EastEnders character
Charlie Jones as Ben Mitchell (2008).
Ben Mitchell
Portrayed by	Matthew Silver (1996–98) Morgan Whittle (1999–2000) Charlie Jones (2006—)
Duration	1996–98, 1999–2000, 2006—
First appearance	21 March 1996
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Date of birth	21 March 1996
Home	43b Albert Square
Alternative image(s)
Morgan Whittle as Ben Mitchell (1999).
Family Family Mitchell family Father Phil Mitchell Mother Kathy Mitchell Half brothers Ian Beale Half sisters Donna Ludlow Louise Mitchell Grandfathers Eric Mitchell Dennis Hills Grandmothers Peggy Mitchell Brenda Hills Great grandfathers Phil Mitchell Jack Martin Great grandmothers Sandra Mitchell Lilly Martin Great great  grandfathers Edward Mitchell Great great  grandmothers Betty Mitchell Uncles Grant Mitchell Ted Hills Colin Hills Jonathan Hills Aunts Sam Mitchell Stephanie Hills Great uncles Clive Mitchell Archie Mitchell Great aunts Sal Martin Great great uncles Kenneth Mitchell Cousins Courtney Mitchell Mark Fowler Jr. Tony Hills Sarah Hills Nephews Peter Beale Bobby Beale Nieces Lucy Beale First cousins  once removed Ronnie Mitchell Roxy Mitchell Danny Mitchell Charlie Mitchell Harry Mitchell First cousins  twice removed Steven Mitchell Ted Mitchell Second cousins Danielle Jones Amy Mitchell Second cousins  once removed Billy Mitchell Charlie Mitchell Third cousins Jamie Mitchell Janet Mitchell William Mitchell

Benjamin "Ben" Mitchell is a fictional character from the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. The role has been played by three different actors: Matthew Silver as a baby, Morgan Whittle as a toddler, and, since 6 March 2006, Charlie Jones. Ben's primary storylines have seen him caught in the middle of a feud between the show's Mitchell and Beale families, abused by his stepmother, and developing a burgeoning interest in dance and the arts. He has been poorly received by television critics, dubbed "spooky" and "gormless" and nicknamed "Silly Elliot" by The Daily Mirror. Grace Dent of The Guardian has written several negative opinion pieces on Ben, stating that she has emailed the BBC a list of suggestions for humorous storylines in which Ben could be killed off.

[edit] Development

Having previously appeared as a baby and a toddler, it was announced on 19 January 2006 that Ben was to return to EastEnders played by child actor Charlie Jones. Jones commented: "It's brilliant - I'm going to be a Mitchell. I am really looking forward to getting started." He was cast alongside Megan Jossa, who would play his cousin Courtney Mitchell.^[1] Executive producer Diederick Santer has praised the show's youth cast, comparing Ben and fellow child characters Darren Miller (Charlie G. Hawkins), Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu), Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), Peter (Thomas Law) and Lucy Beale (Melissa Suffield), Lauren (Madeline Duggan) and Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald), Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) and Tiffany Dean (Maisie Smith) to the previous era of iconic youth characters–Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully), Kelvin Carpenter (Paul J. Medford) and Simon Wicks (Nick Berry).^[2] In 2007, Ben was part of a storyline which saw he and his father, as well as Ian and Peter Beale, involved in a car accident, when the Range Rover they were travelling in crashed into a lake. The scenes cost £1 million to produce, and were filmed in Surrey over four days, partly in a specially designed stunt tank.^[3]

EastEnders scriptwriters worked closely with the NSPCC on the storyline which saw Ben abused by Stella.^[4] Sophie Thompson, who plays Stella, has praised Jones, stating that he will "go far", and she would like to work with him in the future on a sitcom, "something completely different" to the dark child abuse storyline.^[4] According to Thompson, the best aspect of the storyline was the fact she and Jones "felt so safe and comfortable with each other as actors. And obviously we knew that we were both just telling a story and it was far from real."^[5] Explaining the motivation behind Stella's abuse of Ben, she revealed: "As far as Ben's concerned, she sees him as an obstacle which she has to overcome to get what she wants. And the fact she doesn't understand unconditional love, the fact she's never experienced it, goes a long way in explaining why she's treating Ben the way she is. Ultimately, Ben's in her way and she realises that she has a hold over him and she'll use that power to get him out of the way and to get that ring on her finger she has longed for."^[5]

[edit] Storylines

The son of Phil (Steve McFadden) and Kathy Mitchell (Gillian Taylforth), Ben is born in 1996 and has meningitis as a baby, leaving him partially deaf in one ear. His parents separate and Ben leaves Albert Square with his mother to live in South Africa in 1998, returning briefly in 1999 to attend the wedding of his half brother Ian Beale to Melanie Healy (Tamsin Outhwaite). Phil agonises over the fact that he cannot be a full-time father to his son. When Kathy and her husband Gavin are killed in a car crash in March 2006, Ben returns to Walford to live with Ian and his fourth wife Jane (Laurie Brett). Ian is against Ben and Phil spending time together, as Phil hasn't seen Ben much since he and Kathy emigrated. Many fights between Phil and Ian ensue, with Ben caught in the middle. Ben runs away from home in the middle of the night, but is found a few days later and brought back to Ian. Though initially scared of Phil, Ben starts to bond with his father and, despite Ian's objections, eventually moves in with him.

Ben grows close to his father and does not want to share his affections, instantly resenting Phil dating Stella Crawford (Sophie Thompson). With encouragement from his friend Abi Branning, Ben plays pranks on Stella and refuses to accept her acts of friendship. In a bid to get closer to Ben, Stella takes him to the London Dungeon, promising him that she is not trying to replace his mother, but Ben gets lost in the house of mirrors and Stella hides and watches his panic. From then on, Stella begins psychologically and physically abusing Ben, ending his friendship with Abi, burning his hand, pinching him, pouring orange juice over his bed to make it look as though he has wet himself, locking him in a garage over night, watching him get attacked by bullies, telling him Phil does not love him and breaking his hearing aid. Stella manipulates Ben into persuading Phil to propose to her, which Phil does to give Ben a stable family unit. On Stella and Phil's wedding day, Ben stands up to Stella, admitting the abuse he has suffered. Phil chases Stella to an old factory, where she jumps off the roof and dies instantly. The Mitchells spend months coming to terms with what had happened to Ben.

Ben goes on to develop an interest in music and dancing. His grandmother Peggy (Barbara Windsor) takes him tap-dancing, something they keep from Phil, who disapproves of pursuits he perceives as feminine. Ben passes a dancing exam with distinction, but when Phil discovers the truth he is furious and forces him to quit dancing. However, after secretly watching Ben performing in a talent show, Phil is impressed and finally accepts that this is what his son wants. In July 2009, Ben stops Phil from murdering Peggy's new husband Archie (Larry Lamb). In November 2009, Ben discovers Phil lying unconscious on the floor of the lounge above the pub, as a result of being badly beaten up men working for a loan shark who Phil failed owes money to. Phil reluctantly accepts a loan from Ian for Ben's sake. Worried that Phil cannot pay the loan back in time, Ben gets Ian to extend the loan for a week, but Ian sells the loan to Archie and Janine Butcher who take over the pub, forcing Ben and his family to move out.

[edit] Reception

Ben has received negative reviews from critics. The Guardian's Grace Dent has called him a "spooky little git",^[6] while fellow Guardian writer Daniel Martin has deemed him "gormless".^[7] As part of an EastEnders themed drinking game, Digital Spy's Alex Fletcher instructed players to drink beer every time Ben "is spotted whimpering on the stairs".^[8] Dent suggested that Phil and Ian's fighting over custody of Ben would turn him into "the next Jeffrey Dahmer",^[9] and in an article on the future of Britain's soap opera adolescents, noted that: "Albert Square will no doubt reap what it's sown with tiny, cursed, abused, accident-prone, 11-year-old Ben Mitchell. Oh it's going to be fun and games when Ben turns 16 and finds his inner anger."^[10] Continuing this theme, Dent questioned:

How far are they going to push this little boy? Orphaned after a car crash in South Africa two months ago, stuck on a plane to live with stoat-faced brother Ian Beale and Aunty Jane, who argue incessantly. Centre-stage in an endless, petty Mitchell/Beale custody battle from dawn to dusk. Sent to Walford Primary, where he's bullied. Now, Aunty Jane and Uncle Grant (Ross Kemp) are rutting indiscreetly in the kitchen while he's upstairs mournfully making his Hawker Harrier Airfix (which Phil stood on) and Little Mo's (Kacey Ainsworth) accusing him of attempted murder. 'You all right Ben, darling? Seem a bit quiet,' squawks Peggy now and again intuitively. 'Quiet', Peggy? Give him five years and he'll be on top of the community centre with a rifle using your wig as target practice.

—Grace Dent , The Guardian^[11]

Dent later criticized a string of storylines which saw Ben endangered, from his abuse by Stella, to a car accident in which he almost drowned. She observed:

Over in EastEnders, rumour has it that £1m was spent on the recent Mitchell/Beale car crash drowning disaster in which little deaf Ben Mitchell was given a break from being systematically abused by his stepmum and grieving about dead mum Kathy to be trapped in a sinking Range Rover in a muddy lake. OK. This is getting a touch daft now. It feels like Ben Mitchell is fast becoming Kenny McCormick from South Park. Faced with another week of rehashing Stacey/Max/Bradley storylines, I reckon scriptwriters cheer themseves by conjuring up fresh ways to dispense with him. Last week was "drowning slowly in a watery tomb while his friend Peter thrashed about beside him in terror. I've emailed the BBC with some of my own 'Oh my God you've killed Ben (you bastards!)' storylines just to help them out. Mine include 'Chased by Africanized killer bees into a tarmac pit', 'fired out of a cannon by Daz and Squiggle for pay-per-view web purposes landing somewhere past the allotments' and the simple yet adequate, 'Catching E coli in the Vic after eating one of Peggy's sumptuous pig's head buffets.' Don't worry about Ben, though, he'll be OK. The spooky little git is clearly immortal.

—Grace Dent , The Guardian^[12]

Jane Simon for The Daily Mirror has similarly noted: "The scriptwriters' non-stop torment of Ben Mitchell is just getting silly now. Left partially deaf after contracting meningitis as a baby, he's lost his mum and stepfather, been kidnapped by Martin Fowler (James Alexandrou), nearly drowned in a sinking Land Rover, been bullied by his dad's (now dead) fiance Stella... and is inescapably related by blood to Ian Beale. About the only good thing to happen to him lately is that he's got new specs. Even his attempt to escape into show tunes and tap-dancing has only rattled Phil's cage. At the Mitchell's cosy dinner tonight, Phil loses his rag at Archie and Sean (Rob Kazinsky). But who does he take it out on? His tiny son. Nuts."^[13] Kevin O'Sullivan, also writing for The Mirror, commented on "ballet-loving Ben's obsession with West End musicals, Judy Garland and dancing," suggesting that: "Amid the plethora of pathetic PC plotlines that ensure left-leaning EastEnders is never knowingly realistic, the Beeb's thoroughly modern Cockney rabble were all far too sophisticated to say the G word. But I'm not. So Phil - looks like your son's GAY! Encouraged by Shirley Terrahawk (Linda Henry), budding homosexual Ben defied his fuming father to enter a crappy contest at the Community Centre. Sadly, the plucky youngster swiftly established he cant dance for sh*t."^[14]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ben Mitchell at BBC Online