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| Archie Mitchell | |
|---|---|
 | |
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PORTRAYED BY |
Larry Lamb |
|
FULLNAME |
Archibald Mitchell |
|
ALIAS |
Archie |
|
ORIGIN |
EastEnders |
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OCCUPATION |
Pensioner |
|
POWERS AND SKILLS |
Charisma |
|
HOBBY |
Subjugating his daughter Ronnie |
|
GOALS |
Prevent Ronnie from discovering the truth about her long-lost daughter Danielle Jones |
|
CRIMES |
Forced his daughter Ronnie to give her baby away at the age of 14 |
|
TYPE OF CHARACTER |
Psychopathic Control Freak |
| “ | You're no match for me, girl! You never were! Yes, I did make you get rid of that kid. I did it to teach you a lesson once and for all. But, you push your luck. You try and take away my Roxy, my little girl, and I'll break you, girl. I'll finish you for good!! | „ |
| ~ Archie threatening his victimized daughter Ronnie. |
Archie Mitchell is a fictional character and recurring antagonist of the BBC British soap opera drama EastEnders.
He first appeared on 8 July 2008 and became the show's main antagonist until his departure from the programme on 28 December 2009, after which he served as the series' posthumous antagonist throughout 2010.
History
Archie Mitchell first appeared in Walford when he is visited by his estranged daughter Ronnie, whom he has not seen for 15 years, as she is looking for her sister Roxy with help from their aunt Peggy - as the pair had discovered that Roxy is pregnant. Peggy knows that Roxy is staying with Archie in Dorset but does not tell Ronnie, worried that she will refuse to go. Ronnie is furious to see her father, wanting nothing to do with him. Archie and Peggy catch up and he tells her he has survived cancer. Ronnie had given birth at the age of 14 to a daughter, Amy, fathered by Joel Reynolds, but Archie had Amy immediately put up for adoption. Archie then fabricates a story that the child had died 13 years ago, though Ronnie does not believe him. Roxy agrees to return to London if Ronnie and Archie make up, but Ronnie whispers in her father's ear that she will kiss his gravestone when he's dead. Archie persuades Peggy to start a relationship while they can and tells Ronnie he will see her in London in a few weeks.
Now engaged, Archie and Peggy return to The Queen Victoria public house. Ronnie tries to tell the family that Archie is evil, but only succeeds in turning them against her. During a family meal, Peggy's son Phil argues with his son Ben and reveals the abuse he suffered from his father Eric. After separating the two, Archie confines in Phil that both he and Eric were previously abused by their own father - which caused the events of Eric's mistreatment towards his family and the fact that he left Peggy for another woman. Peggy, suspecting that Archie cannot be trusted, tests him by sending texts from next-door neighbour Suzy Branning mobile but he postpones the wedding when he finds out. He begins controlling his daughters by persuading Ronnie's employee Danielle Jones to steal a letter from Joel that he later burns in front of Ronnie. He makes clear of his dislike towards Roxy's husband Sean Slater – feeling that he's not good enough. He causes trouble by manipulating both of them and stops Sean being there when Roxy gave birth to her daughter, Amy, prematurely - by deliberately failing to phone him when Roxy goes into labor. He also controls Peggy, changing how she dresses and distancing her from her friends. Worried about her daughter's paternity, Roxy has a DNA test done and Archie finds the results, discovering that Amy's father is actually Ronnie's boyfriend, Jack Branning. On catching Suzy stealing from the Mitchells' safe, he tells her he will keep quiet providing she makes sure Sean finds the DNA test results, proving that he is not the father. This act leads to Sean kidnapping Amy, and trying to drown her, Roxy and himself, before he is stopped by Ronnie and Jack. Afterwards, Sean flees, his marriage to Roxy ruined. The discovery also leads to a huge falling out between Ronnie and Roxy, and between her and Jack, but they later reconcile.
Archie realizes that Danielle is Ronnie's daughter when he sees her locket and recognizes it as the one Ronnie gave her baby before giving her up for adoption. Danielle admits to him that she came to Walford to find Ronnie, get to know her and tell her who she was, but she has pushed her away and can't get close to anyone (unknown to Danielle, due to her guilt of giving her away). Archie realizes that he will be disowned from the family when they find out he lied to Ronnie about her daughter so he tells her that Ronnie suffers from depression and to let him tell Ronnie that Danielle is her daughter when the time is right, wanting to protect himself from Ronnie finding out about his lies. He tells Danielle that he will tell Ronnie but later contemplates strangling her. Unable to go through with it, he leaves Danielle heartbroken by telling her Ronnie knows and wants nothing to do with her, and has actually paid her to leave. On his wedding day, Archie is angered by Peggy's decision not to wear the suit he chose for her. When challenged by Peggy at the altar, he decides he loves her regardless and the ceremony proceeds. At the reception, Ronnie sees Danielle about to snatch Amy and she tells her the truth. Danielle realizes Archie has lied to her but Archie claims Danielle is mentally ill. Danielle tries to prove herself but Ronnie believes Archie and throws Danielle out, later finding the locket. Realizing Danielle has told the truth, she goes after her despite Archie's attempts to stop her, disgusted by his lies. Peggy is equally disgusted and tells their guests to leave. Archie's schemes and lies are revealed and the Mitchells are stunned by the news that Danielle is a relative, and that Archie is as evil as Ronnie always claimed. Only a few minutes later, Danielle is hit by Janine's car and dies in Ronnie's arms, leaving Ronnie broken-hearted as Archie has robbed her of a life with her daughter. Archie is thrown out of the Vic and disowned by his family. Wanting justice for Ronnie and Danielle, Peggy orders Phil to kill Archie, so he kidnaps him and threatens to bury him in cement. Archie falls for the blackmail and begs for his life, offering Phil money. However, the cement mixer only contains water. Phil tells Archie to leave, saying if he returns, he will be killed for real.
Archie returns on 10 July 2009 later, wanting Peggy back, and reconciling with Roxy. He refuses to leave and reveals he has moved into a house nearby. Archie asks Roxy to pass on a gift to Ronnie: the baby blanket she bought for her daughter when she was born. Peggy eventually agrees to talk to Archie and believes he is sorry for his past actions. Phil sees him and breaks into his house with a gun, but sees him and Peggy kissing. Peggy tells Phil that Archie has changed, but Phil tells Archie to stay away from his family and drops a bullet into his glass. Phil later tells Archie he's going to kill him, but is stopped by Ben. Peggy goes on holiday and when she returns, Archie begs her to take him back, but she refuses.
Roxy invites everyone to Archie's housewarming party, but Ronnie organises a party at The Queen Victoria so nobody turns up. Janine tells Ronnie that Archie paid her to spy on her and Roxy and Ronnie tells Roxy, who - furious with her father - moves out. He buys the car lot from Jack, upsetting Ronnie further. Joel comes to Walford and he and Ronnie rekindle their relationship, irritating Archie but Archie takes action by paying Joel to leave Walford and never return. Joel refuses, saying he can stand up to him now so Archie blackmails him about his family and Joel leaves until Ronnie comforts him and tells her father that Joel is back and there is nothing he can do about it.
Archie's niece Sam returns from Brazil, despite being on the run for covering up the murder of the Queen Victoria's original landlord Den Watts - who was murdered by his second wife and Sam's nemesis Chrissie Watts in February 2005. Roxy and Sam have never got on and Roxy is furious to learn that Sam's return has been kept from her. Archie sees Roxy in the Square, following a row, and she tells him. He also learns of Sam's engagement to Janine's brother Ricky and gives them a gift, but it is declined. When Sam is arrested, Archie puts up her bail money on the condition he can have his family back. He and Peggy celebrate, but Phil's cousin Billy returns the money. He vows to get revenge by taking The Queen Victoria from them, with Janine's help. His plans to burn the pub down and frame Billy does not work as Peggy sees through his lies. He insists that she's wrong and they kiss briefly. Archie convinces Sam to flee so the Mitchells lose the bail money. Phil got a loan from a loan shark; however, after being beaten up for not meeting the repayments, he reluctantly gets a loan from his stepson Ian Beale on The Queen Victoria. If the money is not repaid in two weeks, Ian will get The Queen Victoria. Archie tries convincing Ian to sell him the loan, but Ian declines - prompting Janine to seduce Ian; she records them having sex and blackmails him so he will sell the loan to Archie. Not pleased with this idea, Archie proposes to Janine, trying to stop her but she ignores him and goes ahead with the scheme, later accepting his proposal. Billy hears them talking about their engagement and their plans to take The Queen Victoria. Realizing they've been overheard, they convince him to let them make him an offer to get him on their side and he agrees when they persuade Billy's ex-wife Honey to let Billy have their children over Christmas and New Year. They then blackmail Ian to sell them the loan, by threatening to send the recording to his wife Jane. Ian complies, reluctantly, worried about his half-brother - Ben.
When Archie and Peggy's divorce papers come through, Archie tells Peggy that he still loves her and wants her back. Peggy's employee and Janine's flatmate Ryan Malloy overhears them and tells Janine. Janine then shows her engagement ring to Peggy and Peggy recognizes it as it belonged to Archie's mother. She confronts Archie, annoyed that she fell for his lies again. She signs the divorce papers and the Mitchells celebrate in the pub. Ryan alerts them to the fact that Archie and Janine are behind the bar, and the Mitchells are angry to learn that Ian sold them the loan and the pub is now theirs, as the deadline has not been met. The Mitchells vow to carry on as normal but Archie replaces Peggy's name as licensee with his and tells them that they are trespassing on his property. Ronnie stands up to him and he pushes her into the bar. Roxy angrily tells him that Ronnie is pregnant but the damage is done and Ronnie later miscarries. Peggy tells Archie that he has killed Ronnie's child, warning him to stay away but later invites Archie and Janine to The Queen Victoria during a Christmas Eve party and gives them the keys.
On Christmas Day, Archie sadistically tells Ian he will give the CD to Jane, despite Ian's compliance. Archie convinces Janine to skip Christmas dinner as he has a surprise treasure hunt for her. She eventually finds an envelope containing a one-way ticket to Poland and Archie throws her out, after telling her he knows that she and Ryan planned to double-cross him and cruelly saying she is the reason that her father Frank Butcher abandoned her. Archie is visited by a number of people: Jack threatens to kill him if he hurts Ronnie again, he finds Ian searching for the CD and tells him that it is on his laptop and he can make copies at any time, threatening to phone Jane, before evicting him from the pub. Sam tries to confront Archie but he shuts the door on her. Ronnie tells him that he will not make her care for him and she would not care if he died. Archie throws her out, reminding her that of the exact spot she pushed Danielle onto the night she died. Peggy threatens him, telling him that she is not just a sweet, innocent old lady and that he has no idea who he is messing with. She tells Archie if he does not leave the pub that night he will regret every cruel and evil act he has ever done. In return, he threatens her that unless she returns, he will have the pub converted to flats, becoming emotional when he says that he will be waiting for her as she leaves. Jack's nephew Bradley punches Archie, loosening one of his teeth but punches the bar too, leaving blood. He warns Archie to stay away from his girlfriend Stacey Slater because she told him that Archie raped her and Bradley leaves. As Archie picks up the snowglobe from the floor, the bust of the Queen Victoria is pushed from the bar, and it hits him over the head. Moments later, Ronnie finds him and he struggles to say his final words, "Veronica, I'm sorry," before dying. His body is taken away the next day.
Archie's will is read, revealing that he has left:
Billy his "stool" and place at the end of the bar in the Queen Vic, as a place for him where he cannot be thrown out; Peggy a silver framed photo of their wedding; Amy, and Ronnie's "first surviving child", the sum of £100,000 each to be held in trust until their 21st birthdays. Ronnie is unhappy, seeing this as Archie controlling her from beyond the grave, but is not allowed to decline legally; Phil his father's "real" boxing trophy, which they had a fight about earlier regarding Archie giving fake ones; Roxy his antique fountain pen which she always wanted as a child, as well as the residue of his estate, including his mother's engagement ring, his house (27 Albert Square), car, The Queen Victoria (46 Albert Square), the car lot (6 Albert Square) and £3 million; Ronnie his signet ring (as well as a note regarding him expecting her to not take any substantial gifts from him); Janine his Newton's cradle, "in the sure and certain knowledge that it will drive her absolutely nuts."
A pathologist's report shows that Archie had terminal cancer and only had weeks to live anyway. On 19 February 2010, the killer is revealed to be Stacey, however, after dying while trying to evade police capture, Bradley is assumed to be guilty of murder. Later that year, it emerges that Archie raped Ronnie when she was 13. In December 2010, everyone finds out that Stacey was the murderer, and she flees the country, leaving her mother Jean devastated and she blames Archie for Stacey's departure. In 2014, Stacey returns to Walford briefly but tells the police that she killed Archie to clear Bradley's name. She is sentenced to five years in prison, but on Jean's urging, she appeals the sentence and is released due to her bipolar disorder.
Victims
- Ronnie Mitchell — Archie had sexually harassed and later molested Ronnie when she was 13, then the following year forced Ronnie to have her newborn daughter Danielle Jones adopted by her would-be foster parents just moments after the latter's birth. For the next two decades, Archie refused to sympathize with Ronnie's regret and resorted to tormenting his own daughter over the decision he forced her to make. He ultimately went as far as to lie to Ronnie that Danielle was dead, when in fact she was actually alive, and resorted to withholding the truth from his daughter; although Ronnie discovered the truth in the end, Danielle ended up getting killed in a hit & run before they could even get to know each other. Archie once more refused to show remorse for his actions and, after getting revenge against the Mitchells for disowning him about this, later caused the death of Ronnie's second unborn child.
- Roxy Mitchell — Archie had intended to molest Roxy when she was 10, in the exact same manner as he raped Ronnie when she was 13. But after Ronnie went to lengths to prevent her sister from enduring the same fate as she did by their father, Archie resorted to manipulating Roxy and even turning her against Ronnie to prevent his younger daughter from discovering his evil nature. He later conjured a successful campaign to destroy Roxy's marriage with her husband Sean by projecting the events where Sean learns that Roxy lied about him being the father of her child Amy.
- Glenda Mitchell — Archie allegedly mistreated Glenda and became the reason of their breakdown marriage.
- Peggy Mitchell — Archie sought to victimize Peggy under his coercive control prior to the events of their wedding, going as far as to try and isolate her from the local community before then intending to stage her appearance on their wedding. But after Peggy learned of Archie's true colors and divorced him following Danielle's death, Archie spitefully forged a romantic reconciliation with Peggy that lasted until he eventually defraud his wife and their own family from their ownership of The Queen Victoria public house. Then before his murder, Archie attempted to blackmail Peggy in remarrying him under the threat of converting her beloved pub into a conversion project of flats.
- Sean Slater — Archie projected a campaign to destroy Sean's relationship-turned-marriage with Roxy, going as far as to purposefully cause Sean to miss the birth of Roxy's daughter Amy whilst keeping up the pretense that he is the child's father. Then on Christmas Day 2008, Archie successfully destroyed Sean's marriage with Roxy by causing him to find out that he was never the child's father — thus sparking the events of Sean's mental breakdown and departure from the square for good.
- Janine Butcher — Archie forged a romantic partnership with Janine in order to maintain his coercive control over Peggy, and later defrauding her ownership of The Queen Victoria public house in his revenge campaign against his own family for casting him out of the Mitchells. Following their success and before his murder, Archie betrayed Janine by evicting her from The Queen Vic and leaving her homeless on Christmas Night. He later posthumously humiliated Janine in his own will under the pretense that she would inherit his multi-millionaire fortune.
- Danielle Jones — Archie is the reason why Danielle was forced into adoption by Ronnie when the latter was 14. When she sought to tell Ronnie the truth about their relation and Archie was the first to discover this two decades later, Archie tricked Danielle into promising that he would personally tell Ronnie the truth; in reality, though, Archie lied to Ronnie and Danielle about this and caused their relationship to collapse. He later humiliated Danielle on his wedding day when she unsuccessfully tried to expose his lies in front of his family and wedding guests, only for Archie to dismiss her mental state as a cover-up of his lies. Although his lies were ultimately exposed in the end, Danielle ended up getting killed a while later — merely a minute after Ronnie make a failed last-ditch attempt to reconcile with her long-lost daughter. While Janine accidentally killed Danielle in a hit and run, Archie was more directly responsible for the events behind Danielle's death.
- Phil Mitchell — Archie attempted to forge a close uncle-nephew relationship with Phil, before later trying to blackmail him after the latter had originally planned to kill him at Peggy's request for causing Danielle's death and shaming Ronnie that disgraced the Mitchell's reputation. Archie also lied to Phil about some circumstances behind the life of Phil's late father and Archie's own brother Eric. Moreover, Archie further infuriated Phil after defrauding Peggy's ownership of The Queen Vic and causing her to blame Phil for Archie's revenge campaign against the Mitchells.
- Stacey Slater — Archie is indirectly responsible for triggering Stacey's bipolar disorder, which was caused by the death of her best-friend Danielle Jones as a result of the latter's victimization in Archie's reign of terror. Stacey's continuous ordeal led to Archie raping her after she threatens to expose his revenge campaign against his own family. Subsequently, Stacey's rape by Archie was the result of her sectioning for months. She was eventually released and ended up killing Archie shortly after telling her husband Bradley Branning the truth about her rape. However, Archie's murder resulted in Bradley's death and Stacey fleeing Walford to avoid getting arrested by the police — both of which were posthumously caused by Archie himself.
- Sam Mitchell — Archie manipulated Sam in order to make progress with his revenge campaign against his former wife and Sam's mother Peggy by defrauding her ownership of The Queen Vic as revenge for turning against him in light of Danielle's death. To do this, Archie conjured the events behind Sam getting rearrested for her involvement in the murder of the Mitchells' sworn nemesis Den Watts — which then led to the Mitchells' decision to bail Sam out of prison leading Archie to cause the family to lose the bail and then successfully steal the pub from them. Archie then cut his ties with Sam without feeling remorse for her victimization.
- Ian Beale — Archie blackmailed Ian into conspiring with him against his own family to defraud their ownership of The Queen Vic as revenge for being casted out from the family following Danielle's death. This involved Archie getting Janine to sleep with Ian whilst secretly filming their sex, and then threatening to tell Ian's wife Jane about her husband's unintended infidelity.
- Ryan Malloy — Archie destroyed Ryan's relationship with Janine as a result of using her in his revenge campaign against his own family whilst keeping up the pretense of their romantic partnership up until Christmas Night 2009. Furthermore, Archie sacked Ryan from his job at The Queen Vic just after defrauding the Mitchells from their ownership of the pub.
- Bradley Branning — Archie became posthumously responsible for the events behind Bradley's false implication for the former's murder on Christmas Night 2009, as a result of Archie raping Bradley's wife Stacey Slater to stop her from destroying his revenge campaign against his own family. This ultimately led to Bradley's death and him initially being found guilty for killing Archie, which caused his neighbors and the Mitchells to wrongfully assert that he is the killer until Stacey eventually revealed herself as Archie's killer. Nonetheless, Archie is the posthumous cause behind Bradley's death.
Trivia
- Following the character's 2008-2009 onscreen duration and his 2010 offscreen legacy, Archie Mitchell has been renowned as one of the most evil characters in British Soap History
- Archie is also considered to not only be the most villainous member of the Mitchell Family, but is also considered to be the evil counterpart of his wife and heroic rival: Peggy Mitchell.