Jill Marsden

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Villain Overview Gallery

Evil-doer
Full Name	Jill Marsden
Alias	Detective Chief Marsden
Origin	EastEnders
Occupation	Detective chief police inspector
Powers / Skills	Intelligence Deception Vast resources Exceptional intimidation
Hobby	Investigating the crimes and illicit activities of Phil Mitchell
Goals	Bring Phil Mitchell to justice for his crimes (failed).
Crimes	Harassment Conspiracy
Type of Villain	Anti-Villainous Official

“	I look forward to seeing you again Mr. Mitchell.	„
	~ Marsden making a sarcastic threat towards Phil Mitchell whenever they cross paths with each other.

DCI Jill Marsden is a fictional character and major anti-villain in the BBC British soap opera EastEnders. She originally debuted in 5th March 2001, thus serving as a main character in the high-profile storyline dubbed Who Shot Phil?, before becoming a major anti-villain for the rest of her duration on the show until her last appearance on 5th November 2015.

She is portrayed by Sophie Stanton.

Biography

DCI Jill Marsden is a highly decorated policewoman in Albert Square from Walford, a fictional borough in East London, prior to making her debut in March 2001.

Upon arriving in the square, she and her colleague DS Burke are assigned to investigate the shooting of Walford's criminal hardman Phil Mitchell. She questions numerous residents about the shooting and later goes to interrogate Phil's business rival Steve Owen about their feud before turning her attention to their fellow enemy Dan Sullivan; it is then Marsden charges Dan for the shooting after Phil frames Dan as the culprit with the help from his crime boss Richie Stringer, even though Phil's girlfriend Lisa Shaw was eventually revealed to be the shooter.

Later on, Marsden takes Phil in questioning for Lisa's disappearance and believes that he killed her - even though she had actually fled the country with their baby Louise to stay with her best-friend Mel Healy for a while. She later assigns her protégé Kate Morton to go undercover and implicate Phil for the crime, but this fails and Marsden vows to bring Phil to justice for his crimes.

She later questions Phil and his adversary Dennis Rickman for the murder of the square's gangland boss Jack Dalton, but is unable to prove their guilt thanks to Phil's solicitor Marcus Christie - even though this allows Dalton's right-hand man and successor Andy Hunter to steadily uncover the events behind Dalton's death. Towards the end of 2003, Marsden is thrilled when Phil gets arrested for armed robbery after he is set up by his top-dog rival Den Watts for the incident; she charges Phil for his crimes but is left unhappy when he escapes police custody and is ultimately exonerated two years later thanks to his brother Grant Mitchell, which in turn allows the Mitchell Brothers to subsequently embark on a lengthy conflict with their gangland enemy Johnny Allen.

In 2009, Marsden is assigned to investigate the murder of Phil's villainous uncle Archie Mitchell at The Queen Victoria public house. She questions Phil about his motive along with other family members including his sister Sam, their mother Peggy, and cousin Billy along with Archie's two daughters Ronnie and Roxy respectively. It is then Marsden turns her attention to Phil's estranged stepson Ian Beale about his motive. She thereafter questions Peggy's stepdaughter Janine Butcher along with her enemy Stacey Slater, the latter's husband Bradley Branning, and his uncle Jack Branning about their motives. When Bradley is implicated as the prime suspect for Archie's murder, Marsden sets out to arrest him and is shocked when Bradley ends up falling off the pub's rooftop to his death. Bradley is later found posthumously guilty for the crime, although Stacey is later revealed to be the killer.

In 2011, Marsden is approached by Phil's wayward son Ben Mitchell when he sets out to get revenge on his father. He tells Marsden a fabricated story about his knowledge of Phil's criminal activities and falsely claims that he witnessed Phil killing his ex-fiancé Stella Crawford on their wedding day after finding out that she had been abusing Ben for months. Consequently, Ben's actions allow Marsden and her unit to arrest Phil for his crimes. But their efforts are ultimately undone when Phil's lover Shirley Carter gives evidence proving Phil's innocence, with Ian's testimony also exonerating Phil and exposing Ben's false statement.

In 2015, Marsden teams up with fellow policewoman Samantha Keeble to investigate the murder of Ian's daughter Lucy Beale that occurred a year ago. They believe Ben to be the culprit and take him in for questioning, but Phil soon exonerates Ben by framing Ian's nemesis Max Branning as the culprit. It is then Max gets arrested and charged for the crime before he is found guilty thanks to his daughter Abi Branning testifying against him.

Trivia

• She has made a total of 90 appearances throughout her time on the show.
• It is confirmed during an episode in March 2001 that Jill Marsden is not married.