EastEnders airs most devastating Phil Mitchell developments in early BBC iPlayer release

This article contains spoilers for tonight’s EastEnders, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

Phil Mitchell’s (Steve McFadden) loved ones have been growing concerned for his wellbeing in recent EastEnders scenes, and tonight’s episode proved that they are right to worry.

The soap stalwart has been struggling with depression for several months, and in tonight’s episode his psychotic symptoms persisted.

In devastating scenes, Phil returned to his childhood home in an hallucination, where he watched on as his younger self joined the rest of his family to receive some shocking news from dad Eric.

The family were left gobsmacked as Eric casually revealed that he had three months to live.

Back in the present, Phil couldn’t escape his hallucinations, as he came face to face with his younger self on the roof of the Queen Vic.

Young Phil was quick to point out that his older self clearly needed help – advice that Phil was reluctant to take.

Back at home, Phil was once again goaded by his younger self, before being interrupted by the arrival of Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), who had been involved in the search for missing Phil.

As the pair sat down together, Phil began to open up about how he was struggling to sleep, as he was plagued by memories.

Attempting to get across how much he was struggling, Phil lamented how his body kept surviving, no matter what he did to try and destroy it.

However, when Jay pointed out that Phil was a ‘warrior’, his walls went back up, as he insisted he was just tired and would be fine.

That was far from true, as he was soon faced with another flashback, as he recalled finding Eric sitting beside a loaded gun, having considered taking his own life.

He was soon joined by young Grant Mitchell, and it didn’t take long for Eric to start goading him, leaving both lads hurt and upset.

It was then that the older Phil stepped in, blaming his dad for everything that had gone wrong in his life.

However, as he held the gun towards him, his younger self stepped forward and mocked him for not being able to pull the trigger, listing all the people he had failed to get revenge on in the past.

This caused Phil to turn the gun on his younger self instead, pulling the trigger as he was startled back to reality by a knock on the door.

He was quick to insist to visiting Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) that he was feeling much better, and that things seemed on the up, encouraging her to go and see best friend Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), who had just come home from rehab.

Alone again, Phil found himself back in his childhood home, talking to a younger version of his mum, Peggy Mitchell.

However, the conversation wasn’t quite as friendly as he’d hoped, as she revealed how disappointed she was that he had turned out like his father.

Emotional, Phil asked if she really meant it, and she pointed out that it was what he thought she believed, and given that she wasn’t around to tell him how she really felt, that was all he had.

She then revealed that there was still a way for him to ‘make the world a better place’, before looking pointedly at the gun on the table.

As Phil picked it up, he was startled awake by Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley), who had brought brother Grant (Ross Kemp) round to surprise him.

Will Nigel and Grant be able to help Phil face his demons and come through the other side?