate then moves in with Phil. Jack orders Phil to kill Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), so Phil corners Dennis at gunpoint, but Dennis tells Phil he will kill Jack so they can both be free of him, which he does. Phil and Dennis vow to keep their involvement in Dalton's murder to themselves, but Phil later tells Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs), Dalton's second-in-command. Dennis is enraged by Phil's betrayal and demands that they settle the score with a fight. Phil hires a group of men to deal with Dennis instead.[25]

Phil and Kate go on to marry, but Lisa arrives, demanding access to Louise. She plans to shoot Phil again but fails. She breaks down until Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) vows to get revenge on Phil for her and for having his son Dennis beaten. Den plans an armed robbery and coaxes Phil into joining him, but Den, with Dennis' assistance, sets Phil up and he is arrested. Kate is forced to give Louise back to Lisa and they leave Walford together. Phil cannot forgive Kate and their marriage ends.

Return
Phil escaps from prison and attacked Den and Dennis, and Den gives Phil money to survive on while on the run.[25] Phil returns in need of money and attacks Ian, who leads him to believe he will help him escape, but calls the police and Phil is arrested again. However, the case falls through after Grant pays a witness to change his testimony and Phil is released. Johnny Allen (Billy Murray) makes an enemy of Phil after threatening to harm his family. Dennis gets involved the feud, not realising his wife Sharon has been threatened by Johnny and that he will be killed if he does not leave Walford. Phil informs Dennis, who beats Johnny, but then has Dennis murdered, leaving Phil feeling responsible and vowing to make Johnny pay. Phil and Grant confront Johnny, but he escapes and a car chase ensues. The brothers' squabbling allows Johnny to capture them, and Johnny orders Danny Moon (Jake Maskall) to kill them. However, Danny's brother Jake (Joel Beckett) shoots Danny, killing him, and Johnny surrenders.

Ben and Stella
Following Kathy's death, Phil's son Ben (now Charlie Jones) returns to live with his half brother Ian. Phil tries to build a relationship with Ben and they slowly begin to bond, eventually leading to Ben asking to live with his father. Phil meets Stella Crawford (Sophie Thompson) and they begin a relationship. She moves in but Ben is unwilling to accept her. She uses underhand tactics to make him more obedient and they become rivals for Phil's affections. She starts psychologically and physically abusing Ben, and manipulates him into persuading Phil to propose to her. The abuse is revealed by Ben during the wedding, and Stella flees to an abandoned warehouse with Phil in pursuit, where she jumps from the roof to her death. Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) uses his police contacts to trace Louise (now Danni Bennatar) for Phil, but Phil is incensed to discover that she calls another man "daddy" and that Jack has not warned him. Jack tries to blackmail Phil regarding his involvement in a motor scam with Kevin Wicks (Phil Daniels), which inadvertently kills Kevin. Phil teams up with Jack's brother Max (Jake Wood) to remove Jack from Walford.

Suzy and Shirley
Phil proposes to his girlfriend Suzy Branning (Maggie O'Neill) when she tells him she is pregnant, but his friend and employee Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) tells him there is no pregnancy and Suzy is trying to con him. However, Phil stays with Suzy until he discovers she has schemed with his uncle Archie (Larry Lamb). Peggy and Archie marry, but Archie's manipulation of his entire family is revealed, so Peggy asks Phil to kill him. However, Phil just forces him to leave Walford. Phil starts drinking again and starts an on-off relationship with Shirley but it soon ends. Archie returns to win Peggy back, and Phil's sister Sam Mitchell (Danniella Westbrook) returns from Brazil after being on the run for her part in the murder of Den Watts. Sam is arrested so Phil puts up bail money to have her released, seeing the garage tp Pat Evans (Pam St Clement). Archie convinces Sam to flee, leading to the Mitchells struggling financially. Phil takes a loan from Ian on the condition that Ian gets The Queen Victoria if the money is paid back in two weeks, which Phil accepts. Ian sells the loan to Archie, but does not tell Phil, saying there is no need to pay him back yet. Archie ejects the Mitchells from the pub and Phil turns to alcohol again. Archie is murdered on Chistmas Day. Phil asks his now-girlfriend Shirley for an alibi, who tells police Phil was with her all day. However, she finds a blood-stained shirt, which she hides. Phil confesses that he found Archie dead and lost his balance, falling into the blood, but did not call the police because he panicked. They then burn the shirt and replace it with a brand new one. Eventually, Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements) becomes the prime suspect in the murder but falls to his death while being chased by police. Phil and Shirley resume their romantic relationship.

Daughter
Phil's cousin Ronnie (Samantha Womack) tells Phil that Louise (now Brittany Papple) came looking for him but she sent her away because Phil was in a fight at the time. Phil smashes up the bar and shouts in Ronnie's face, just as Louise walks in to witness his rage. Louise spends the night under the secret care of Peggy and Phil, and pleads to stay permanently, to which Phil initially agrees. However, Shirley finds out that Louise is hiding in the pub, and persuades Phil to do the right thing, so he then sends Louise back into care. He takes a DNA test to prove he is Louise's biological father, and custody is granted after Phil moves in with Shirley. Phil discovers that Ben has been burning Louise's arms and punches his son. The next day Ben explains that he is being bullied by Jordan Johnson (Michael-Joel David Stuart), so Phil tells him to stand up for himself, leading to Ben attacking Jordan and leaving him in a coma. Ben decides to confess to the police and is charged and bailed. Phil is told Ben could spend six weeks in custody, so plans to move to Portugal with Grant, but Peggy stops them as they are about to leave. Phil is outraged to hear Ben must spend five months in custody. He learns that Lisa has made an application to see Louise so he asks his solicitor Ritchie Scott (Sian Webber) to find a way to prevent her getting access. After Phil visits Ben, he discovers that Ben is being bullied by another prisoner, Cal Childs (Danny Barnham). Ben tells his family never to visit him again, but Phil attempts to, and while he is there, Peggy tells Louise that Lisa wants to see her, but insults Lisa, leading to Louise running away. Phil finds Louise and confronts Peggy, slapping her and leaving her bruised. Phil attempts to keep Louise locked in the house, but Peggy sneaks her out and takes her to Lisa, finally allowing her to stay there. Phil throws Shirley out of the house, accusing her of helping Peggy. He goes to Lisa's house to retrieve Louise but finds it empty and abandoned.

Drug Addiction
Phil starts drinking again after two months of sobriety, blaming Peggy for the loss of his two children, so Peggy orders him to be ejected from the pub. At an all-time low, he approaches Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks), a drug addict, and is tempted to try some of her crack cocaine after she says she needs it to block things out, as he wants to forget his children. Phil and Rainie get high on drugs at Phil's home, and when Shirley comes in to check on him, she finds them naked together on the floor. Phil takes money from The Queen Victoria to get more drugs, but Rainie is mugged when she tries to buy some, so Phil tries to take money from The Arches. Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi) and Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen) refuse to hand over the keys, locking him in. They get Shirley, who calms Phil down and offers to help him get clean, throwing Rainie out when they return home. She tells Phil to choose either her or the drugs, and he walks away, having chosen the drugs. When Peggy decides to make up with Phil, she finds him in a drugged-up state on the floor so leaves in disgust. She visits him again to say she will get him some help but slaps him when he insults her for her nagging. She regrets this but he throws her out and tells her to go away. When Shirley visits later, Phil is gone.

Fire At The Vic
A few weeks later Phil's relative Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) finds Phil a few weeks later and takes Peggy to see him in an estate. Peggy wakes him and tells him he is coming home and that Sam has had a baby. Phil says he does not care and that Peggy has made him this way. She leaves in tears after telling him if she had a gun, she would give it to him and tell him to shoot himself as he would be better off dead. However, Peggy realises she needs to get Phil off the drugs, so she enlists Minty and Billy to help get him back to The Queen Victoria and lock him in the upstairs living room, where the windows and door are boarded up so he cannot escape. He begs to be let out as he is suffering withdrawal symptoms and says he needs a doctor. Worried he will die, he convinces Billy to open the door to bring him some water, promising he will not try to leave. When Billy enters, Phil grabs the crowbar from him and Billy runs out and boards him back in. Phil uses the crowbar to escape. He confronts Peggy, and after a huge argument, throws a match on the floor and sets the entire room on fire. Within minutes the entire pub catches fire, causing mass panic. Phil tries to grab boxes of alcohol from the cellar, but cannot carry it out. When he tries to steal money from the till, the roof collapses on him. Peggy and Billy manage to save him and get him out of the pub. Peggy departs Walford the next day when she realises that Phil is better off without her.

When Police come to the house, Phil runs and goes to Shirley's. Shirley is angry until Phil admits he needs her help to change, but soon realises that Phil started the fire and says she cannot trust him as he did not tell her. However, she later tells Phil to lie to the police and do everything she tells him to from now on, and moves in with him. Billy shouts at Phil that he needs to get himself sorted, and Phil does not get angry. Shirley tells Phil she will find something for him to do and eventually finds an investor and buys back the garage from Pat.

A few weeks later Phil leases the Queen Victoria over to Kat and Alfie Moon and they begin to refurbish it.

Romances
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