It was one of Walford’s saddest ever Christmas episodes, when Jamie Mitchell proposed to girlfriend Sonia Jackson and promptly popped his clogs. Even Jamie’s adopted ‘dad’ Phil showed us his soft side as he sobbed outside the lad’s hospital room.
Poor Jamie met a sorry end at the hands of Martin Fowler, who knocked him over on his way to a Christmas party.
He spent a few days in hospital and then, as his Uncle Billy tied the knot with Little Mo Slater, poor Jamie told Sonia he loved her and slipped away.
Jamie had a tangled relationship with Billy and Phil. Billy was abusive when the pair first came to the Square, and Jamie struggled to get along with his violent uncle.
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But when Billy unpicked his own childhood abuse, their relationship started to improve.
Meanwhile, Phil took Jamie under his wing until Jamie helped Lisa escape to Portugal with baby Louise. Obviously Phil was furious and gave Jamie a violent beating – so shocking, in fact, that countless viewers complained about the vicious attack.
As Christmas 2002 approached, the Mitchells were repairing their troubled family relationships, Billy and Little Mo were looking forward to married life, and Jamie planned to propose to his sweetheart Sonia.
But Martin put a stop to their hopes of a happy Christmas when he was distracted by a text message while driving and knocked poor Jamie off his feet.
Martin was sentenced to six months detention for knocking Mr Mitchell over and driving off. And Sonia forgave the man who’d killed the love of her life so completely that she married him. A happy ending of sorts! Though not for Jamie.
