I disagree he changed when he became an alcoholic that was Phil at his worst and that was while he was married to Kathy. He was even being physically abusive far worse than now. When was the last time Phil assaulted Ian it was a rather long time ago. He does bully him but to suggest he didn't when he was married to Kathy is simply untrue. Hell on the double date long before the marriage he was assaulting him shoving his head down the loo. Phil treated Kathy far worse than he has Sharon. He attacked her, bullied her and cheated on her. So much nicer person before the alcoholism but not while he was married to Kathy.

And Kathy did take Phil's side over Ian who is her son many times.

I expect he will go around to Ian's with Sharon and that fact will wind him up. He'll probably say that he knows how he feels and Ian will be angry because he doesn't. Phil's missed out on a lot of time with his kids but as far as Ian's concerned, that's his fault and not having your children nearby isn't the same as them being dead.

Id say he'll be as sympathetic as much as Phil possibly can be.

I agree Phil was at his worst during his alcoholism but i dont recall Kathy siding with him over Ian then. The only time i remember Kathy excusing his poor treatment of Ian was in the very early days of their relationship (i.e. the head-flushing incident) when at the time Ian was behaving like a prat refusing to accept their relationship and this was back when Phil was a likeable character. Very different to the dynamics between Ian and Phil now which is very much one-sided sadistic bullying.

To be fair, if she acknowledged that she is/was sort of family, he'd have to do the obligatory "Get up Lucy, you're a Mitchell. Get back to work." routine

Yes and he'd give her the obligatory "owning" routine, the same one as everyone else gets.

In which she would be left cowering in her boots lol.

Lucy did litrally grow up from a baby infront of him, if he hasnt got anything to say, then there's no hope for this guy, I hope Ian has the last laugh when its his turn!

Get this - it will NEVER be Ian's turn. The man has suffered ABH, GBH, intimidation, kidnap, torture, waterboarding and god knows what else, but in the eyes of the story team Ian is the buffoon who 'deserves it'. It is the creepiest thing in EastEnders by a mile.

Philth is simply a waste of oxygen.

And I agree with people that Sharon has been an appalling friend to Ian recently.

But again her character is nothing like she used to be and being Philth's latest doormat does her no favours either.

She had better be planning his total destruction otherwise she can piss off right out of the show as far as I am concerned.

Phil was indeed at his worst after he married Kathy IMO. But the bullying only escalated after he flushed Ian's head in the loo cos he wouldn't let up making comments about him & his Mum. Plus he did help rescue the boys for Ian in Italy and reunite them with their sister even if he did only do it for Kathy's sake.

Never been that much of a ****?

http://youtu.be/JJqsFtlk59I

(And I don't like Ian)

Wouldn't put it past him.

Which isn't much TBH.

One would think having kids himself and having had a heart attack himself now, that he could be a bit more empathetic and sympathetic towards people.

Trouble is, men like him (of which there are plenty, sadly) see it as some kind of weakness to be like that.

But essentially, this is not Phil's SL it's true, it's going to be Ian's.

he won't care, Lucy ans Phil haven't got much connection except for the step-family thing which isn't even explored...have they ever shared scenes together?

This is the chance to see some real heart and sincerity for Phil.

Hardhearted though he may be, I really cannot see him being horrible about this, surely?

Not really many scenes have been shared by Philth and Lucy - if any at all TBH.

The same as with Phil and Kat - they rarely appear together and never speak to each other.

I doubt he'd care much, if at all. The dude hates Ian and he hates Ian's family (didn't want Lola to be with Peter just because he was a Beale)

I wonder if Ian will ever end up literally killing 'Philth' in the end?

They have shared the odd scene- one that sticks out in my mind is after Ian vanished as=nd she went to Phil to help find him.

As I recall, Phil traced Ian's bank card to where it was last used but they found Mandy instead

Exactly. She's not a Mitchell.

"Why aren't you at work? "
*Silence from Lucy's body*
"Get back to work! "

I don't think Phil will care much. I don't think we'll see much of him regarding this story line. The poster who said he would make a cutting remark about Lucy's mother is probably right.

He'll huff and he'll puff but no one will pay him the slightest bit of attention.