Phil Mitchell

Phil Mitchell is a fictional character and recurring anti-villain of the BBC British soap opera drama EastEnders.

He first appeared on 20 February 1990 and started out as one of the show's main heroes throughout the 1990s, after which the character developed a villainous streak from 2000 onwards; thus becoming the series' protagonist villain amid his ongoing duration on the show.

History
Originally introduced in 1990, Phil Mitchell was the first member of the Mitchell Family to appear on the show; he was soon joined by his younger brother Grant, their sister Sam, and family matriarch Peggy.

Throughout the course of the 1990s era, Phil and Grant quickly established themselves as the undisputed hardman of Albert Square upon engaging in various criminal activities; the brotherly duo were publicly dubbed as "The Mitchell Brothers". While the two thoroughly worked together on their activities and supporting their family, Phil and Grant often clashed due to their personal life difficulties. This became exemplified when Phil embarked on an affair with Grant's wife Sharon, which would eventually be exposed two years after her wedding to Grant. This led to Grant attacking Phil and ending his marriage to Sharon, though he gradually forgave her for the affair. By the time Phil was forgiven as well, his own marriage to Romanian refugee Nadia Borovac had ended. Phil later married local resident Kathy Beale, whom he later began to domestically abuse after his activities with Grant led to him developing an addiction to alcoholism. Kathy soon left Walford with her and Phil's child, Ben. In 1999, Phil and Grant's reign of criminality ended when the pair had a final showdown and Phil caused Grant to flip their car into the canal; Phil was safely retrieved and brought back to the square, whilst Grant left the country upon secretly surviving the incident as well.

Following Grant's departure, Phil cemented himself as the show's undisputed protagonist villain - after developing a villainous streak in contribution to his alcoholism and criminal activities. This impact was further explored as Phil's antics leads him to torment Kathy's son Ian; mistreat his next girlfriend Lisa Shaw; and became archenemies with Grant's ex-business partner Steve Owen after sleeping with his would-be wife Mel Healy. By 2001, Steve was far from the only enemy Phil made on the square. Phil's old friend Dan Sullivan sought revenge against Phil for cheating out of his ownership of the local pub house, "The Queen Victoria Inn", whilst Lisa's ordeal sparks a clash between Phil and her crush Mark Fowler. On the night Steve and Mel get married, Phil is shot by an unseen assailant. His godson Jamie, whom Phil took in under his wing to spare him from being abused by his legal guardian and Phil's cousin Billy, works tirelessly to defend Phil against the square. A month later after getting shot, Phil confronts his shooter - Lisa. After forgiving Lisa for shooting him, Phil frames Dan and convinces Steve to get him imprisoned - which fails after Dan is found not guilty.

Once Dan has been exonerated, he plans to exact revenge on Phil and Steve - suspecting that the latter shot the former and determined to settle his score with Phil for good. He first blackmails Billy, who works for Steve at his nightclub, into gaining leverage over the two before proceeding to kidnap Mel - the common link between his archenemies. Upon abducting Mel in an abandoned warehouse, Dan alerts Phil and Steve of his revenge plan in a bid to blackmail the pair in obtaining £200,000 for him; £100,000 from Steve and another from Phil. Left with no other choice, Phil and Steve work together to acquire £200,000 for Dan to flee Walford - though Phil secretly obtains a gun to plan on taking out Dan for good. Steve dismisses Phil's suggestion on taking out Dan and insists that he himself delivers the money to him, but then Dan calls the pair to demand that Phil be the one to bring the money to him in exchange for Mel. After arriving at the warehouse where Dan is holding Mel captive, Phil is forced to leave his gun in the car after Dan catches him out through the window. Nevertheless, Phil takes advantage of the situation upon entering into the warehouse. He surprises Dan by subduing him, causing his friend-turned-nemesis the drop the gun - which Phil promptly takes in possession. Phil then prepares to kill Dan, but is thwarted when Mel - having learned from Dan during her captivity that Phil and Steve are partly to blame for her ordeal - distracts Phil by turning off the lights. This allows Dan to overpower Phil and escape with the money, getting his revenge in the process. After dropping Mel off at the rendezvous point, Dan flees Walford - never to be seen again.

Following Dan's departure, Phil learns that Lisa has given birth to her child Louise and later finds out that he is the father of her baby. This not only escalates Phil's conflict with Lisa and Mark over Louise, but concludes his rivalry with Steve - who attempts to get revenge on Phil by fleeing Walford with Mel to start anew, taking Louise with them in the process. However, Phil learns from Mark and Billy about Steve's plan and chases him in his car. This results in a high-speed chase between the two archenemies, which ends with Steve crashing his car. Steve helps Phil rescue Louise before trying to escape to no avail. Phil attempts to rescue Steve, but is too late as the car explodes just as Phil starts to rush back - causing him to watch in shock as Steve instantly dies in the burning wreckage. Following Steve's death, Mel leaves Walford and Lisa continues to clash with Phil over Louise. By then, Phil's relationship with Jamie becomes troubled as Jamie gradually becomes uncomfortable with Phil's antics - up to the point where Phil briefly disowns him for aiding Lisa with her parenting skills and being partly the reason why Sharon left Walford again after she briefly returned. This escalates when Jamie helps Lisa escape Walford with Louise, and Phil brutally attacks Jamie afterwards. Phil later feels guilty for his treatment of Jamie after the latter dies on Christmas Day 2002; after Phil chucked him out of the house, Jamie gets fatally struck by a car driven by his best-friend Martin Fowler - leaving both Jamie's girlfriend Sonia Jackson and Phil himself devastated.

As Phil struggles to cope with Jamie's death, Sharon returns to offer him support. This leads to the pair recommencing their relationship. By then, Sharon has been in contact with her sister Vicki about uncovering the past events that surrounded the death of their father Den Watts. Her theories continue to build as Sharon begins interacting with Vicki's half-brother Dennis Rickman, whom Phil becomes enemies with after Dennis punches Phil at one stage in the Queen Vic. Phil's rivalry with Dennis leads to him getting embroiled with Dennis' gangland boss Jack Dalton, particularly when Phil's neighbour Alfie Moon seeks his help over Dalton's plans to arrange the death of Alfie's younger brother Spencer. Later on, Phil is forced to owe Dalton a favor after preventing him from arranging the murder of Kate Morton - an undercover policewoman whom Phil later marries. Dalton calls in the favor by authorizing Phil to kill Dennis over £20,000. Phil initially attempts to kill Dennis, but reluctantly avoids doing so when Dennis offers to kill Dalton himself - so that the pair would both be free of their gangland tormentor. Phil agrees, and Dennis kills Dalton after learning that Dalton had been the one who got Den murdered. Following Dalton's murder, his representative Andy Hunter confronts Phil and Dennis separately over the incident - but ends up pardoning them both after the pair manage to cover their involvement. A couple of months later, Den is revealed to be alive when he returns to Walford. Den's return surprises Phil, and the two become sworn enemies after Phil had previously smacked Sharon in The Queen Victoria - which Den plans on extorting from Phil. Their rivalry culminates with Den inviting Phil to do an armed robbery. Phil takes on the job, but learns too late that Den had actually staged these events to frame him in order to usurp Phil from his position as "King of Walford". After getting arrested by Kate's boss Jill Masden, who had previously investigated Phil's shooting, Phil escapes from prison and attempts to get revenge on Den - but fails and is forced to flee Walford with £200,000 from the robbery.

Phil returns 18 months later, needing more money. He attacks Ian, who calls the police and Phil is arrested. However, the case collapses after Grant returns to Walford pays a witness to change his testimony and Phil is released. The brothers return to Walford when Peggy requests they help Sam, who is wrongfully remanded in custody for Den's murder; Den was murdered by his second wife and Sam's nemesis, Chrissie, after the duo and Sam's friend Zoe Slater initially worked together to get revenge on Den for his nefarious activities - including Sam's intent to avenge Phil's ordeal. Upon arriving at the square, Phil and Grant notice Peggy being mugged and end up rescuing her. Shortly afterwards, they learn that Peggy's mugging was organised by her sworn enemy Johnny Allen - who recently became Walford's gangland kingpin. This prompts Phil and Grant to confront Johnny, warning him to stay away from Peggy under the threat of further violence. The pair then confront Chrissie in the pub, where Phil stops Grant from attacking her and Dennis before Sharon intervenes on their behalf. However, Sharon and Dennis soon learn the truth about Chrissie killing Den and they end up joining forces with the Mitchells to help Sam against Chrissie - with Phil and Dennis putting their differences aside over their previous rivalry.

While Grant also make amends with Sharon by making peace with Dennis as well, Phil begins a feud with Johnny over his issue with Peggy and the fact that he and Chrissie are having a partnership over the pub's ownership. When Billy uses his job as Johnny's nightclub to discover CCTV footage of Chrissie confessing Den's murder to her boyfriend and Alfie's cousin Jake from an earlier night, he informs Phil - who goes to confront Johnny without Grant's consent. At first Phil attempts to negotiate with Johnny to no avail, but they end up fighting when Grant intervenes - punching Jake and helping Phil batter Johnny to steal the tape. As Jake flees to alert Chrissie of the situation, Johnny holds Phil and Grant at gunpoint to reclaim the tape - but relents in letting them escape when his daughter Ruby walks in on the incident. Before fleeing with the tape, Phil learns from Johnny that Ian is Chrissie's mystery buyer for the pub; he and Billy confront Ian, while Grant helps Sharon and Dennis look for Chrissie. Eventually, the police catch up to Chrissie just as she prepares to flee the country at the airport and Sharon punches her in revenge for her father's death; Chrissie is then arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, while Sam is released from prison - only to end up fleeing the country when she finds herself implicated for perverting the course of justice for Den's murder. Despite the circumstances over Sam's ordeal, the Mitchells still celebrate Chrissie's imprisonment when Sharon announces that she forged a contract that Ian had signed - thereby meaning that Ian doesn't officially own the pub, and that the Mitchells are the true owners of The Queen Vic once more. Up towards Christmas 2005, Phil escalates his feud with Johnny and ends up entrapping Dennis on his behalf; Dennis and Johnny embark on a conflict afterwards. When Phil discovers that Johnny threatened Sharon with Dennis' life, he attempts to intimidate Dennis in attacking Johnny in retribution; Dennis refuses, but relents when Phil tells him that Johnny killed Andy and throttled Sharon. Unfortunately, after Dennis batters Johnny at the stroke of the new year, Johnny arranges for him to be stabbed and Dennis dies in Sharon's arms - leaving her devastated, while Phil becomes ridden with guilt for Dennis' death and vows revenge against Johnny. After comforting Sharon when she lashes out at Johnny in the wake of Dennis' funeral, Phil promises to avenge his death. Phil later convinces Grant to help him confront Johnny at his new home in rural Essex, but he escapes and the brothers peruse home. However, Phil's squabbling with Grant allows Johnny to capture them and Johnny orders his henchman and Jake's brother Danny to kill the Mitchell Brothers. Before Danny can execute Grant, however, Jake arrives and shoots Danny - accidentally killing him as Jake meant to merely stop his brother by shooting him in the arm or leg. While Jake buries Danny's body alone, Phil and Grant return to Johnny's home and find that Johnny has surrounded at Ruby's request; Johnny is later sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of Andy and Dennis, though he later dies of a heart attack in October 2006. After resolving matters with Grant and securing Jake's safety from exposed as a killer following the discovery of Danny's death, Phil resumes his life with his family - though before Grant and Sharon separately leave Walford to start their new lives on their own.

Trivia

 * Phil is currently the second longest running male character of EastEnders - merely behind Ian Beale - and is considerably the third longest character of the show, behind both Ian and his mother Kathy Beale.