Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) weighs in on Reiss Colwell’s (Jonny Freeman) money woes
in EastEnders next week – and we reckon he should be worried! It was only a few weeks ago
that Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) warned him of Phil’s criminal underworld… As viewers
of the BBC One soap know, Reiss has been using comatose wife Debbie’s cash to fund new girlfriend Sonia Fowler’s (Natalie Cassidy) IVF treatment. The pair were joyous when she finally fell pregnant, though it later transpired that the test was a false positive and there was never a baby. In an act of desperation, and with bills for Debbie’s care mounting, Reiss resorted to scamming Sharon Watts’ (Letitia Dean) clients by pretending they owed more money to her. He even planned to rent out the spare room at No. 25 to lodgers – but Sonia wasn’t best pleased and shut the idea down, unaware of the severity of his debts.
In upcoming scenes, the care home calls to inform Reiss that Debbie will be moved if he doesn’t cough up the £18,000 he owes them. Realising that Sharon could be an easy target, he heads to her house and mentions another outstanding VAT receipt, but quickly becomes guilty and backtracks when she begins to mention her late partner Keanu. After coming to the realisation that he’ll soon have to reveal all to Sonia, a solemn Reiss is quickly swayed by some good news – but with the two on cloud nine, he accidentally puts his foot in it and tells all. With bills still looming like a dark cloud over him, he heads back to No.
43 to tell Sharon that he made a mistake and she needs to pay the VAT by tomorrow… leaving Phil bemused. At the Boxing Den, Sharon presents the money but Phil demands to know more. When she admits she’s taken her eye off the accounts in the wake of Keanu’s murder drama, Reiss makes a quick escape. Later, she asks to see the missing receipt. Could this be the start of his downfall?