The Secret Mitchell
"The Secret Mitchell" was a storyline in the BBC soap opera EastEnders involving the characters of Ronnie Mitchell and Danielle Jones. The build-up to the storyline began in the episode broadcast on 18 August 2008 in which Danielle was introduced as a friend for Stacey Slater and a love interest for Callum Monks. The storyline gained more pace in October 2008 when it was revealed that Danielle was actually the daughter of Ronnie and that she came to Walford to find her.
Throughout late 2008 and early 2009, Danielle attempted to befriend Ronnie in the hope to build a relationship with her so she would accept her as her daughter when she told her about who she was. By spring 2009, Ronnie's father Archie Mitchell, who was responsible for Danielle, then called Amy, being put up for adoption when Ronnie was fourteen, discovers who she is, and attempts to persuade her to leave Walford and then plans to murder her which doesn't go through.
The storyline climaxed on 2 April 2009 when Danielle finally found the strength to tell Ronnie that she was her daughter, but Archie lies to Danielle about him telling Ronnie the truth. This proceeds Ronnie to throw her out, rejecting her. Ronnie shortly finds out that she was telling the truth and finally reunites with Danielle before being run over by Janine Butcher, subsequently killing her, leaving Ronnie devastated and consumed with guilt for the way she treated her.
The episode which saw Danielle revealing to Ronnie that she was her daughter was watched by 11.46 million viewers. It became one of the most dramatic storylines in EastEnders and also impacted Stacey's bipolar diagnosis storyline and the "Who Killed Archie?" storyline.
Plot
Build-up
In July 2007, two new characters were introduced into the show, Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell, as an extension of the Mitchell family and they arrived for the wedding of their cousin Phil Mitchell. Phil had discovered that his fiancée Stella Crawford had been abusing his son Ben and she had killed herself after the reveal. Phil's mother Peggy Mitchell decided to take them all away to recover for a while and asked Ronnie and Roxy to look after their pub The Queen Victoria. This allowed the characters to develop and allowed the audience to get to know them. Roxy was depicted as being fun, impulsive and exciting, whereas Ronnie was seen as very closed, cold and guarded which became intriguing. A few months after their arrival, during an argument, Roxy implied there was a family secret between the two of them and a physical fight ensued.In May 2008, during a quarrel with Roxy, Ronnie broke down and admitted to Peggy that she had fallen pregnant aged 14 and given birth to a daughter that she named Amy on 23 June 1989 and that her father Archie had given Amy up for adoption just hours after she was born. Ronnie also revealed that she had given Amy a locket with a picture of herself as a 14-year-old in it, and kept an identical locket with a picture of Amy as a baby in it. Archie was introduced into the show in July 2008 when Roxy, Ronnie and Peggy went to visit him at his home in Weymouth. During a vicious row with Ronnie, Archie told her that Amy had died in an accident in the bath when she was a child. Archie later came to stay at Walford where he began a relationship with Peggy.
Then, in August 2008, a mysterious character, Danielle Jones, appeared, becoming friends with Stacey Slater. She later found work with the Mitchells and became caught up in the feud between Archie and Ronnie: Ronnie persuaded Danielle to steal Archie's letters; Archie in turn persuaded her to steal a reply to a letter Ronnie had sent to Amy's father, her former boyfriend Joel Reynolds. On 10 October 2008 when Ronnie discovered this, she sacked Danielle and called her pathetic. Danielle went home and burst into tears and was seen with an identical locket and photograph of a 14-year-old Ronnie in it, revealing to the audience that she was Ronnie's long-lost daughter Amy.
After this, Danielle frequently tried to get close to Ronnie, but something would always happen, leading to Ronnie shutting down and Danielle backing off. Feeling depressed, Danielle had sex with a barman called Paul at R&R on 23 December 2008. Then, in January 2009, she discovered she was pregnant. She confided in Ronnie about her pregnancy and how frightened she was at not knowing what to do. Ronnie comforted her and the pair became closer than ever before. Ronnie told her that she had given away a baby once, not realising that she was talking to that baby. Danielle and Ronnie then decided that she should have an abortion; even after her adoptive father, Andy Jones, tried to persuade her not to, she went ahead with it on 20 January 2009. She nearly told Ronnie her true identity, but Ronnie backed out of coming to her last appointment at the clinic, because Danielle's abortion brought back so many painful memories about Amy. She called Danielle, but instead told her that she backed out because R&R was busy, and when asked by Danielle if she regretted giving away her baby, she lied and said no and that she should have had an abortion, which crushed both Danielle and her. After deciding to leave Walford and return home to Telford, she left deciding that Ronnie would not want her in her life.
However, she returned in February. Danielle confided in Stacey that Ronnie was her mother, but stated that she was trying to find the right time to tell her. She was furious when Stacey kissed Paul and told him about her abortion, and also when Stacey threatened to tell Ronnie the truth. Danielle pinned Stacey to the wall and warned her off this course of action, but began to make attempts to reveal her true identity to Ronnie. She became increasingly angry with her mother, going as far as to paint "evil cow" on her front door.
Danielle decided that she would tell Ronnie who she really was, and then leave Walford for good, but was stopped by Archie, who found her locket. Initially assuming it was Ronnie's, and that Danielle had been trying to steal it, he opened it and saw the picture of Ronnie and realised that she was Ronnie's daughter and his granddaughter. During their talk, Danielle admitted she had discovered all about Ronnie from the adoption agency and was going to get in touch with her, but, because she didn't know what she was like, decided to get to know her first so came to Walford to have a look. Because of Archie's previous lie to Ronnie about Amy's death as an infant, Danielle posed a huge threat to him because things were going incredibly well between him and Ronnie, and the discovery that his story was a lie would destroy his relationship with Ronnie, and would also mean ostracism form the rest of his family, including Roxy and Peggy, to whom he was now engaged. In order to preserve his story, he told Danielle that Ronnie believed she was dead because of a letter from the adoption agency, and that Ronnie suffered from depression, so asked Danielle to keep quiet for a little while longer, in order to protect her mental health.
The reveal
During the end of March, Danielle grew more and more desperate to tell Ronnie, even believing that when she told her, she would be a bridesmaid at Archie and Peggy's wedding. Then on 31 March, Archie prepared to kill Danielle by strangling her to death. However, he failed, and told Danielle that he had told Ronnie, and that she had rejected her and given him money to get rid of her. This crushed Danielle, and Archie told her to leave for good. Danielle did not, however, and on the wedding day, placed her locket in Ronnie's champagne glass, before going upstairs to confront her. She then admitted to Ronnie that after a seven-month silence, she was her daughter, and was shocked to realise that Ronnie did not know who she was. Ronnie refused to believe her, and helped her father throw her out, proclaiming, "Who would want to have a daughter like you!"Danielle then planned to leave. At the Queen Vic, Ronnie delivered a heartfelt toast to Archie, but then discovered the locket in her champagne glass, realising to her horror and shock that Danielle was her daughter. It dawned on her that Danielle was telling the truth, that Archie had lied to her, and that the daughter she had craved all her life had been under her nose for eight months. She tearfully declared this in front of the whole wedding reception, and then chased after Danielle. Archie caught up with her, and their exchange was overheard by Peggy. Ronnie caught up with Danielle, and tearfully called her Amy. Realising Ronnie now knew who she was, a delighted Danielle ran forward into the road and was suddenly hit by a car driven by Janine Butcher. Ronnie cradled her in her arms and told her that she was sorry, that she never wanted to give her away and that it had cursed her whole life; she had always dreamed of finding her, and told her they would have a proper mother-daughter relationship. Danielle tearfully called her "Mum", moments before dying, as Roxy, Stacey and Janine watched.
Aftermath
Any chance of a reconciliation between Ronnie and Archie was destroyed forever. Horrified that Archie could lie to both Danielle and Ronnie - his own family - in such a way, Peggy threw Archie out and ended their marriage, while Roxy threw his belongings into the road, telling him to never come back. Peggy was upset to discover Archie was still in Walford, and determined to avenge Ronnie and Danielle, ordered Phil to kill him. Archie was bundled into the back of a van on 10 April, and bound and gagged in The Arches. Phil tricked Archie into believing he was going to kill him, but instead frightened him out of Walford; when Peggy found this out, she was furious. Meanwhile, Stacey began acting strangely towards everyone, and it was revealed that the death of Danielle was one of the events that triggered her bipolar disorder.The Mitchells' continued resentment towards Archie provided several motives in the subsequent "Who Killed Archie?" storyline.