Steve McFadden: TV icon Phil Mitchell looks forward to swapping Albert Square for the Royal & Derngate stage
Television icon Steve McFadden, known best for his role as Phil Mitchell in Eastenders, told the Chronicle & Echo he looks forward to swapping Albert Square for the Royal & Derngate stage this Christmas.
Steve has been on our screens in Eastenders for more than 36 years and has led many high-profile storylines, receiving accolades including the British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement and the National Television Award for Outstanding Serial Performance in 2025.
Starring in the Royal & Derngate’s Beauty and the Beast will be Steve’s 19th pantomime appearance, and he will be playing the boo-able baddie Grumblewart who audiences love to hate.
It works out that Steve has appeared in a pantomime every other year since he started acting, having been in Eastenders as Phil Mitchell since 1990, and he spoke to this newspaper at the pantomime launch on Tuesday, June 9.
The Royal & Derngate is continuing its ongoing partnership with pantomime producers Evolution Productions, which is a family-run business led by husband and wife duo Paul Hendy and Emily Wood.
As a friend of Paul’s, Steve was pleased to be asked to star in Beauty and the Beast, especially as he knows the script will suit him and they are on the same page. Steve returns to pantomime year after year because of the people involved.
Talking about his first performing stint in Northampton, Steve said: “I haven’t been here before. You find yourself here, there and everywhere. I love the UK and it’s a chance to get to know another area. I’m not going to go to Birmingham anytime soon but I did panto there.”
Steve likes the chance to get to know and engage with a new place and although he has never been to Northampton, he has visited Corby in the wider county before.
He admitted that when it comes to landing a part in a production, the first thing he does is ask his colleagues at work at Eastenders and friends in the business about the theatre. Everyone he has spoken to has said Northampton is lovely, with a “lovely theatre and lovely people”.
“Every single member of cast and friends in the business have said lovely things about Northampton and being on stage here,” said Steve. “Looking around, being here, it’s lovely.
“Paul’s Evolution Productions are always top-notch. They have special effects, fun and laughter, and fast-moving scripts. Paul puts great talent on the stage, he’s not after big names or people that can’t do it. It will be a fast-moving, hilarious show basically.”
Steve last worked alongside Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer when she was a teenager and he said: “Well she was fantastic last time so I’m sure she’s got even better now. We get on really well and I can’t wait to work with her.”
‘It is like running away with the circus’
Steve was asked how performing in panto compares to playing Phil Mitchell in Eastenders, and how rehearsals work alongside filming for the popular soap during the festive season.
He explained that the Eastenders set shuts down for two weeks over Christmas and he then typically takes two or three weeks off.
“I put all my efforts into concentrating on doing panto and it is like running away with the circus,” said Steve. “You’re just in another world that’s exciting, vibrant, funny and completely away from what I normally do – there’s no audience, there’s no feedback, no one’s laughing or clapping, we just sort of get on with it.”
When asked to compare the two acting jobs, he continued: “It’s a different skillset. I do the same thing in that I try and do the best I can, but you’ve got a big audience out there and it’s live and if it goes wrong, everyone knows about it. It’s more fun and vibrant and alive really.
“There’s kind of no comparison really, but obviously I’m still trying to be somebody else. But being the baddie, you know, you drive on the story so that’s what I try and stick to. We’ve got people here who are funny, we’ve got people here who can sing, we’ve got people who can dance and I push the story along in terms of the narrative, the evil baddie side. That’s my job, but I do sing, sometimes.”
He was asked if audiences can expect to hear him sing and he believes Paul has got a song lined up for him in the panto performance. “God help everybody,” he said, in jest. “I’ll give it a go.”
Steve says people have travelled from as far as Cornwall and Scotland to see the panto shows he has been in, with many mentioning Eastenders, and he looks forward to meeting audience members at the stage door this festive season.
The television icon concluded by saying that what he is most looking forward to this Christmas in Northampton is getting to know a new town once again and having a break from his normal job.
“Amazingly, believe it or not, it is like a holiday for me because I’ll be staying up here as well,” said Steve. “I’m not going back to London apart from at the end of a six-day run. I will go back to London to see my family but they’ll come up here as well.
“It’s a big thing for my family to come and see the show, they’ll come a couple of times. When my kids talk about Christmas they talk about panto, obviously Father Christmas is involved, but they can’t wait to come and see the show. We make it work.”