EastEnders spoilers: Early BBC iPlayer release reveals Phil Mitchell’s mental breakdown at its worst

As his battle with depression led to disturbing hallucinations and a confrontation with his past, Phil was haunted by vivid visions of his childhood home. In one unsettling moment, he watched his younger self relive a traumatic memory of his father, Eric, announcing to the family that he only had three months to live.

But the hallucinations didn’t stop there. Later, Phil found himself on the roof of the Queen Vic, where his younger self appeared, bluntly telling him he needed help, advice Phil wasn’t ready to hear. Back at home, the visions intensified, tormenting him until Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) arrived, having been searching for him.

Phil briefly let his guard down, admitting he was struggling to sleep and overwhelmed by the memories. “No matter what I do, my body just keeps surviving,” he confided in Jay. But as soon as Jay called him a “warrior,” Phil snapped back into his usual defensive mode, insisting he was just tired and would be fine.

However, his mind refused to let him escape the past. In a harrowing flashback, he recalled finding his father sitting beside a loaded gun, contemplating suicide. The memory darkened further when his younger brother, Grant, entered the room, only for Eric to unleash his anger on both of them.

Overcome with emotion, Phil finally lashed out at his father, blaming him for the wreckage of his life. Angry, he pointed a gun at Eric - only for his younger self to mock him for never following through on revenge. Pushed to his limit, Phil turned the weapon on his younger self instead, pulling the trigger just as reality snapped back into focus with a knock at the door.

Phil then tried to put on a brave face when Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) arrived, telling her he was feeling better and encouraging her to visit Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), who had just returned from rehab. But once alone, he slipped back into his hallucinations, this time facing a vision of his mother, Peggy Mitchell.

Desperate for reassurance, Phil instead found himself confronted by his worst fears. Rather than comfort him, Peggy told him exactly what he dreaded hearing, that he had turned out just like his father. When he pleaded for a different answer, she reminded him that since she wasn’t there to tell him otherwise.

Her final words were chilling: there was still a way for him to “make the world a better place” before she set her eyes toward a gun on the table. As Phil reached for it, he was abruptly pulled back to reality by Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley), who had brought an unexpected guest, his brother, Grant (Ross Kemp).

This episode has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer