How Phil Mitchell and Eastenders took on UEFA to change the kick-off time of a huge European fixture

Martin Macdonald

• 6 Apr 2026 10:30 CDT
• 3 min read

News

Twenty-five years ago this week, the world found out who shot Phil Mitchell in EastEnders.

In late March of 2001, Mitchell, played by Steve McFadden, was gunned down outside his house in a storyline compared to the 'Who Shot JR?' storyline in Dallas.

It became one of the greatest storylines in the history of soap opera in the United Kingdom and made headlines around the country due to the public's interest.

Bookies took odds on who the killer might be, with suspects including Mark Fowler, Ian Beale, Dan Sullivan and Steve Owen. William Hill said at the time that 50,000 bets had been placed on the murder mystery.

By 2001, Mitchell, as a character, had started to take a darker turn due to the breakdown in the relationship with his brother, Grant.

Several outcomes were filmed and viewers had to wait for weeks to find out who tried to commit the murder. The reveal came on 5 April, 2001, as it came to light that Phil's former girlfriend, Lucy Shaw, had been the attacker.

That night just happened to coincide with Liverpool's crunch UEFA Cup semi-final fixture with Barcelona at Camp Nou.

Remarkably, the kick-off time of that game was pushed back by 15 minutes to accomodate the longer episode of EastEnders that aired beforehand.

Normally, UEFA Cup fixtures commenced at 8pm GMT after the conclusion of the soap, but the special episode was extended by 10 minutes which led to the BBC and show producers requesting to UEFA and the two clubs to delay the kick-off by 15 minutes.

BBC Sport spokesman Mike Hales said at the time: "We asked both sides nicely and they agreed to start later because of EastEnders.

"It is a well-known programme so the Spanish realise it was important for the BBC."

The tie itself

In the first leg of the semi-final clash, Liverpool earned a 0-0 draw at Camp Nou. In the return leg at Anfield on 15 April, the Reds ran out narrow 1-0 winners thanks to a penalty from Gary McAllister.

Liverpool then progressed to the UEFA Cup final which proved to be one of the most dramatic in history, as they faced Alaves at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.

They went 2-0 up early on thanks to goals from Markus Babbel and Steven Gerrard, only for the deficit to be halved by Ivan Alonso. McAllister scored another UEFA Cup penalty to make it 3-1, but Javi Moreno then scored a double for the Spaniards to draw them level.

In the 72nd minute, Robbie Fowler scored to make it 4-3 but more drama was to come as Jordi Cruyff scored with just two minutes remaining to ensure extra-time.

The winning goal for Liverpool came in the 116th minute as Alaves defender Delfi Geli scored an own-goal, gifting the Reds and manager Gerard Houllier a treble after they previously won the League Cup and FA Cup.

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