Archie Mitchell

Archibald Lionel "Archie" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', played by Larry Lamb. He first appeared on 8 July 2008 as a newest member of the Mitchell family—who had first appeared on the soap in 1990—and became the show's main antagonist until the character was killed off on Christmas Day 2009; with Archie making his last appearance as a corpse on 28 December 2009 and later serving as a posthumous impact throughout the majority of 2010, which involves making a brief voice appearance on 19 July 2010 on a family video tape overheard by his ex-wife Glenda ( Glynis Barber) and their two daughters Ronnie ( Samantha Womack) and Roxy ( Rita Simons) respectively.

The character's story arc began with Archie being reunited with both his daughters in Weymouth. While it quickly grew evident that Archie had seemingly shared a closer bond with Roxy, his relationship with Ronnie became volatile and tempestuous—after it had transpired Ronnie was previously forced by her father to give up her newborn baby, Amy, for adoption shortly after she gave birth to the child at the age of 14. He soon instigates trouble between his two daughters by scheming with Suzy Branning ( Maggie O'Neill) to destroy Roxy's marriage with Sean Slater ( Robert Kazinsky) and later manipulating Ronnie into disbelieving the fact that her employee Danielle Jones ( Lauren Crace) is actually her long-lost daughter Amy—the latter of which consequently resulted in Danielle being killed in a hit and run on the day Archie married his sister-in-law Peggy (Barbara Windsor (Steve McFadden) and subsequently forced to leave Walford for good, but Archie ended up returning with the intent of getting revenge on his family. His plans gradually came to light when Archie forged a romantic partnership with Peggy's hated stepdaughter Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks); exploited Phil's sister Sam ( Danniella Westbrook) while she was on the run for her involvement in the murder of the siblings' old enemy Den Watts (Leslie Grantham); and blackmailed Phil's stepson Ian Beale ( Adam Woodyatt) with the knowledge that he cheated on his wife Jane (Laurie Brett)—which were all part of his scheme to successfully swindle his family from their beloved home, The Queen Victoria public house. He thereupon caused the death of Ronnie's unborn child and later betrayed Janine by leaving her temporarily homeless upon finding out that she and her boyfriend Ryan Malloy ( Neil McDermott) plotted to defraud his wealth in their get-rich-quick scheme. Shortly afterwards, Archie got his comeuppance when he was murdered on Christmas Night 2009 after an unknown assailant pushed the Bust of Queen Victoria onto him. This had both ended the character's reign of terror in 2009 and triggered the events of his own whodunit storyline, dubbed Who Killed Archie?, that occurred in early 2010.

It was soon revealed two months later in the show's first live episode, " ''EastEnders'' Live", that Archie's murderer was in fact Sean's younger sister and Danielle's best friend: Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner)—whom he had raped on 6 October 2009 to cover-up his revenge scheme by escalating her bipolar disorder trauma, which led to Stacey being sectioned as a result of Archie raping her. During that same live episode, it also transpired that Archie had previously raped Ronnie back when she was 13; Ronnie would eventually describe this to her family on 20 July 2010.

A younger version of Archie appeared in a flashback episode that aired on 5 September 2022, being portrayed by Henry Garrett, with the episode focusing on the Mitchell family in the 1970s.

Storylines

Archie Mitchell made his first appearance when he is visited at his home in Weymouth by his estranged daughter, Ronnie ( Samantha Womack) - whom he has not seen for just over fifteen years - and sister-in-law, Peggy (Barbara Windsor]. He's not ..frightened to get involved, but he's become more worldly over the years. He's made a success of his life and he's learnt a lot on the way."''Radio Times'' 8 July 2008, "One Final Question", Beryl Wilson, Page 54

Archie is a love interest for Peggy, his brother's widow, despite reports that actress Barbara Windsor did not want any more romantic storylines. Windsor later commented that "she always thought Larry Lamb should star in the ..soap" and that he is a "match made in heaven" for her.

The character was originally intended to stay on screen only for the duration of the Danielle Jones storyline, however, following the character's departure, it was confirmed he would return due to his popularity with viewers. Again, this appearance lasted for a single storyline, and Archie departed again at its conclusion. Archie returned in an attempt to win Peggy back. Lamb commented on his character's part in the storyline, saying "I do know this dream family is a figment of his imagination. Archie thinks he will prevail, but that's because he's a psychopath!" In June 2010, Lamb revealed that he based Archie on his own father.

Reception

After Lamb joined the cast, Diederick Santer commented "I've only seen a handful of scenes that Larry's done so far but I think he's giving a mesmerising and multi-layered performance. There's quite a buzz coming up from the set, and I'm really excited about him." Tim Teeman, critic for ''The Times'', has described Archie as "a thousand times more terrifying than Nick Cotton" and "a psycho in a golf jersey."

The Christmas Day episode in which Archie was killed attracted 10.9 million viewers.

See also

* Who Killed Archie?
* The Secret Mitchell
* List of soap opera villains
* List of ''EastEnders'' characters (2008)

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Archie
EastEnders characters
Fictional businesspeople
Fictional salespeople
Fictional criminals in soap operas
Television characters introduced in 2008
Fictional rapists
Male villains
Fictional bartenders
Fictional characters involved in incest
Fictional characters with cancer
Male characters in television
Fictional murdered people