Phil Hatred

There seems to be an epidemic of Phil hatred about at the moment, both at Walford Web Kindergarten (Home of the Bullybois John Swallow couldn't hope to control) and now on Digital Spy, where this thread has been started, asking how we'd like to see Phil "get his comeuppance."

The original poster confidently states that Phil's nothing less than a scumbag - "always has been and always will be."

Except that that's not particularly true.

Add to the fact that Walford Web Bullyboi Academy Kindergarten has Den, who seems to have somewhat of a pathological hatred of Phil which borders on the obscene.

Here's a fact: It goes without saying that Phil Mitchell is probably the most multi-faceted and nuanced character on EastEnders. Other similar characters, at the moment, are Janine and Max Branning. Max is actually the last really complex character to be introduced. Everyone else - Ian Beale and Dot apart - are pretty much two-dimensional, and that includes Sharon in her current incarnation.

EastEnders is suffering from a generation gap at the moment, and anyone subscribing to the fallacy that Phil Mitchell is "Philth" or Janine is Evil Janine, most certainly haven't watched the show prior to 2000, and if they have, they either weren't paying attentionor were brain-dead.

Phil's personality began to change post-1999, after Grant left. During the 90s, Phil was the more cerebral brother, as opposed to Grant, who swung first and was remorseful later. Phil was truly his brother's keeper, keeping his violent tendencies in check. Grant would act without thinking and often resorted to violence; Phil thought first, figured out a solution that didn't involve swinging fists and baseball bats and only used violence in the last resort.

Yes, Phil slept with Sharon, his brother's wife, who was actually being physically abused at that time by a man, who was not only brought up by an abusive father, but also was suffering from PTSD from having served at Goose Green in the Falklands War. Phil used to sit up with Grant during his nightmares about his ordeal - that was referenced early on in Sharon's association with the brothers, when she lived in the flat next door to theirs and heard Grant's tantrums during the night. Sharon, herself, said she was attracted to Phil because he was like the nicer side of Grant.

Phil stopped Grant from involving Arthur Fowler in a forged MOT certificate scheme; in fact, Phil stopped it altogether. When Michelle went in search for Arthur after Pauline chucked him out, it was Phil who helped her and took up for her during a dodgy session in an unfamiliar pub.

Phil paid for Dot's and Jim's honeymoon. Phil provided Sonia with a laptop for her college studies and looked after her in the wake of Jamie's death (and Sonia repaid him by going to the police - read Marsden in her first appearance - with suspicions about Phil having killed Lisa). And in one of Sonia's last appearances in 2010, she stripped naked and waited for Phil in his bedroom, only to have him sensibly reject her advances.

Think it's unrealistic that the likes of Sharon, Kathy, Mel, Lisa, Kate, Dawn etc have fallen into bed with Phil? Think it totally unlikely because he's podgy, bald and wheezy? Cop this: you don't have to look like George Clooney to be good in bed. I recall when Chelsea Fox, an attractive girl too much in love with herself, was appalled that her boyfriend Sean Slater dumped her unceremoniously for her plainer stepsister, Carly Wicks. Sean's taunt to Chelsea was that at least Carly did something more than just lie there expecting to be pleasured.

Another charge levelled at Phil is that he "ruined" Ben, and I'm sure Phil feels responsible for Ben's ultimate end; but Ben was disturbed when he arrived on Albert Square, and we've never understood what happened in South Africa. Before Phil began to exude any sort of adverse influence over Ben, Ben had already beaten Freddie Mitchell, an infant, for pulling his hearing aid and was more than content that Little Mo should be prosecuted for child abuse, before coming clean.

Here are some other "stranger-than-truths" which are actual facts about Phil, which people refuse to believe:-

• Phil Mitchell has no criminal record. Yes, he's been arrested, charged and even held on remand; but in every instance, the charges against him have been dropped. Ben's accusation of his having murdered Stella, which was a retconned device, because in the aftermath of Stella's death, Phil actually believed that he did push her. It was actually the Old Bill who told him otherwise. Cop this scene with Ben in the wake of Stella's abuse:-

And Phil actually believed that he'd killed Stella, himself, and confessed to it, in front of a packed pub (mostly with people who aren't in the show anymore).

(In case you've forgotten, the bizzies showed Phil CCTV footage of Stella jumping, thus proving Phil's innocence). Den's set-up of Phil's armed robbery was quashed and Phil was released from prison, without charge, as he was when Ben tried to set him up.

• Phil Mitchell has never killed anyone ... knowingly. People keep calling him a murderer for the death of the homeless kid in the car lot fire. Firstly, Phil was extremely reluctant to undertake this venture, which was to be done as an insurance scam to help a cash-strapped Frank Butcher. As a matter of fact, have a look at the actual episode leading up the car lot fire, when Phil was nice, Sharon and Grant were married, David and Ian were on the stall, Mark was still miserable and Pat and a very young Carol were at loggerheads, and Bianca was a teenager.

• Phil Mitchell did nothing - repeat nothing - illegal regarding Dennis Rickman's death. The only thing he did was tell Dennis what Jonnie Allen had said and done to Sharon. A betrayal of trust? Yes, in that Sharon had asked him not to tell Dennis; but hardly illegal. And Dennis was master of his own fate. He, and he alone, decided to react the way he did to Jonnie's action, and he was stupid enough to throw Jonnie the lifeline of a mobile phone, and his fate was sealed. The awful truth for Shannis fans was that Sharon was the more mature, the more responsible and the more intelligent of the Shannis pairing and acted as much like a mother as a lover for Dennis. They way she speaks to Denny is very reminiscent of the way she spoke to Dennis. If Dennis had lived, they would never have lasted as a couple. They were hardly equals. So, shut up, saying Phil committed a crime regarding Dennis's death. He simply didn't.

Finally, for all of you Luddites scratching your heads about the purported lack of chemistry between Phil and Sharon, blame the current crop of piss-assed and lazy writers. Here's the famouse two-header between Phil and Sharon from 2002, the last good year of the soap before it entered into its decade of decline. Everything about this episode is pitch perfect, especially the way Phil and Sharon are written and the obvious chemistry exuding from the pair.

Notice the writer? Tony Jordan. All the difference in the world, and Phil and Sharon would be the go-to couple again.

I know this won't convince most numpties set in their ways about wanting to hate Phil and thinking he's always been the scum of the earth. The truth is, he hasn't; but why change the machinations of a narrow mind. At least you got some examples (which may be before your time) of when EastEnders was genuinely good.