EastEnders: Horror as harrowing scene sees Phil Mitchell try to shoot himself in the head
Phil hit rock bottom as he suffered a mental health breakdown
EASTENDERS fans have shared their distress after Phil Mitchell tried to shoot himself in harrowing scenes.
Phil put the gun to his head and frantically pulled the trigger while having a mental health breakdown in the latest episode of the soap.
Phil broke down in front of his horrified hardman brother Grant, Linda Carter and Nigel Bates and told them he no longer wanted to be alive.
Phil told the trio that ‘all he does is cause pain’ and described himself as a “burden” to his loved ones.
“Ask Kathy, ask Ben, ask Cat, ask him,” he said, while gesturing to Grant.
Nigel, who has returned to Albert Square for the soap’s 40th anniversary, begged him to “put the gun down”, while Linda pleaded: “Have you seen what suicide does to families?”
But Phil, played by Steve McFadden, told them: “They’re better off without me. They’re better off…no, no… it’s over! It’s over! I’m done!”
He then backed into a corner and began furiously pulling the trigger with the gun to his head, albeit just out of frame for viewers.
Linda screamed and put her hands over her eyes but thankfully the gun didn’t have any bullets in.
Grant jumped forwards and snatched the weapon from his brother’s grasp, yelling furiously: “What if it had been loaded?!”
As Phil slumped against a table, Grant ran outside and began to break down.
EastEnders fans were shocked by the distressing scenes, which played out on BBC One Wednesday night.
Many flocked to X to share their thoughts, with one posting a crying emoji and saying: “The gun wasn’t loaded. We could have lost Phil.”
Another added a broken heart emoji and wrote: “Phil really would have k.i.l.l.e.d himself if there was a bullet in the gun.”
And a third said: “Steve McFadden needs recognition for his portrayal of Phil and his mental health struggle.”
The latest episode of EastEnders showed the aftermath of a huge gas explosion at the Queen Vic.
But away from the horror unfolding in the pub, Phil was shown grappling with his mental health in The Arches.
At first, he was reluctant to seek professional help but came round to the idea as the hour-long episode went on.
Phil told Linda: “First I felt lonely. That ain’t me, that ain’t me. And depressed? I don’t know, that just sounds pathetic.”
Linda told him: “He doesn’t.”
He added: “I’ve been fighting all my life, trying to be the hard man, trying to be the governor. It comes from mum I suppose.
“That’s what she says, that’s what she says. She says you’ve got to look after your own.”
Linda told Phil: “You do, you do. But you don’t have to be the hard man.”
She told Phil that Grant is “stuck in the 80s”, but he said: “What is the point in carrying on?”
Between Linda and Nigel, who revealed to Phil he is suffering from dementia, they managed to convince him to speak to a mental health practitioner.
He later agreed to accompany her to the hospital for treatment in an ambulance.
- EastEnders Live, 7.30pm, BBC One, Thursday February 20, 2025
