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The synopsis of Phil Mitchell from EastEnders.
History[]
Backstory[]
Phil Mitchell had a traumatic upbringing. During his childhood years, he was abused by his father, Eric Mitchell, at the age of nine years old. His mother, Peggy Mitchell, ignored this as she was turning up the volume watching television. Eric rarely abused Phil's brother Grant Mitchell since Phil himself was the only one who took the violent beatings regarded as the unfavourable child. Eric later passed away from cancer who died by Peggy's side after she gave up work and took care of Eric during his final moments on his deathbed. After his death, Peggy went on to form a relationship with Frank Butcher for nearly fourteen years. Phil began to buy a repair shop down in Albert Square.
1990-1999[]
Phil Mitchell drives to Albert Square to open up a repair shop making his first appearance on February 20th 1990. He shows up in a car where he is having a conversation on the phone with Grant Mitchell. Grant shows up to the square afterwards. Phil spends his time looking around the place just as he bumps into Sharon Watts who is being threatened by notorious criminal Nick Cotton. Stepping in to Sharon's defense, Phil puts hands on him and slaps him in the face - teaching Nick a lesson just as he's about to walk away. Phil accepts a partnership at the Queen Vic alongside Grant and Sharon, who are now married. Grant's thuggish behavior drives him and Sharon apart, and she Phil begin an affair, but eventually feel guilty over this infidelity. Phil later marries Nadia Borovac, a Romanian refugee, in order to help her earn a visa; following their marriage, Nadia immediately leaves to be with her boyfriend, Marku, another refugee.
Phil later begins a relationship with Kathy Beale and they plan to get married when Nadia suddenly returns, needing Phil to convince the home office that he is her husband and their marriage is legitimate to prevent herself getting deported. Nadia soon seduces Phil and starts sleeping with him while he's drunk. Phil regrets having sex with Nadia denying this towards Kathy led to Grant threatening to kill her. Phil later divorces Nadia, ending their relationship. Kathy agrees to marry Phil despite that he was involved with killing a teenage boy setting a car on fire to prevent an insurance scam. However, a homeless man dies in the car while being burned with Frank Butcher who was involved.
During Phil and Kathy's engagement party at the Vic, Sharon's affair with Phil is revealed to Grant when he finds a cassette tape of Sharon confessing about the affair to Michelle Fowler inside his car; the tape's contents leaves him in tears. Grant storms into the Vic and plays the recording on one of the Vic's tape recorders in front of everybody celebrating Christmas day, humiliating Phil and Sharon as a result. Grant storms out of the pub and Kathy angrily slaps Sharon, calling her a "slut". Phil meets with Grant in the Arches, where they end up breaking into fight over his betrayal; Phil is left hospitalized with a ruptured spleen and Grant is arrested for assault by the police. The two brothers later make amends with Peggy arrives to deal with them along with Sharon and her best-friend Michelle Fowler, who had known about the affair for a long while.
Phil and Kathy begin sorting out their relationship in help to save their marriage. Kathy gives birth to her son Ben Mitchell. However, Phil later spirals out of control as he's suffering depression and begins to drink a lot of alcohol which makes him turn bitter and neglectful towards Kathy and Ben. Phil would later go to get help from Alcoholics Anonymous, in order to prevent his alcohol addiction. Phil later has another affair with a woman named Lorna Cartwright, who was stalking him, Phil admits this to Kathy, angered over this betrayal. She throws away his engagement ring and Phil later begins to start sleeping, drinking, becoming more depressed to the point where he blames Kathy over his decline. Phil later causes Kathy to leave the square with Ben as they catch a flight to Paris. Kathy wouldn't return until a year later. As a result of this, Phil would become arch-rivals with his stepson Ian Beale as they feud for several years - wherein Phil often torments Ian by ducking his head in a toilet and at one point getting Ian financially bankrupt out of spite.
Prior to Kathy's return, Phil gets caught in another crossfire revolving on his brother - this time about Grant's maltreatment towards his second wife Tiffany Raymond. It is also at this point where the brothers appear to get along better after helping their mother come to terms with cancer, whilst also dealing with her illicit boyfriend George Palmer and his daughter Annie Palmer. During this time, Phil attempts to encourage Grant to improve his relationship with Tiffany and would at times compare the situation to Sharon a few years earlier; Grant seems to accept Phil's advice after Tiffany gives birth to her daughter Courtney Mitchell, with Grant being revealed as the child's father. Phil and Grant later work together in helping Ian reclaim custody of his kids by rescuing them from his egomaniacal wife Cindy Beale in Italy, as well as confront her hitman John Valecue for being hired by Cindy to kill Ian in a drive-by-shooting incident. The Mitchell Brothers also end up clashing with Beppe Di Marco and Gianni Di Marco when the latter brothers and their family come on the square. Phil later takes his godson Jamie Mitchell under his wing to spare him from the abuse at the hands of his uncle Billy Mitchell, who later comes to the square after his brother and Jamie's father Charlie had died.
However, Grant's marriage with Tiffany gets out of hand due to his affairs with her colleague Lorraine Wicks and later Tiffany's mother Louise Raymond. When Tiffany falls down the stairs and Grant is implicated to be responsible, Phil defends him despite others believing otherwise. In Christmas 1998, Grant is confronted by Tiffany's best-friend Bianca Jackson over his supposed actions and Phil takes Grant and Tiffany's infant baby Courtney to calm the situation down between them. Moments later Bianca goes into labour and requests Phil to summon her husband Ricky Butcher, who previously married Sam years ago. Later on, Grant is arrested for Tiffany's accident but released on bail. Phil and everyone else thereupon witness Tiffany being run-over by Ricky's father Frank Butcher in an accident road collusion; Tiffany dies and at her funeral while Grant mourns her death, Phil has to defend him from his enemies as they blame Grant for Tiffany's death.
In 1999, Phil gets into a relationship with Lisa Shaw. This continues until Kathy unexpectedly appears with Ben in Walford. Phil then plans to reconcile with her, only to later find out from Kathy that she slept with his brother Grant in revenge. Before she leaves with Ben to go to South Africa, Kathy asks Phil to come with her but he declines. Grant plans to rob money but Phil comes along and goes with him without doing it alone. Phil confronts Grant about him sleeping with Kathy, responding that he did it because of his affair with Sharon. As they're trying to escape from the police, Phil points and shoots the window with Grant steering the wheel ordering him to "Stop the car!" led to Grant crashing the car in River Thames. Phil is pulled out of the lake but there's no sign of Grant who presume dead. Later on, it's revealed that Grant is still alive who's escaped to Brazil with the money.
Who Shot Phil?[]
Following Grant's departure and the aftermath of their heist, Phil is frustrated to hear about his brother's entitlement to the Queen Vic and accuses Peggy of favouring Grant over him. Wanting to spite Peggy for this, Phil ends up selling the pub to fellow hardman Dan Sullivan on Christmas 1999. It is at this point where Phil has become best-friends with Dan, who backs him up over his affair with Carol Jackson's daughter Bianca that leaves her husband and Phil's brother-in-law Ricky Butcher emotionally distraught. Phil's friendship with Dan soon ends when he accuses Dan of informing a motor scam behind his back and cons him to sign the pub back over to his mother Peggy. Thereafter Dan have words against Phil saying he sold him out and with Phil responding to Dan claiming he tried to take him for a "mug", they later have a fight but gets prevented by Dan's former girlfriend Mel Healy as she intervenes. Dan plans to get revenge on Phil.
Phil meets up with Lisa back at the house. Phil is not pleased to hear Lisa that she had a miscarriage. Phil starts abusing her in his own home and immediately sacks her from her job insisting her to stay at home. Phil develops an alcohol addiction again. Soon enough, Michelle's brother Mark Fowler develops a crush on Lisa and they get together as Phil's behaviour continues to spiral out of control. Phil isn't bothered by this and kicks Lisa out of their house just as Dan reappears on the square. One night, Phil hears knocks on the door and nobody is there. Phil walks back into his house drunk but is shot in the back by an unknown assailant. Beppe finds Phil shot in the street and phones an ambulance. Phil wakes up in hospital and he is not impressed to see Dan. He swears to Phil that he will get his revenge before he walks out of the room. Due to Phil getting shot, shady businessman and gangster Steve Owen is arrested for the attempted murder on Phil but he is later released. Phil later finds out his ex-girlfriend Lisa was responsible for shooting him. Phil initially contemplates on killing Lisa, but doesn't go through with it upon realizing that he drove Lisa into shooting him in the first place.
Phil plans to meet up with mob boss Richie Stringer in order to get him to work as a conspirator. Phil wants help to frame Dan, who used to work with him back in the past. Richie agrees but tells Phil to not mention his name when questioning authorities. Dan is later arrested and gets taken to court for a crime he didn't commit. The jury reveals Dan's verdict to be pleaded "not-guilty" and he later gives Phil a smirk in his face and prepares to plot his ultimate revenge against Phil. To do this Dan kidnaps Mel Owen and orders a £200.000 in exchange for ransom. Phil meets up with Dan while being ordered to follow his instructions on the phone and brings in the money kept hidden in a bag. Phil tricks Dan by disarming the pistol from his hand while being distracted by two elevators opening and closing each time. However, Dan gains the upper-hand against Phil as Mel steps in to help by turning off the lights and knocks him out, unconscious. Dan successfully gets away with his actions unpunished and leaves Walford with the money and releasing Mel before he heads off to Spain.
Phil later gets over Dan's revenge and continues to feud with Steve in the meantime. As such, Lisa gives birth to his daughter Louise. It is also at this point that Sharon has come back to Walford, after spending time in America with her best-friend Michelle Fowler following the whole Sharongate affair. Phil's relationship with Sharon and Lisa is both tested by his feud with their acquaintance and Michelle's sister Mark Fowler. Coincidentally, Phil consoles his mother after her relationship with Harry Slater is destroyed by the revelation that Harry had sexually molested his niece Kat Slater when she was 13 and she gave birth to their daughter Zoe Slater - who was supposed Kat's youngest sister at first.
In 2002, Phil finds out that Steve has kidnapped Louise and plans to kill him. Phil visits Steve's apartment but only Mel is there. Phil threatens and assaults her before demanding to know about Steve's whereabouts. Mel says he should be at his nightclub, the E20, - where Steve had previously killed his ex-girlfriend Saskia Duncan and framed DJ employee and Jamie's best-friend Matthew Rose for the crime. Phil leaves the apartment and calls up Steve, begging for him to get his daughter back. Phil later finds Steve buying Jewelry at a store from around the corner and a car chase ensures resulting in Steve crashing his vehicle to a motorbike stand. Phil rescues Louise from the car and Steve begs for help who's left for dead. Phil rushes to save Steve but is too late when the car explodes as children are screaming from school and Phil lies down on the ground devastated by the aftermath of Steve's death. Mel finds out he's dead and she breaking down in tears. Phil brings Sam along to face Mel in her home while she's grieving over the death of her husband. Sam admits that she slept with Steve before he died and Phil throws her out. Phil admits to Mel that he wished he killed him.
Downfall[]
As 2002 continued onwards, Phil's relationships with Billy and Jamie get out of hand. In the former case, Phil testifies against Billy's love interest Little Mo Slater over her abuse ordeal from her estranged husband Trevor Morgan. In the latter case, Phil lashes out at Jamie and beats him up for conspiring with Lisa to take Louise away from him behind his back. Phil would later reclaim Louise from Portugal and abandon Lisa behind after contemplating on murdering her at a cliff, but instead walked away at the last moment. It was by this point where Phil's relationship with Lisa fell apart when she married Mark, before the two later slept together behind Mark's back - thus destroying Lisa's marriage with Mark in the process. Mark confronted Phil and punched him, only for Phil to punch Mark back before threatening him. However, Phil does reconcile with Sharon after confiding to her about his father's abuse towards him in the past. He also comforts Sharon over the recent the deaths of both her adopted mother Angie Watts from cancer and former love interest Tom Banks from a fire started by Trevor, who himself was killed in the process on Halloween Night that year.
Towards the end of 2002 as Christmas drew nearer into Walford that year, Phil continues to mistreat Jamie as well as hassle up the latter's girlfriend Sonia Jackson. They later decide to report Phil to his sworn enemy DCI Jill Marsden of the police department in suspicion of Lisa's disappearance; she questioned and later arrested Phil before he was then released due to insufficient evidence. Phil went on to throw Jamie out of his house when Peggy invited him over after Jamie rescued her from a mugging. When Jamie reclaims Peggy's purse from the same thugs who mugged her later on, however, Phil begins to calm down for a while. Phil is later devastated when Jamie gets run over by Mark's younger brother Martin Fowler and confronts him about it, thus upsetting the latter's mother Pauline Fowler in doing so. Sonia, however, confronts Phil for his actions and clarifies that he is just as much to blame for what Jamie is going through as anyone else; she calls Phil a "monster" after stating that Jamie wouldn't be in the situation had Phil treated him better over the situation with Lisa and Louise in the first place. Phil comes to realize this when the doctors inform him and Sonia that Jamie has suffered a critical spleen damage and that he will inevitably die on Christmas Day itself. As the inevitable draws closer to reality, Phil apologizes to Jamie for the way he treated him and they make amends after Phil deems Jamie to be a "Mitchell through and through". Later on, Phil watches in despair as Jamie dies in front of Sonia; it is then Phil and Sonia would later make amends together at Jamie's funeral, wherein Phil delivers a heartfelt eulogy to the young lad whom he treated like his actual son.
In 2003, Phil embarks on a feud with Sharon's long-lost brother Dennis Rickman. This began when Dennis punches Phil in the pub, which resulted in Phil getting knocked out. Phil later finds out that Dennis is working with the square's gangland boss Jack Dalton, who is also the leader of Walford's criminal organization known as The Firm. It becomes alleged that Phil may have worked for Dalton in the past since they appear to know each other at the time. Moreover, Phil marries undercover policewoman Kate Morton just months after saving her from Dalton - as she worked undercover at his nightclub, "The Imperial Rooms", before he later ordered his hitman George Peters to rape and murder her; Phil rescued Kate, but in doing so landed himself in Dalton's debt when Dalton tells Phil that he now owes him a favor. Eventually, Dalton calls in the favor when he summons Phil to kill Dennis. At first Phil is hesitant, but is forced to comply when Dalton threatens to have Kate killed instead of Dalton. That night, Phil confronts Dennis at gunpoint at Sharon's nightclub "Angie's Den" and prepares to kill him when Dennis stops him with a persuasive offer - Dennis will kill Dalton himself in order for rid himself and Phil of their common gangland conqueror. Phil doubts Dennis will actually kill Dalton, but eventually relents and hands him the gun and keys to the car. Later on, though, Phil is surprised to learn that Dennis had actually killed Dalton when the latter's death becomes public knowledge the next morning.
Unbeknownst to Phil, however, Dennis is the lost-lost son of Sharon's adopted father Den Watts - who was supposed shot dead by The Firm at the canal in 1989 after Dalton arranged for him to be killed; Dalton admitted this to Dennis before then learning that he is Den's son, after which Dennis executes Dalton - though not before Dalton reveals that Den had actually survived the shooting and went into hiding in Spain thanks to his mistress Jan Hammond. The follow-up of Dalton's murder sees his right-hand mobsman Andy Hunter coming to find out the circumstances behind his boss' demise. Andy eventually finds out about Dennis and Phil's involvement in Dalton's death, but pardons them both as his way of taking control of the situation. However, after Andy informs Dennis that Phil grassed him up to both the mob and the police regarding Dalton's murder, Dennis confronts Phil and their feud recommences. Dennis later proposes a one-on-one showdown with Phil, who agrees with the suggestion at first - only to instead have his henchmen beat up Dennis at the garage. When Sharon learns about this, she confronts Phil in the pub and slaps him; Phil responds by slapping her back and insists that Dennis is taking her for a mug.
Later on, everyone is shocked when Den Watts himself returns to the square. It is then a rivalry ensues between Den and Phil when it becomes clear to Phil that Den plans on retaking his status as the square's undisputed top dog. Sharon is uneased about the situation, but her half-sister Vicki Fowler assures her that Den will deal with Phil like he did with others back in the 1980s. By then, Lisa has returned to reclaim Louise from Phil. At first she plans to shoot Phil again, but Den discovers her plan and stops Lisa - before he then promises to help get Louise back from Phil. Later on, Phil is unimpressed when Den plans on buying back The Queen Vic - which Den used to manage prior to the Mitchells' arrival on Walford - but nevertheless agrees to do a deal with him. Den soon visits Phil to propose they do an armed robbery. Phil agrees and they execute the job later at one night. The two are successful until Den asks Phil to collect the getaway keys. Phil does so, but then the alarm goes off and he rushes back to see that Den has sabotaged his escape route - realizing too late that Den had actually staged the robbery to set up Phil in order to usurp his top dog status from him. Den subsequently escapes as Phil gets arrested by the arriving police, after which he gets imprisoned for the crime that he co-committed with Den but got set-up for in the end. When Kate learns about this, she ends her marriage with Phil and gives Louise back to Lisa - after which Den and Kate watch as Lisa leaves Walford with Louise.
In December 2003, Phil phones Den and vows to kill him for what he did. He also learns from Sam that Dennis colluded with Den on the game plan to set him up for armed robbery, as well as that Kate has dumped him and helped Lisa escape with Louise. Towards Christmas that year, Phil escapes prison and he briefly turns up in the square to find Den - determined to kill him. He first encounters Kate and they argue before Phil then leaves. Phil eventually finds Den at the club and punches him. They engage in a fight where Phil gets the upper hand until Den knocks him down with one of the chairs. They prepare to continue their showdown when Dennis turns up, and Phil punches him in revenge for getting knocked out by Dennis in the pub earlier on. Den then offers to end the rivalry for now by giving Phil £200,000 from the armed robbery, which will help Phil in his future plans away from the square. Phil is forced to agree and he takes the money before leaving Den to celebrate his triumphant victory. Despite this, however, Phil succeeds in escaping Walford thanks to Sam and Ricky.
Return to Walford[]
With Phil out of Walford throughout 2004, Den becomes the square's reigning top dog once more. Den later extends this to the point where he eventually reclaims the pub from Sam after blackmailing their family solicitor, Marcus Christie, into helping out with his scheme - which is to con the Mitchells from their ownership of the pub by tricking Sam into believing that Phil needs more get away money. Den succeeds and would run the pub until he gets killed off again by his wife Chrissie Watts on February 18th 2005, the 20th anniversary of the show.
A few months later following Den's murder, Phil secretly resurfaces in the square as his plight to go on the run grows even more complicated. He reunites with Billy and learns from him that Sam ended up losing the Mitchell's dominance of the square to Den and had also married Andy, who had recently died after ordering the death of ex-convict Paul Trueman earlier in 2004. Phil is able to avoid getting caught by the police on several occasions, but is eventually discovered and apprehended - before being taken to jail for the armed robbery which Den had set him up for two years ago.
In October 2005, however, Grant returns to the square and helps get Phil out of prison. The Mitchell Brothers thereupon return to Walford with Billy. Upon arriving, they see Peggy getting ambushed by a mugger and rescue her before leaving him unconscious in the bushes. Phil and Grant celebrate their return to Walford and reunion with Peggy, who promptly informs them that Sam is being wrongfully held in police custody for Den's murder after Chrissie had framed her for the crime. Phil and Grant resolve to help take action in exonerating Sam from prison by exposing Chrissie as Den's killer. They succeed with the help from Dennis and Sharon after the pair discover the truth about their father; Chrissie is eventually arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment, although Sam is forced to leave the square when she finds herself facing another lengthy prison sentence for perverting the course of justice.
During this time, Phil and Grant learn that the attempted on Peggy's mugger was arranged by their father's old crime boss Johnny Allen - who declares war on the Mitchells after Phil and Grant warn him off in their first encounter at Johnny's nightclub called "Scarlet". Phil continues to clash with Johnny as their conflict intensifies, up to the point where Dennis and Sharon - who were both married several months ago - end up getting themselves entangled in Johnny's warpath as well. Phil later attempts to get one over Johnny before the end of 2005 after learning that he has throttled Sharon with the threat of getting Dennis killed unless the couple leave Walford. On the night Dennis and Sharon are due to leave Walford, Phil visits Dennis to reveal that Johnny has not only throttled Sharon - but according to her Johnny has also killed Andy on the night Den was murdered. Eventually, Phil's urging provokes Dennis to confront Johnny at his nightclub before beating him up and leaving him for dead. However, Johnny survives the attack and calls his henchman Danny Moon to kill Dennis in revenge - which consequently results in Danny stabbing Dennis to death, and Phil watches in guilt as Dennis dies in Sharon's arms.
In 2006, Phil is unhappy when Sharon decides to leave Walford on her own following Dennis' funeral. Phil soon swears revenge on Johnny more than ever and tracks him down at his new mansion in Essex. When Grant returns to the square, Phil convinces him to help confront Johnny in a final showdown to avenge Dennis' murder for Sharon. The Mitchell Brothers later confront Johnny on the day he and his daughter Ruby Allen recap on the second anniversary of when her late sister Scarlett and their late mother Stephanie were murdered by Johnny's enemies in a gangland arson attack. Phil and Grant are determined to bring Johnny to justice for Dennis and Sharon, but in the end but Johnny has them captured and later orders Danny to execute them the following morning. Before Danny can kill Phil and Grant, however, Danny himself gets shot dead by his brother Jake Moon as the latter tries to stop him from committing another murder. At the same time, Ruby learns about Johnny's perpetuation behind Dennis' murder and forces her father to turn himself into the police for his criminal activities. Phil and Grant return to Walford after watching Johnny get arrested for the murders of Andy and Dennis along with four other people. Johnny is thereafter sentenced to life imprisonment and he later dies of a heart attack during his prison sentence whilst trying to arrange the death of Ruby's boyfriend, Sean Slater, upon learning that he is merely using his relationship with Ruby to extract their welfare. Following Johnny's death, Jake is presumably killed in a misinterpretely request from Johnny's cellmate Cahill to have him eliminated whilst Ruby leaves the square after her father's funeral.
The follow-up of his victory over Johnny sees Phil, having appeared to rid himself of his biggest demons at long last, fully recoup his status as the undisputed top dog of Albert Square. Grant briefly shared the status with Phil for a time being, during which Grant's estranged wife Carla Mitchell and her ex-boyfriend Ray appear in a plot against him; however, after foiling Carla's betrayal and Ray's plot against him, Grant leaves Walford once more with Courtney - thereby allowing Phil to repossess everything the Mitchells' once owned in the square all on his own.
2007 - 2010[]
In 2007, Phil is excited to see his son Ben Mitchell back in Walford but is gutted to hear about Kathy died in a car accident. During this time, he formed a relationship with his lawyer Stella Crawford and they get engaged. The pair are due to marry when Phil finds out that Stella has been abusing Ben as a child and she later kills herself while being confronted by Phil on a rooftop before jumping off and landing on Phil's car.
In 2008, Phil nearly lashes out at Ben during a family dinner. But they make amends after Phil's uncle Archie Mitchell defends Ben and later helps Phil calm down over how the Mitchells have a prolonging history of abuse, which was first instigated by the fact that both Archie and Eric were abused by their father Phillip in the past. Later on, Phil comforts Billy after learning that he witnessed his old friend Jase Dyer being killed by vicious gang boss Terry Bates - after which Billy adopted Jase's young son and Billy's best friend Jay Brown in the end.
By this point, Phil's rivalry with Ian has calmed down ever since the pair last clashed over Ben and his ordeal with Stella. They later join the other residents in boycotting against the community centre after it has transpired that Bianca's new fiancé, Tony King, was a paedophile who sexually abused her adopted daughter Whitney Dean back when she was 12-years-old - which left Phil enraged at the community center's manager Lucas Johnson over the fact that that anything bad could of happened to Ben had the situation gotten worse.
In 2009, Phil kidnaps Nick for blackmailing Billy afterwards, then sleeps with Jase's old fiancée Dawn Swann whilst she is engaged to his employee Garry Hobbs. Eventually, Garry learns the truth from his best-friend Minty Peterson and ends up punching Phil before leaving the square with Dawn and her infant daughter Summer - who a year ago was nearly kidnapped by Dawn's tormentor May Wright.
Coincidentally, Phil finds out about Archie's true colours as a control freak and is disgusted to hear about forcing Ronnie Mitchell to give her baby up for adoption when she was 14 years old. Ronnie rushes to go back to Danielle Jones but dies in her arms after accidentally being run over by Phil's stepdaughter Janine Butcher. Later on, Peggy orders Phil to kill Archie in revenge for disgracing the Mitchell Family. Phil kidnaps Archie and threatens to kill him, but ends up forcing him into leaving Walford instead.
A few months later, however, Archie returns to the square and plans to get revenge on the Mitchell Family by embezzling the Queen Vic from them. This works successfully as Archie's planning involves exploiting his nephew's financial troubles to the point where Phil ends up owing money to a loan shark named Isaacs. Soon enough, Phil is beaten up by Isaacs and his heavies for not being able to repay him in the deadline day. At the same time, Sam returns to the square and Phil attempts to get money for her to flee the country again. This fails when Sam gets arrested and then Archie takes the opportunity to manipulate the situation, which ultimately leads to Archie succeeding in carrying out his revenge plan and evicting the Mitchell Family from the pub. This could have been a motive for Phil at this stage when Archie is later murdered on Christmas Day 2009, but it is eventually revealed that Archie's killer was in fact Danielle's best friend Stacey Slater - whom Archie had also raped just as he previously did to Ronnie back when she was 13.
In 2010, Phil's relationship with his mother gets into trouble again after she gives Louise to Lisa without his consent. He also gets addicted with cocaine after Ben goes to prison for assaulting Lucas' young son Jordan Johnson. After finding her son in a drunken stupor, Peggy has Phil locked in the Queen Vic bedroom. But he escapes and ends up setting the pub on fire in "The Queen Vic Fire Week" scenario. Afterwards, Phil is distraught when Peggy leaves Walford upon realizing that she is partly the reason for Phil's out-of-control behaviour. He is soon comforted by his girlfriend Shirley Carter over this, and the pair get engaged later on.
2011 - 2022 onwards[]
Prior to 2011, Ben is released from prison and reconciles with Phil. But Phil soon begins to grow more interested with Jay due to his potential, up to the point where he adopts Jay as his surrogate son.
Trouble soon emerges in 2011 when Ben began harassing local shopkeeper Patrick Trueman and conspired against Phil which caused the latter to face up against Patrick demanding an apology but Patrick never backs down and refuses to do so. The conflict ended when Phil and Patrick squashed the situation in minute malt after finding out Ben was conspiring against Patrick. Soon afterwards, Phil continues to remain unimpressed with Ben after the square's local general practitioner Yusef Khan alleges that homosexual resident Christian Clarke has been inappropriate with Ben lately. This turns out to be untrue, but Phil remains distant towards Ben. This soon provokes Ben into striving to prove his worth to his father by making it out that somebody is out to get him, before setting Phil up for Stella's death. Phil is arrested moments after learning what Ben had done, and spends time in prison that includes him getting beaten up at one point.
In 2012, however, Ian later proves Ben's testimony to be false and Phil is released from prison. Phil plans to confront Ben, who fears for the worst and assumes that Shirley's best-friend Heather Trott grassed him up to the police due to their turbulent companionship. Ben later confronts Heather and ends up killing her in her own home. Moments later, Phil arrives to find that Heather is dead and realizes that Ben killed her. He helps Ben cover-up Heather's murder for a while, and after her funeral recoups his drinking - to the point where he claims in a drunken stupor that Ben should've died with Kathy in the car accident. However, he later reconciles with Ben and stands up his son when Ben gets arrested for Heather's murder. Phil also breaks up with Shirley when she learns the truth and lashes out at them over what has happened. Later on, Phil learns from Billy's granddaughter Lola Pearce that she is pregnant and that Ben is the father of her daughter Lola. After her birth, Phil goes on a custody battle against Lola until Billy convinces him to allow Lola to keep Lexi in exchange for Ben having rights when he is released.
At the same time, Sharon returns to the square in 2012 and recoups her relationship with Phil - going as far as to introduce him to her and Dennis' young son Denny. This soon continues to the point where they get engaged after Phil's newfound criminal enemies Derek Branning dies of a heart attack and Carl White gets killed by Ronnie. However, this is nearly ruined when Phil finally tells Sharon about his role in Dennis' death by admitting that he told him about what Johnny did to her and Andy - which thereby provoked Dennis in attacking Johnny, who then retaliated by getting Danny to kill Dennis on the night Sharon was supposed to leave Walford with him. This causes Sharon to get angry with Phil and contemplate on dumping him for Derek's brother Jack, but she later forgives Phil and they get married.
On their wedding day, however, Ben returns from prison and Shirley confronts him. She then confronts Phil and Sharon at gunpoint. Phil tells Shirley that sleeping with her was cheep and Sharon attempts to wrestle the gun out of Shirley, which causes her to accidentally shoot Phil as a result. Phil is hospitalized whilst Shirley's involvement is covered up by her young son Dean Wicks and fellow relative Bebe Smith, but he nonetheless recuperates and settles his marriage with Sharon. Later on, Phil learns that Kathy is alive and helps her return to Walford before plotting to force her ex-spouse Gavin Sullivan out of Walford. It turns out that Gavin is actually Sharon's biological father who did criminal jobs with both Eric and Den in the past; Gavin is eventually jailed when Sharon turns against him, and years later he dies off-screen. Phil also comforts Ian after his daughter Lucy gets murdered by her young brother Bobby Beale, and later helps Ian cover-up the truth by framing their shared business rival and Derek's youngest brother Max Branning for the crime.
In 2016, Phil reconciles with Louise when she reappears in the square and also comforts Ben after his relationship with Max's youngest daughter Abi Branning ends due to her falsifying about being pregnant with him baby. Later on, Phil's two siblings and their mother return to the square briefly when Peggy reveals that her old cancer has come back and has become terminal. She spends her last days with Phil and Grant before committing suicide, much to Phil's distraught. At Peggy's funeral, Phil delivers an eulogy and bids farewell to Sam when she leaves. Grant then reappears, demanding money from Phil over an incident that occurred between them in the past. Sharon gets the two brothers to make amends, however, and Grant helps Phil rescue Ben and Jay when the two get kidnapped by a homophonic gang who murdered Ben's boyfriend Paul Coker. When Phil is rushed to hospital and Grant visits him, Phil tells Grant that he is the father of Michelle's baby Markus Fowler - which had been kept a secret for two decades. Grant then leaves Walford with Courtney again after making piece with Phil again. Towards the end of the year, Phil has a one-night stand with Lucas' divorced spouse Denise Fox and she gives birth to their infant daughter Raymond - who is briefly taken to adoption.
In 2017, Phil returns from rehab after learning from Ben that Louise has been the victim of school bullying by her antagonistic classmates Alexandra D'Costa and Madison Drake respectively. He is surprised to see Lisa is back as well, and demands for her to stay away from Louise. But she doesn't listen and in a mental state abducts Louise in a B&B. Phil tracks them down and rescues Louise even when Lisa hits him with a telephone. Sharon then arrives and realizes that Phil is to blame for Lisa's mental state. A month later, Phil confronts corrupt businessman James Willmott-Brown after learning that he raped Kathy in the past and threatens to kill him if he goes anywhere near her. Phil learns that Max has been conspiring with Willmott-Brown to get revenge on Phil and Ian for Lucy's murder, to the point where he caused the death of Ian's stepson Steven Beale - also the son of the late Cindy Beale. On Christmas 2017, Phil confronts Max with a gun and beats him up until the latter dares Phil to kill him; Phil refuses and leaves Max to wallow in self-pity. Phil soon in touch with his old friend Aidan Maguire and does a heist job with him. Phil later turns on Aidan after learning that he terrorized Shirley's eldest son Mick Carter and his family and had gone against Phil's orders in killing Willmott-Brown's son Luke Browning, as Phil wanted Aidan to 'scare' Luke in retribution for beating up Ben in the Arches.
Eventually, Phil soon that his wife Sharon has been having an affair with his employee Keanu Taylor and throws her out of their house before attempting to kill Keanu. Their showdown causes a boat crash that results in Denny's death. Phil is guilty and makes amends with Sharon by attempting to get them in the Queen Vic by doing a heist job with Ben and ripping off gang lord Danny Hardcastle. But their success is short-lived when Sharon buys the Queen Vic for herself and Ian behind his back, leaving Phil furious. Phil and Ben later got into conflict with feisty businesswoman Suki Panesar when she attempts to challenge the Mitchell's dominance on the square.
In 2021, Phil recruits sociopathic lawyer Gray Atkins to work for him - unaware that Gray had domestically abused and killed his long-suffering wife Chantelle before going on to proceed in killing Shirley's sister Tina Carter and then Whitney's boyfriend Kush Kamizi. The follow-up of Kush's death becomes impactful as Phil and Ben originally wanted to hunt down Kush for grassing their criminal activities up to the police, which provided Gray an opportunity to instead implicate them behind the murder. Later on, Whitney - who is in a relationship with Gray and believing the Mitchells killed Kush - sought revenge by attempting to run them over just moments after Ben married his lawful husband Callum Highway. However, Kat gets struck instead and Phil rushes her to hospital before the pair start to have a somewhat romantic companionship with each other despite their major differences in the past.
By then, Phil and Denise have begun a custody battle over Raymond after the duo reconcile with him from his adoptive grandmother Ellie Nixon. Later on she confronts Phil when her sister Kim - also Vincent's wife - demands to know the whereabouts of her husband after learning that he and Phil were involved with Aidan. It soon transpired that Vincent is dead and that Aidan killed him for grassing him up to the police; Denise learns about this after finding out that Phil knew about it all along. Thereafter Denise and Jack team up to get Phil imprisoned for his crimes. When Phil learns about this, he goes on a run with Raymond; he eventually turns himself into the police at Sharon and Kat's urging respectively. Phil is released on bail, and later discovers that Kat's son Tommy is being bullied in school.
When he later finds Tommy being terrorized by bullies, Phil scares them into leaving Tommy alone - but in so doing unknowingly unearths Tina's corpse. The police are called over and Phil is rearrested on suspicion of Tina's murder; he is remanded in custody for months. Marsden's colleague DCI Samantha Keeble attempts to coerce Phil into being a police informant in exchange for being released from prison and not facing life imprisonment, but he refuses to become a "grass" for the authorities. At one point, Kat confronts him about it when informing him that Gray has been jailed after being exposed as the one who killed Tina and Kush whilst his actions towards Chantelle also became public knowledge. Phil reaffirms his choice to not become a grass and later summons Sam to run the family business.
In June 2022, Phil clashes with prisoner Craig Erskine and befriends the latter's enemy Ravi Gulati - an associate of Suki's son Kheerat in their business empire. Eventually Phil finds himself targeted by Craig and his heavies for a "death sentence". When Sharon learns about Phil being in danger, she contacts Grant for help just as Phil is ambushed by Craig and his heavies. The incident ends with a fatality, and the square is told that Phil is dead. However, as they mourn for him, Phil emerges and is revealed to be alive. After revealing that Craig is the one who died in the end, Phil secrectly explains to Sharon and Kat that he took Keeble's deal in order to find out her ulterior motives for needing his help. He then contemplates leaving Kat for Sharon, but changes his mind after learning of Sharon's phone call with Grant and chooses Kat over her.
The next day, Phil arranges a meet-up with his criminal rival Jonah Tyler - whom he previously quarreled with during his association with Annie back in 1998. During Phil's imprisonment, Jonah had resurfaced in a bid to buy Phil's nightclub "Peggy's" and had seemingly arranged for Sam to be shot weeks ago in retribution for losing the bid. Phil later confronts Jonah and threatens him into staying away from his family. However, Phil is unaware that Sam is secrectly in cahoots with Jonah; as Sam had arranged for herself to get shot and is conspiring with Jonah against Phil for unknown reasons, most likely to prove her worth to him.