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Eric Mitchell was the husband of Peggy Mitchell and father of Phil, Grant and Sam Mitchell. He appeared in a flashback episode on 5 September 2022, portrayed by George Russo.

Backstory[]

Eric Mitchell was born in 1940, in the East End of London, to Phillip and Sandra Mitchell. He was a middle child and had two brothers, Archie and Clive Mitchell. Eric had a troubled childhood and his father would regularly abuse him and his brothers, along with their mother. He joined several gangs as a teenager and would often get into trouble with the police, but eventually became an inspiring boxer. He won a boxing match in 1957, at the Hackney Empire and was nicknamed ‘Flash Eric’.

In early 1960, Eric met Peggy Martin and she quickly became pregnant with their first child. Having children out of wedlock was severely frowned upon in those days, so Eric had no choice but to marry Peggy and their wedding took place on 3 September. On the 20th January 1961, they welcomed their first son, Phil Mitchell. A year later Peggy fell pregnant with their second child and on the 8th July 1962, they welcomed another son, Grant Mitchell. Eric was a devoted husband and father, often boasting to others about his family. He introduced Phil and Grant into boxing at a young age and enjoyed taking them fishing. In 1966, Eric took part in a boxing match on the Old Kent Road, against Jackie Stone who knew Eric as ‘Mitchy’. However, his ‘perfect family’ changed drastically and by the time Phil reached 7 years old, Eric began abusing him. He would often hit and torment Phil when he misbehaved, although some beatings would be unprovoked. Eric also began taking his anger out on Peggy, but rarely touched Grant and favoured him.

He later joined another gang with Ted Hills, Gavin Sullivan, Den Watts and Henry Hubbard. Eric also knew local gangster Johnny Allen, who would regularly taunt him and force him into demeaning jobs, as he was somewhat bitter about Eric being a better boxer than him. He was involved in numerous criminal jobs and became far more violent, which caused him to spiral out of control and turn to alcohol. As a result, Eric became and alcoholic and the beatings Phil and Peggy would receive became more severe. On one occasion, Eric pushed Phil down the stairs, which resulted in him breaking his arm. Phil was rushed to hospital and Social Services got involved, however the case was later dropped. Peggy considered leaving her marriage and running away with Phil and Grant, but decided not to go ahead with it.

On the 14th June 1969, Phillip died due to a heart attack and Eric told Archie at the funeral “good riddance to bad rubbish” and was somewhat overjoyed about his fathers death. Sometime after this, Eric met Maureen Loftus, who was the wife of a small-time boxing promoter. Eric and Maureen quickly began an affair and while mentioning it, Archie said Eric was a “lovesick puppy” and that he truly loved her. Their affair lasted a few years and they planned on running away together, however at the last-minute, Eric felt guilty and said he couldn’t leave his wife and sons behind. Him and Maureen eventually ended their affair and parted ways.

In an attempt to save her marriage, Peggy became pregnant with their third child. On the 13th May 1975, their first and only daughter was born, Sam Mitchell. Their marriage somewhat improved and Eric became extremely overprotective of Sam and treated her like a princess. As she became older, Sam often rebelled against Peggy and favoured Eric over her. This behaviour frustrated Peggy and caused a strain in her marriage.

Around 1983, Peggy was employed by Kevin Masters to work at his minicab firm, which resulted in them starting an affair. This lasted several months, until Eric was diagnosed with cancer and Peggy was forced to leave work to care for him. In 1985, Eric died and although Phil was somewhat relieved about his fathers passing, he cried his eyes out at the funeral and never understood why. Eric’s harsh treatment towards Phil severely affected him later in life and he became an extremely violent person, often showing sadistic traits. Phil also had a hard time showing his ‘weaker side’ and often resorted to bottling up his problems, or resolving them with his fists. His behaviour also affected the women in his life, as he was unable to show them emotional security, which resulted in many failed and toxic relationships. After Eric’s death, Peggy rekindled her relationship with Kevin and they moved in together. Sam missed her father and grew to hate Kevin, as she believed he was trying to replace Eric.

Phil confirms in 22 August 2023 that Eric died of Prostate Cancer.

Storylines[]

2015-2020: Mentions[]

In 2015, Vincent Hubbard came to Walford and knew Ronnie and got into hot water with Phil but is later revealed to be working with the police on getting rid of Phil in revenge for his father Eric murdering Vincent's father years ago which was a close guarded secret between his son Vincent and wife Claudette Hubbard.

In April 2016 when Jay Brown and Phil Mitchell were arguing and Phil threatened to hit Jay, Jay said “it sounds to me like Eric Mitchell has come again”

In June 2016, Peggy and Sharon were leafing through old photos and found a photo of Peggy with Eric taken when Phil was a baby, about 9 months old, so about late 1961. Eric bore a resemblance to a young Ronnie Kray, notorious East End gangster and one of the Kray Twins. Also a photo of Eric in about 1980 aged 40 was found among the collection, which included Peggy, Sal and an unknown man.

In February 2020, Phil mentioned Eric to Keanu Taylor that Eric used to tell him that "kindness is a weakness" when he was young. He also said that while Eric wasn't right about much, he was right about kindness being a weakness.

2022 (1979 flashback): Killing Malcom Keeble[]

Eric Mitchell 1979 image

Eric returned home after a long day at work to have a meal with his wife Peggy, his sons Phil and Grant and his daughter Sam. Eric discovers Phil lost a sparring session to Grant and is extremely frustrated with Phil, Eric gets even more angry when Phil insists they was only messing around. Peggy then tells Eric that Phil has got a job as a mechanic, however instead of being proud of his son he taunts Phil, calling him a "greese monkey". Phil then snaps back and asks Eric what he would suggest, Eric then decides to take Phil and Grant on a robbery with him, despite Peggy pleas not to take them. During the robbery the trio are caught by security guard Malcom Keeble and Phil points his shotgun at Malcom, Eric orders Phil to kill, however Phil refuses to kill him. Eric then takes the shotgun and orders Phil and Grant to leave, Eric then shoots Malcom dead. When Eric, Phil and Grant get home Eric attempt to give Phil a beating but Peggy threatens him with a knife, Eric then dissarms Peggy and is about to beat her but an enraged Phil attacks Eric, punching him several times before ordering Eric never to hit him, Peggy or Grant again. This would be the last time Eric ever hit any of them as Phil revealed on 5 September 2002 that Eric never hurt any of them again after this beating.

Kill count[]

Murders/manslaughter Victims[]

  1. Malcom Keeble (27 January 1979, revealed on 5 September 2022) - Shot a security guard, later revealed to be Samantha Keeble's father Malcom, during a robbery.

Attempted murder victims[]

  1. Malcom Keeble (27 January 1979) (by proxy) - Ordered his son Phil Mitchell to shoot a security guard dead but Phil refused to kill him.

Gallery[]


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