Remember the moment a UEFA semi-final was delayed for EastEnders’ Phil Mitchell?
Oh, the memories
There was a time when Britain had the kind of power that could make the rest of Europe pause. We didn’t use this power to solve global crises, of course.
We actually used it to force a stadium full of elite footballers to sit around waiting in the tunnel because we needed to see who shot a bald bloke in East London.
It sounds like a total fever dream but believe me, it actually happened.
In a tweet shared by The Away Fans, an account celebrating football, they recently reminisced about the time the BBC delayed a UEFA match by 15 minutes just so everyone could find out a Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) based twist in EastEnders.
They wrote: ‘In 2001, the BBC got Barcelona, Liverpool and UEFA to delay a UEFA Cup semi-final by 15 minutes so viewers could find out who shot Phil Mitchell in EastEnders.
‘Nearly 20 million people watched the reveal before switching over to the Nou Camp.
‘Peak British television.’
So, what happened?
At Steve and Mel’s engagement party, Ian confronted Phil about his fling with Mel. Following an argument, Phil returned home, drunk.
When his doorbell rang, Phil went to answer it but found there wasn’t actually anyone on his doorstep. He assumed it was kids messing around but, as he turned around to go into the house, he was shot in the back and fell down the steps.
Phil was found by Beppe di Marco and rushed to hospital.
In April 2001, five weeks after the shooting, Phil decided to pay a visit to the person who tried to kill him. Suspects Ian, Dan, Steve, Mark and Lisa all received knocks on their doors at the same time.
When Lisa answered, Phil pretended to befriend her, and then said he was going to ‘sort out’ whoever tried to kill him.
Phil grabbed Lisa by the neck, confirming that he knew that she attempted to kill him, and intended on shooting her with the same gun that she used.
Lisa claimed that Phil drove her to taking action through his constant insults, violence, and cheating on her with her best friend. It was at that point that Phil’s good side supposedly emerged.
He admitted that he did drive her to shoot him, and Lisa said that she still loved him.
Aw, cute.
A match made in soap opera heaven.
