Kill Phil: 7 suspects who could attack the EastEnders hard man
As Phil Mitchell faces a brutal attack, we consider the numerous suspects who might bear a grudge against him
EastEnders' Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) is set to be left for dead later in the summer when an argument with an unnamed local ends in violence, leaving the patriarch fighting for his life.
Speculation is rife as to who the row is with and what it's about, though we can hazard some educated guesses.
Phil is currently in the dark about wife Sharon Mitchell's (Letitia Dean) affair with toy boy mechanic Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), who could turn out to be the father of her baby as well as Phil's daughter Louise Mitchell's (Tilly Keeper). Could the Sharanu fling be exposed and spark off this mysterious showdown that ends in tragedy?
Or could the culprit be someone else with a beef against Phil? He's not short of enemies. We line up seven of the most likely suspects…
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Keanu Taylor
Phil has welcomed his employee into the fold as the father of his next grandchild, but fans are counting the days until Keanu's fling with Sharon is exposed and everyone gets their calendars out to calculate if he, and not Phil, is also Shaz's baby daddy. Will Phil confront Keanu, only for the strapping mechanic to fight back and flee the scene in a panic?
Sharon Mitchell
Or it could go another way - perhaps Sharon can take the guilt no longer and finally confesses her infidelity, causing Phil to lash out and his wife forced to defend herself?
Ben Mitchell
Ball-of-rage Ben's original plan to secretly fleece his father seems to have gone on the back burner and he now appears to genuinely want to impress Phil and earn his place as the Mitchell clan's heir apparent, although his volatile streak and jealousy of blue-eyed boy Keanu may see old tensions rise between father and son. And Ben's got form for losing his rag in a fight and things not ending well (RIP Heather Trott).
Lola Pearce
Lola was reluctantly persuaded to be in on Ben's plan to get his feet under the table by bringing their little girl, Phil's granddaughter, Lexi home and playing the 'faaaaamily' card. If Phil learnt their true agenda he might flip, threaten to take Lexi off Lola as he did once before, then Lo could lose it and put her daughter's granddad in serious danger. Lola's tougher than she looks.
Lisa Fowler
Lou's unstable mum is coming home and to say there's no love lost between her and ex-partner Phil is putting it very mildly - she once tried to kill him in what became the legendary 'Who Shot Phil?' storyline back in 2001, and the last time the old flames were together in 2017 it was far from harmonious. Is she coming back to finish him off in another epic whodunnit?
Danny Hardcastle
Phil's clash with rival gangster Danny earlier this year over a money-laundering operation ended in Louise being kidnapped and trapped in a container with Keanu when he tried to rescue her. There's still beef between the blokes, so don't be surprised if ex-Brookside bad boy Paul Usher makes a surprise return to settle an old score.
Aidan Maguire
The villainous Irishman's reign of terror over Albert Square ended when ex-cellmate Phil drove him out of town, after their protracted heist plot imploded and pitted the former prison pals against each other. Has he been waiting in the wings for the last 18 months to take his revenge? Would anyone even remember Aidan if he showed up again, seeing as he's barely been mentioned since?
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