Phil's kidnap ordeal will take him in a whole new direction, says EastEnders boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins

"Phil is the one to watch," the executive producer told RadioTimes.com. "Phil has disappeared and everyone assumes that he's just gone off for a wander. Ben thinks it's all because of him. Sharon thinks that he's left her. But we know that Gavin has got him!"

Next week's episodes will see Kathy (Gillian Taylforth) reveal to son Ben (Harry Reid) that Phil has been kidnapped by her evil partner Gavin (Paul Nicholas) and that they now need to work out a way to rescue him.

Speaking about Phil's kidnap, Treadwell-Collins added: "What Gavin does to Phil while he's off screen will take Phil in a whole new direction that will run into next year. We talked about doing for Phil Mitchell what we did recently for Ian Beale."

The BBC1 soap's head honcho has previously revealed that Gavin is definitely not a man to be messed with. "Paul Nicholas has created the most manipulative and dangerous EastEnders baddie we've ever had. He makes Archie Mitchell look like a Care Bear," he said.

Despite having been shot twice and battled drug and alcohol addictions in the past, it looks like hard man Phil might well be lucky to come through this latest ordeal in one piece...

You can watch a 60-second rundown of next week's episodes of EastEnders below.

And visit our dedicated EastEnders page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.