Having joined EastEnders in 1990, Phil Mitchell star Steve McFadden has become a hugely recognisable face on our screens – though viewers may be less familiar with his life away from the camera.

Over the years, Steve’s character Phil has been at the centre of various high-profile storylines, including his rocky relationship with brother Grant and the iconic ‘Who Shot Phil?’ plot more than two decades ago. More recently, Phil’s hard-hitting mental health storyline has seen him grapple depression with psychotic symptoms in poignant scenes.

“It felt to me like this was a valid and worthwhile story to tell,” actor Steve, 65, told TV Times when speaking about the storyline, reports Metro. “I don’t talk about my work very often because I believe that acting is a magical process, and I don’t want to spoil it by deconstructing it too much. What happens is I tried to connect emotionally with a story as much as possible, and I felt like I connected with this one a lot.”

Although Steve admits that he doesn’t speak about his work “very often”, his acting career has been filled with successes. However, prior to finding fame in the world of soaps, he worked various other jobs, including at a builder’s merchant, picking carrots and in plumbing.

It all changed when a chance visit to see Shakespeare inspired him to take up performing and eventually led to him being accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1984 at the age of 25. “When I first decided to become an actor, people in my life couldn’t believe it, because this was not on the cards, to put it mildly!

“Anyway, a mate took me to the Royal Shakespeare Company because his sister was an actor. I watched the play and thought ‘This is what I want to do, but not here, because this isn’t my arena’,” he said to TV Times.

From there the rest is history and in 1987 he appeared in the film The Firm and three years later he joined the cast of EastEnders alongside his on-screen brother Ross Kemp. As the sons of Peggy Mitchell, the troublesome duo brought plenty of drama to Albert Square, and Phil even had an affair with his brother Grant’s wife Sharon Watts – who he later ended up marrying.

As part of his role on our screens, Steve has been highly-awarded for his acting. During his four-decade long stint on the soap, he has won Best Soap Actor at the Inside Soap Awards as well as the Outstanding Achievement Award at The British Soap Awards in 2016, with the latter leaving him lost for words.

“I don’t know what to say because I don’t usually get awards. But I’ve got one now, so what I will say is thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said.

Away from Albert Square, Steve was previously in a relationship with EastEnders co-star Lucy Benjamin – who played his on-screen wife. The pair began dating in 1999, though sadly called time on their relationship in 2003.

Despite the end of their romance, the pair appear to have remained on good terms. During an appearance on Loose Women, Lucy revealed what it was like to work alongside Steve when she briefly returned to the soap in 2017.

“There is so much stuff between Lisa and Phil. It was easy to play that. It was strange really, but lovely to be working with Steve, Tish and Natalie Cassidy again,” she said. “It was strange really but within 10 minutes it was like I’d never been away. It felt like reuniting with old friends and I knew they would take good care of me upon my return.”

When it comes to his down time the soap legend has done various appearances, though one was particularly special. When asked by RH Uncovered about his ‘strangest’ appearance, he said: “I don’t know about strange but the nicest one was when I had to give away £250,000 to a lady in Woolwich who had won on the bingo and it was one of the loveliest days of my life, giving her that much money was absolutely life changing for her and such a pleasure, she actually asked for me as she could choose who she wanted, she could’ve asked for Elton!”

He has also previously revealed that he likes to spend his time away from London in Cornwall with his loved ones. “I first went to Falmouth in 1966, I was fishing in the harbour at Falmouth Bay when I was six. I’ve got a little boat down there, a place to stay and loads of friends and family,” he told CornwallLive in 2017.

“I get down as often as I can. It’s my second home, if it wasn’t for EastEnders it would be my first choice of residence, but because of the show I have to be in London more.”

But when asked if he’d move to the area following his stint in the BBC One show, he added: “I don’t see myself living in one place. My son lives in Majorca – I’ll go there, spend a bit of time in London and a bit of time in Cornwall. Everything you want is there – the metropolis of London, the sunshine of Majorca and the feelgood factor of Cornwall.”

While filming for EastEnders is a busy job, Steve also has his hands full as a dad-of-five to son Matt and daughters Teona, Mollie Jane, Amelie Tinkerbell and Frankie. He shares his eldest with Sue Marshall, while Angela Bostock is the mother of his daughters Teona and Mollie Jane.

Steve split from Amelie Tinkerbell’s mother Rachel Sidwell just two months after she was born. His fifth child, Frankie, was born to his then-girlfriend Karen Cairns. Following the birth of Amelie, he told OK! “I’m happier now than I’ve ever been. I can’t wait to start having more now. The day she was born was one of the greatest of my life.”

And speaking of the joys of fatherhood, Steve told The Observer in 2001: “When I was a kid, if I was unhappy, I’d stroke my dog. I was into bringing injured birds into the house, RSPCA activities.

“And the relationship that you have with animals, you can get that from your children: that unquestioning love and adoration and equal need. However the world judges you, if you do your kid two slices of toast for breakfast, you’ve achieved what you are on the planet to do.”

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