Ben Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, who has been played by six different actors since his on-screen birth on 21 March 1996.

Ben's storylines include: a feud between the show's Mitchell and Beale families for his custody; developing a love of dance and the arts, which is a source of tension between him and his father, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden); being physically and mentally abused by Phil's girlfriend Stella Crawford (Sophie Thompson); struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality and then attempting to hide it before coming out; being imprisoned for manslaughter after unintentionally killing Heather Trott (Cheryl Fergison); having a daughter, Lexi Pearce, with Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold), finding out his mother Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) is still alive after faking her own death, relationships with Paul Coker (Jonny Labey) and the closeted Callum Highway (Tony Clay), coming to terms with Paul's death in a homophobic attack, being shot by Hunter Owen (Charlie Winter), blackmailing Martin Fowler (James Bye), losing his hearing after sustaining an injury during a boat crash, going into crime with Danny Hardcastle (Paul Usher), featuring in a male rape storyline, in which Ben is raped by Lewis Butler (Aidan O'Callaghan), and suffering from bulimia.

Grace Dent of The Guardian wrote several negative opinion pieces on the character, and contacted the BBC with a list of suggestions for humorous storylines in which he could be killed off.

Lisa O'Connell, also writing for The Guardian, was complimentary of Ben's later, protracted coming out storyline, which she called "a perfect foundation for years of dramatic conflict".

[1] As Kathy gives Ben all her affection, Phil turns to alcohol and has an affair with Lorna Cartwright (Janet Dibley), resulting in the breakdown of their marriage.

In 2006, the residents hear that Kathy and Gavin have been killed in a car accident, so Ben (now played by Charlie Jones) returns to England to live with his half-brother, Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt).

He anonymously stalks Phil, terrorising him with evidence about his past crimes, including a newspaper clip of the death of Steve Owen (Martin Kemp).

Worried she will discover the truth, Ben convinces Phil to break-up with Shirley and she is thrown out of their home, while Jay is so traumatised by Heather's murder that he moves out of the Mitchells' flat.

In September Ben (now played by Harry Reid) returns to Walford when he learns that Phil is having an affair with Shirley days before his wedding to Sharon Rickman (Letitia Dean).

Ben initially tries to convince his father to reunite with Shirley, but forms a bond with Sharon when she accepts him into the family and acts as Phil's best man at the wedding.

Denise Fox (Diane Parish) digs them up in Patrick Trueman's (Rudolph Walker) allotment and takes them to Ian, who calls the police before Ben convinces him that he found them on Good Friday in a bag in the Square and had no part in Lucy's murder.

Despite Ben's discovery that Phil has cut him out of his will, he proceeds with his plan to donate part of his liver, but he is refused by the hospital who are unsatisfied with his answers and emotional responses when interviewed.

After Louise suffers severe burns following a disaster at a school prom, against Sharon's request Ben calls Phil who is Italy recovering from his transplant.

Ben meets Luke Browning (Adam Astill), the son of James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde), who raped Kathy 30 years previously but is unaware of his identity.

Hurt and confused, Ben asks Abi's sister Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), who works for Luke's firm, Weyland & Co, about the project but she does not know about it.

Just as Whitney is about to expose Halfway's secret to the packed pub, all of the residents are held hostage by Hunter Owen (Charlie Winter), who has escaped prison.

Phil, who was told by Louise's mother Lisa Fowler (Lucy Benjamin) that Sharon's unborn child is not his, coerces Ben and Keanu to kidnap Jack, who he thinks is the father of the baby.

"[43] Scott Matthewman of The Stage sympathised with Atkinson's complaint, but defended Jones' casting: "it's hard enough to find good child actors who can cope with a soap opera environment at age 10, let alone ones that fit a character's physical requirement set out the best part of a decade earlier.

He subsequently took boxing lessons, and TV Mag's Gemma Quade noted that Ben "refuse[d] to take the coward's way out" and flee the country with his father, but nonetheless was reduced to tears upon receiving a custodial sentence.

[57] This launched a storyline which highlighted "the depth of ignorance surrounding HIV and Aids in Walford", when Ben's parents blamed HIV-positive resident Mark Fowler (Todd Carty) for causing his illness.

"[61] In 2007, Ben was part of a storyline in which he, his father, Ian and Peter Beale (Thomas Law) were involved in a car accident, when the Range Rover they were travelling in crashed into a lake.

"[69] McFadden stated that Phil had never considered the possibility of Ben being gay, rather, he held an idealised view of his son and hoped he would become more like Jay, interested in "normal macho things".

[79] Reid explained that Ben leaves following the deaths of Abi and his boyfriend, Paul Coker (Jonny Labey), and a failed relationship with Luke Browning (Adam Astill).

Producers lined up a new romance story between Ben and Callum Highway (Tony Clay), who is in a heterosexual relationship with Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty).

[84] Clay told Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy that the Ben and Callum's affair would create typical EastEnders drama with "a bit of a fallout".

Left partially deaf after contracting meningitis as a baby, he's lost his mum and stepfather, been kidnapped by Martin Fowler, nearly drowned in a sinking Land Rover, been bullied by his dad's (now dead) fiance Stella... and is inescapably related by blood to Ian Beale.

She listed the many setbacks and problems Ben had encountered, and suggested that within five years, he would be "on top of the community centre with a rifle using [Peggy's] wig as target practice.

Dent hypothesised that the EastEnders scriptwriters "cheer themselves by conjuring up fresh ways to dispense with [Ben]" and said she had contacted the BBC with her own suggestions for creative deaths that might befall him.

[68][100] The Guardian's Lisa O'Connell welcomed the eventual decision to have Ben come out, and called the plot "a perfect foundation for years of dramatic conflict", which would "no doubt test the filial relationship to the limits.

"[69] The November 2011 storyline which featured Ben's false molestation accusation against Christian, and Phil's subsequent attack on him, drew criticism from singer George Michael, who stated that EastEnders's depiction of homosexuality was "insulting to the gay community."