Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) has come face to face with his late mum Peggy (Jaime Winstone) in EastEnders, as his troubling flashbacks and hallucinations began.
Over the last week, we’ve seen the Walford hard man shouting into thin air, seemingly engaging in intense conversations with nobody.
His family and friends have only just become aware of his spiralling mental health, but still don’t know that he’s suffering psychosis.
Ex-wife Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) found him in the presence of a sex worker, and later witnessed him struggling to bond with their infant son Albie.
Seeing him struggle with his injuries sustained from into The Arches’ grease pit after a failed suicide attempt, she ordered him to visit the surgery – and booked an appointment with the doctor on his behalf.
Despite his pain medication being upped, the GP refused to give him sleeping tablets and questioned whether he was feeling low.
Phil was furious at the suggestion and stormed out, and in tonight’s episode, failed to show up to Billy and Honey Mitchell’s (Perry Fenwick and Emma Barton) joint stag and hen do.
Amid the celebrations, nobody realised that he was absent.
Sharon questioned where Billy’s estranged father Stevie (Alan Ford) was, given he’d paid out £10,000 to pay for the ceremony.
Mo Harris (Laila Morse) explained that Stevie’s kind gesture was just a fabricated story, and that Phil was actually the benefactor.
This instantly triggered concern, and Sharon realised that in the last few months, he’s either sold or given away all of his financial and business assets.
Back at home, Phil saw red after he dropped his painkillers on the floor. He produced a box from under his chair, and began to file through old photos from his youth.
Going into the kitchen, he placed a picture of himself, brother Grant (Teddy Jay) and their mum into the sink and set it alight. As the memories burnt away, Peggy’s voice could be heard ringing out from the living room.
Phil charged his way in, and it became apparent that the noise was coming from an old TV, which was playing old family VHS tapes.
He launched himself at the screen, smashing it down onto the floor.
Meanwhile, Sharon, Billy and Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) launched a search effort.
Whilst Jay wandered through Albert Square, Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) got her spare key and they made their way into his house.
Billy uttered the famous first ever words spoken on EastEnders: ‘Cor, it stinks in ‘ere, dunnit?’, as the smoke from the pictures filled the air.
Sharon recognised the location in one of the photos – the Mitchells’ former home.
We followed Phil to the property, where he proceeded to knock on the door… and Peggy answered.
Will her words help guide Phil onto the right path?
