There were more heartbreaking scenes for Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) in tonight’s EastEnders, as he fell off the wagon amid his plans to end his life.
Phil has been battling depression for several months now, but has been hiding the true depths of his despair from his loved ones.
Good friend Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) could tell that something was wrong though, and asked Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) to pay his brother a visit.
However, Grant wasn’t convinced that Phil needed the level of help Nigel thought he did, leaving Phil convinced that he’d managed to keep his suffering under the radar.
As his family headed off to celebrate Billy and Honey Mitchell’s (Perry Fenwick and Emma Barton) wedding, Phil loaded his gun before putting it, along with some letters addressed to his loved ones, in his safe.
When he was interrupted by granddaughter Lexi Pearce (Isabella Brown), he snapped at her to leave him alone, before quickly apologising and helping her with her wedding speech.
Having promised Lexi that he would stay and listen to her give her speech, Phil hovered outside the marquee where he could hear, but called over barmaid Tracey (Jane Slaughter) and asked her to get a pint ready for him.
Viewers will know that Phil is an alcoholic, and has had to have a liver transplant due to damage in the past.
Despite this, he told Tracey he was sure he wanted a drink, and she obliged.
However, as he took a sip, Grant and Nigel walked into the pub with Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) by their side.
They were all horrified to see Phil drinking, and demanded to know if that was why he had been acting strange recently.
Phil explained that he was only having a drink because of the wedding celebrations, and remarked that it didn’t taste like he remembered.
Relieved that Phil wasn’t falling back into his old habits, they let him head home.
On his way, he bumped into fellow recovering alcoholic Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), and made sure to tell her that he was proud of her achievements after going to rehab.
Back at home, Phil headed for his safe to retrieve his gun, planning to use it to take his own life, as he had been prompted to do by his hallucination of mum Peggy Mitchell in last week’s episodes.
However, when he opened the safe, he was shocked to find the gun gone.
Across the square, it was revealed that Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) had taken it, as she came face to face with her attacker…
