And then there was Phil.

I won’t lie. I’ve been nervous about Nigel’s story coming to an end in EastEnders. Not least because it obviously meant saying a permanent goodbye to Paul Bradley, but because it throws us back into the unknown for his best friend. So where does the BBC soap take Phil Mitchell next?

Nigel made his return in Walford as Phil’s powerful loneliness story was ramping up. He’d become estranged from much of his family, lashing out at those he loved and was holed up in number 55 in a state of ever-growing despair. With his dementia revealed, Nigel wasn’t a saviour, parachuted in to suddenly cure Phil’s problems and restore him to the character we’ve spent three decades with. Instead, the two storylines worked perfectly in tandem, as Phil’s mental health spiraled even further leading to those incredible scenes in The Arches around the 40th anniversary in February 2025.

It almost feels impossible to do justice explaining what we’ve witnessed with the character of Phil Mitchell over the last two years. The ‘Hypermasculinity in Crisis’ storyline was a brave and bold move for a character that had almost become a caricature of the East End hard man. Huffing and puffing, doing dodgy deals, throwing some punches and, of course, Harry Hill’s deflating balloon noise lingered over him. You can’t go changing him though, right? Wrong!

That is the absolute beauty of the genre. You can — and absolutely should. We’ve seen Phil go through everything and anything over the years. The highs and lows, the wives, the enemies, the relationships, the wins, the losses. But that’s the beauty of it; we have been part of all of this, we’ve been on the journey and so we too deserved to see the entire effect that this life has had. Phil in his 60s was the prime opportunity and EastEnders grabbed it with both hands.

Nigel moving into the care home was tough on Phil. He felt like he had failed him and ended up retreating, declining to visit him much over the time he deteriorated. If this was how he was handling this stage, how on Earth could he cope with Nigel’s eventual death? Remember when he couldn’t bring himself to sit with Lola and say goodbye to her? He immediately reverted to offering money to cover funeral costs. Anything but deal with the emotions of the situation. The man we have now feels so removed from that. Thankfully, this week’s episodes have given me the renewed hope that we are going to see Phil continue his journey and the incredible characterisation we’ve seen over the last 18 months continue to be built upon.

There’s no right or wrong here, of course. Mental health is far from linear. Phil is still Phil. He still loses his temper and lashes out. He still rows with the people closest to him. He can still make bad decisions. That’s life! The character we saw want to end his life has grown so much in the fourteen months since those powerful scenes, but it’s like he — and us — have an even better understanding of why Phil is who he is and what it means to be the 60-something Mitchell in 2026.

Tonight’s episode almost felt like a crescendo of Phil’s storyline. Everything he’s learned and been through was given the ultimate test in Nigel’s death. He told him he’d been okay, and you know what? I really think he will be. It might be a rocky road and there will no doubt be stumbles and times where ‘old’ Phil reappears — but we shouldn’t panic about that. It’s completely natural and will only help make the character growth feel even more special as it continues through good and bad times.

Seeing Phil drag that armchair outside and set it alight was as cathartic for viewers as it was for him. It served as a symbol of everything we’ve watched over this journey. Phil’s suffering in solitary; curtains drawn, sat alone in that chair. It could have been easy to let him slip into that for another month or two as he mourned Nigel. It would have, I’m sure, been handled sensitively and portrayed as superbly as the rest has by Steve McFadden, but we just didn’t need it.

Instead we saw the most heartwarming and uplifting scenes as Phil, surrounded by people who do actually care for him, let himself celebrate his best friend’s life. That felt earned. It felt special. The living room of number 55 was full of life, music, laughter and dancing. “Thanks, mate.” Those two words were all we needed to hear.

I saw a tweet yesterday that said; ‘Nigel found his stone, Phil lost his rock’. You know what, I don’t think he did. Nigel will always be with Phil now. When Phil next suffers — come on, it’s going to happen — I hope we see that skimming stone again. That’s his Nigel. His rock.

EastEnders achieved something truly special here. They took a character recognised even by people who don’t watch the show and methodically broke down who he was, gave us clearer understanding of the rich history — that flashback episode, whoa — and then allowed him to be rebuilt alongside another powerful storyline. A Phil who laughs, who cries, who admits when he is wrong, who asks for help when he needs it. A Phil who can tell his best friend that he loves him and promise that he will keep living.

He’s not unrecognisable. He’s still very much a Mitchell brother, just with a few software updates that make him even more important to EastEnders past, present and future. I don’t know what lies ahead for him, but for the first time in a long time, I am very excited to see what Phil’s next chapter will entail.