Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
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| EastEnders character | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sam Mitchell, portrayed by Kim Medcalf | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sam Mitchell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Danniella Westbrook (1990–2000) Kim Medcalf (2002–2005) |
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| Introduced by | Michael Ferguson (1990) Corinne Hollingworth (1995) Matthew Robinson (1999) John Yorke (2002) |
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| Duration | 1990–1993, 1995–1996, 1999–2000, 2002–2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 12 July 1990 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 17 November 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 13 May 1975 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Widowed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home | Brazil | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Danniella Westbrook as Sam (1995) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Samantha "Sam" Mitchell (previously Butcher and Hunter) was a fictional character in the British BBC1 soap opera EastEnders. She was played firstly by English actress Danniella Westbrook for three stints from 1990 to 2000, and later by Kim Medcalf from early 2002 to late 2005. Sam's brothers are Phil Mitchell and Grant Mitchell, and her mother is Peggy Mitchell.
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[edit] Life on Albert Square
Sam first appeared in the show in July 1990, as the teenage sister of the Mitchell brothers, Phil and Grant. She would often run away to Walford to stay the night in her brother's garage because she disliked her mother's boyfriend, Kevin. Sam's father had died when she was only ten and she was generally on the receiving end of her brothers' heavy-handed paternalism. In her first year, she made strong friendships with Hattie Tavernier and later with the wayward Mandy Salter, and even got involved with a dodgy modelling agency, who were more interested in taking shots of her naked body than her modelling capabilities.
Sam soon set her sights on local heartthrob Ricky Butcher, and the two soon began seeing each other. Sam had Ricky well and truly under the thumb, and he was willing to do exactly what she wanted. So when she decided that she wanted to get married at 16, he was powerless to stop it. Both the Mitchells and the Butchers were furious and tried to put a stop to their relationship, but this made Sam all the more determined and in June 1991 she and Ricky eloped to Gretna Green and tried to seal their union in secret. However, dozy Ricky wasn't very good at hiding his tracks and it didn't take Sam's mother Peggy long to discover where they were. Luckily for them, they managed to complete their nuptials before they were caught and even managed to persuade Peggy to attend a formal blessing back in Walford the following month. After just a year of marriage, Sam grew bored and began lusting after a playboy named Clive, who she met at a New Years Eve party with Mandy. After having a brief affair Sam thought she had fallen in love with Clive, but he soon made it clear that he was only after her for sex when he tried to coax her into having a threesome. Realising that her marriage was over, Sam left her husband and Walford in 1993 to take a job as a holiday rep on a cruise ship.
Sam returned a few years later, in 1995, after her brothers, on a boys holiday in Spain, caught her in bed with David Wicks, and forced her to return. Sam had tried to build herself a career as a model, but it had not gone to plan and she had ended up working as a hostess in a seedy bar. Back in Walford Sam tried to continue her fling with David and when this went nowhere she tried to come between Ricky and his girlfriend, Bianca Jackson. Initially Ricky thought he still had feelings for Sam, but eventually realised he was better off with Bianca and tried to let Sam down gently. However Sam wouldn't take no for an answer and purposefully kissed an innocent Ricky in front of Bianca, causing them to split. Despite this Ricky would not reconsider getting back with Sam and opted to try and make amends with Bianca. Sam was forced to admit defeat. Soon after, she met a Spanish man named Guillermo, who was holidaying in England. When he invited her to join him in the Costas she leapt at the chance and she left Walford again in March 1996.
In 1999, Sam decided that she wanted to settle down in Walford once more. During this time she embarked on a stormy relationship with Beppe di Marco, but Sam took things more seriously than Beppe. After Beppe finished the relationship, a heartbroken Sam looked for comfort elsewhere. She turned to local club owner Steve Owen, but Steve was only using her to make Melanie Healy jealous, so a hurt Sam decided to leave Walford once again in 2000.
In 2002, while Peggy was in Spain for the supposed funeral of her estranged husband, Frank Butcher (who turned out to be alive after all, as the funeral was a scam to avoid repaying debts), Sam was caught working in a lap-dancing club by her mother Peggy. Ashamed and penniless, Sam decided to return to Walford with her mother. On her return, Sam began a fling with her old boyfriend Beppe, and reignited her affair with her brothers' enemy, Steve Owen. It turned out that Steve was just using Sam again, this time as a final act of revenge against Phil. Steve was eventually killed in a car crash when he and his wife Mel planned to flee to the USA with Phil's ex-girlfriend Lisa and their daughter Louise.
[edit] Loss of the Mitchell empire
At one point, she was left in charge of the Mitchell empire when her brother, Phil, went on the run after escaping prison for an armed robbery. Her responsibilities included the Bridge Street Café, The Arches, the Snooker Hall and The Queen Vic pub. Her long-term family lawyer, Marcus Christie, told Sam that Phil had contacted him and wanted Sam to sell everything and give the cash to him via Marcus, so that Phil could go abroad. It turned out that it was a lie, and once Marcus had the cash, he fled. By this point, she had sold the café and The Arches to Ian, and The Snooker Hall to an unknown character.
When Sam was tricked out of all the Mitchell assets (including the pub to Den Watts, who was also in on the scam with Marcus), her husband, Andy Hunter, threw her out of their house. He revealed to her that he had only married her for her money, and now that she didn't have any, she was worthless.
She struggled to get back on her feet, even taking a job working in Ian Beale's chip shop. However, a bigger shock came after Andy's death when she found out he had left her nothing in his will, apart from the engagement ring. His note read out: 'To my wife, I leave her the engagement ring so she can sell it, get her roots done, and still be the dumbest blonde I had ever known.'
[edit] Den's death
Sam later teamed up with Zoe Slater and Chrissie Watts to get revenge on Den. However, things turned ugly when Den attacked Chrissie, leading to Den being hit over the head with Pauline Fowler's doorstop by Zoe. After Den was hit on the head, he was thought to be dead but minutes later, when Chrissie was left alone with him, he shockingly cheated death yet again and grabbed Chrissie's ankle. Chrissie reached for the doorstop and delivered the fatal blow which finally killed him. Sam witnessed this but kept quiet, while Zoe believed she had killed him. Chrissie, Sam and Zoe then buried Den in the cellar of The Queen Vic. On the same night of Den's murder, Sam's husband Andy Hunter was also killed after he was thrown off a motorway fly-over by gangster Johnny Allen, after his bid to cheat Johnny out of a large fortune backfired. His death was wrongly thought to be suicide until Johnny was finally brought to justice a year later.
Subsequent to Den's death, Sam enjoyed a romance with Danny Moon and often used the knowledge of knowing what Chrissie had done to blackmail her for money. With no way out, Chrissie submitted and began handing over large amounts of cash. Eventually, after trading bitchy remarks and psychological games with each other, Chrissie and Sam realised they needed each other to avoid prison for Den's murder. They both agreed to call a truce and co-run the pub.
This lasted briefly, as Sam still couldn't trust Chrissie, leading to the former being sacked. Sam then had to face the humiliation of grovelling to Ian for her old job at the chip shop. Also, when she realised Zoe was cracking up over thinking she was the real murderer of Den, Sam confessed to her that in fact Chrissie was the killer. Zoe's mother, Kat, also forgave Sam and promised to leave her alone.
Sam had believed that Den had still owned the pub, until Sharon let slip that in fact Chrissie was the manager. This enraged Sam as she quickly clicked on that Chrissie would set about selling the pub to leave Walford. As she tried to have it out with Chrissie, she got drunk and began making threats which led to a catfight between the two. Chrissie then dragged her out of the pub and told her she was on her own.
Depleted, Sam stuck to drinking and lost her job. In a drunken rage, on the wedding of Dennis Rickman and Sharon Watts, she smashed up Den's grave and dug him up in the hope of Chrissie finally being caught out. The plan backfired, and all evidence pointed to Sam, who was quickly charged with murder and remanded in custody.
In October, her brothers Phil - who had been released from prison - and Grant (who had come back from Brazil) returned to Walford to try to secure her release by proving that it was Chrissie who killed Den.
In November, Johnny Allen got CCTV footage of Chrissie confessing to Den's murder in his nightclub, and the Mitchell brothers stole the tape and turned Chrissie in to the police. Chrissie was quickly arrested on a murder charge, while Sam was released from custody. But she still faced a charge of perverting the course of justice, and faced a prison sentence up to four years. This prospect was too daunting for Sam, and she fled to Brazil while on bail.
In March 2006, Grant returned to Walford along with Courtney, leaving Sam in Brazil with his wife, Carla, mentioning to Phil that she had found a new man. Grant eventually moved to Portugal, and Carla's whereabouts are unknown, meaning Sam's the only Mitchell left in Brazil.
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