EastEnders' Phil to learn Ben is gay

EastEnders' Phil to learn Ben is gay (Image credit: BBC)

EastEnders tough guy Phil Mitchell will learn his son is gay after the teenager is spotted in a clinch with another boy. Viewers will see Ben Mitchell, played by Joshua Pascoe, kissing the show's Duncan, although it will be many months before Phil finds out. Ben - whose screen mother was Kathy Mitchell - has little in common with his hardman dad, played by Steve McFadden, and has struggled with his sexuality. Fans of the Walford soap have already seen the teen has a love of musicals and dancing, unlike his dad. Ben's kiss will lead to a tense plotline which will engulf many of Albert Square's leading characters. The liaison is seen by shopkeeper Patrick Trueman, causing Ben to worry that his secret will get out. As the youth tries to put pressure on him to keep quiet, worried Patrick calls the police, which infuriates Phil, drawing in the rest of his clan and other Walford regulars. An EastEnders source said: "It all has massive repercussions. Ben is nothing like Phil and never has been. Ever since he returned it has been clear he wasn't the son Phil expected. A BBC spokeswoman confirmed Ben's kiss scene was filmed on Wednesday.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.