text: jill marsden ( eastenders ) detective chief inspector jillian " jill " marsden is a fictional character in the bbc soap opera eastenders , played by sophie stanton . she made her first appearance on 5 march 2001 investigating the shooting of phil mitchell ( steve mcfadden ) , which was part of the whodunit storyline " who shot phil ? " . marsden returned in 2002 , 2003 and 2009 ( for another whodunit storyline , " who killed archie ? " ) . she returned on 5 january 2012 for her third whodunit storyline , " who 's stalking phil ? " , departing four months later on 10 may 2012 . marsden returned for two episodes on 17 august 2012 to conclude the latter storyline . on 16 july 2015 , she returned for part of the " who killed lucy beale ? " whodunit storyline . when she was brought back in 2009 , marsden 's feelings were explored in a segment of the bbc eastenders homepage entitled " marsden 's video diaries " , documenting the character 's thoughts about the storyline in which she was involved . marsden 's relationship with phil has been explored since her first appearance , with the bbc describing their relationship as a " romance in negative ... her ultimate dream is that some day she 'll get [ phil ] behind bars " and the daily mirror 's tony stewart calling her phil 's " arch enemy " . the character has been criticised by police detectives who felt that marsden 's habit of discussing investigation details with suspects ( as her colleagues accepted bribes ) did not properly represent their profession . in response , the bbc said it had sought advice from a police consultant for storylines involving marsden . storylines 2001 – 03 marsden first arrives in albert square in march 2001 , investigating phil mitchell 's shooting in her first case as detective chief inspector . she identifies the five main suspects : ian beale ( adam woodyatt ) , dan sullivan ( craig fairbrass ) , steve owen ( martin kemp ) , mark fowler ( todd carty ) and lisa shaw ( lucy benjamin ) . marsden arrests dan for the shooting , although he is later acquitted due to lack of evidence . dan was set up by phil but it was , in fact , lisa who shot him . marsden later arrests little mo slater ( kacey ainsworth ) for the attempted murder of her husband trevor morgan ( alex ferns ) . little mo claims self - defence , since she has been a victim of domestic violence at the hands of trevor . the trial ends , with trevor 's treatment of little mo revealed . in 2003 , sonia jackson ( natalie cassidy ) visits marsden with evidence that phil killed his ex - girlfriend lisa . jill helps set up a honey - trap for phil in order to obtain a confession from him , with pc kate morton ( jill halfpenny ) and di dominic price ( paul ) , but it fails when kate falls in love with phil and marsden fires her . marsden arrests phil , but with insufficient evidence and no confession he is released . it later emerges that lisa is safe and well , and phil is innocent . marsden later arrests phil when dennis rickman ( nigel harman ) and den watts ( leslie grantham ) set him up in an armed robbery . 2009 – 10 marsden reappears on albert square in 2009 when archie mitchell ( larry lamb ) is murdered . she arrives on the scene when several people say they suspect janine butcher ( charlie brooks ) , but marsden waits before questioning her , and questions the mitchells first . she makes a televised appeal for witnesses and later interviews phil , but he is provided an alibi by his girlfriend shirley carter ( linda henry ) . a few days later , a red fingernail is found at the scene of the murder ; marsden visits the female locals , checking their hands . seeing an upset heather trott ( cheryl fergison ) , knowing that she is vulnerable and lives with shirley , she talks to heather about christmas day and heather accidentally tells marsden that phil wasn 't there . marsden interviews phil and later visits his home , asking to see the clothes he was wearing on christmas day . shirley shows her a clean shirt ; marsden closes the laundrette , hoping anyone with blood - stained clothes will not be able to wash them . after a tip - off marsden arrests sam mitchell ( danniella westbrook ) ; sam accuses her mother , peggy mitchell ( barbara windsor ) , of the murder . marsden confirms that she was there to talk to peggy , questioning peggy and sam at the police station . peggy is released without charge ; however , sam is detained for jumping bail . marsden visits janine , who insists that people will say anything to get her in trouble . she asks janine why she was out in the cold on christmas day , and asks if janine knows where archie 's laptop as it had gone missing . on 18 january , marsden arrests ian after janine told her that ian took advantage of her , stole archie 's laptop , which had a recording of them having sex on it , and dumped it in the canal . ian refuses to talk , but when marsden shows him cctv footage of him dumping the laptop , and then shows him the recovered laptop , he admits visiting archie on christmas day , claiming that archie was threatening him . he wanted to delete the recording and denies murdering archie , but marsden charges him . days later , janine tells marsden she saw ian leave the queen victoria on christmas day but the bust of queen victoria was on the bar after he left . marsden places janine at the scene , but she also denies murdering archie . marsden tells ian that although the murder charge will be dropped , he will still be charged with burglary and theft of archie 's laptop . she and dc wayne hughes ( jamie treacher ) attend archie 's funeral , watching people 's reactions in the hope of a new lead . peggy returns to archie 's grave ; when marsden asks why , she explains that she didn 't believe him when he said his cancer had returned . the following week , ronnie mitchell ( samantha womack ) spots her ex - boyfriend jack branning ( scott maslen ) talking to marsden ; jack tells ronnie that he was fishing for information . with no new leads , marsden 's boss threatens to take her off the case . she reviews the suspects and decides to question jack , since he is asking more questions than he has answered . in the café marsden and hughes discuss new information she has obtained , ensuring that she is overheard . chinese whisper - style rumours circulate , ending with the certainty that marsden would arrest ronnie . ronnie sees marsden in the square , and a struggle ensues . she knocks marsden down , is arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer but is released on bail . marsden suspects ronnie further , saying that she has now shown her true colours . later , dc jasmine field ( karen ) enters the pub with other officers to arrest a suspect ; frightened , ronnie leaves walford . the police officers are there to arrest dot branning ( june brown ) , who was accused by dotty cotton ( molly conlin ) after dot slapped her . jack confronts marsden for unnecessarily sending a uniformed officer to arrest dot and unsettling the locals , and realises there was no new information . janine tells marsden that ronnie has fled , but marsden finds her at the queen vic . marsden remarks that a new forensic profile has been found , and dna screening of white males will shortly begin . after hughes accepts a bribe from jack to make the dna samples disappear , marsden receives an anonymous tip - off . the police search janine 's flat , finding the engagement ring that went missing the night of archie 's murder , and janine is arrested but later released for lack of evidence . becca swanson ( simone james ) calls the police , saying that bradley branning ( charlie clements ) attacked archie on christmas day , and the police arrive to arrest him . marsden spots him when his phone rings ; two officers chase him to the roof , where he stumbles and falls to his death . the investigation ends , since the police believe that bradley had killed archie ; however , his killer was actually stacey slater ( lacey turner ) . 2012 in january 2012 , denise fox ( diane parish ) gives marsden a letter incriminating phil in the death of a homeless man , who died when he torched the car lot in an insurance scam in 1994 ; she adds that phil also murdered stella crawford ( sophie thompson ) , and marsden thanks denise for the information . marsden arrives in walford and begins trailing phil . she asks denise not to tell phil that she is in town , wanting to ensure phil 's imprisonment . marsden then targets phil 's son ben ( joshua pascoe ) , interviewing him about stella 's death . ben was abused by stella and finds marsden 's questions distressing ; however , she continues to press him . after a falling - out with phil ben changes his statement , telling marsden that phil told stella to jump off a building or he would push her . marsden then arrests phil for murder , and ben reveals he was stalking him . she informs phil 's partner , shirley , that he has been charged with stella 's murder . ben pleads with marsden to keep his statement a secret from the mitchells , but she tells him he must accept that his father will learn about ben 's involvement in his arrest eventually . after discovering ben 's lies about phil , ian then passes this information on to marsden and ben is arrested . on the day of phil 's release he helps ben hide his involvement in heather 's murder ; marsden tells phil at the police station she will contact him about ben 's accusations . the charges against ben are dropped ; marsden visits phil , taunting him that he will eventually slip up , and suggests that ben may ultimately bring phil down . in august , marsden reappears when ben confesses heather 's murder . she does not believe his confession , thinking it is another lie to get attention from phil . however , ben is arrested and charged with the murder after marsden helps ds luke crisp ( rufus wright ) convince jay brown ( jamie borthwick ) to implicate ben as heather 's killer . 2015 – in july 2015 , the beales are informed by di samantha keeble ( alison newman ) that the police have a new dci dealing with the murder of lucy beale ( hetti bywater ) , who is making an arrest . at phil 's house , marsden knocks on his door and phil is shocked to see her . marsden wants to speak to ben about lucy 's murder , but phil slams the door in her face and then attempts to delay marsden so ben can flee walford , but ben is eventually arrested . development characterisation nicknamed the " female sleuth " by the daily record , marsden 's profile on the eastenders website describes her as " fearless , [ a ] no - nonsense copper and the scourge of walford ’ s criminal fraternity . " the east anglian daily times described marsden as " tough " , ian hyland from the mirror called her " scary " and nancy banks - smith from the guardian characterised her as " strict " . naomi mcelroy described marsden as a " curly - haired copper " , but said as a detective she was " rubbish " ; polly hudson from the daily mirror similarly opined , saying she was " useless " ( as did mcelroy ) , and stated that marsden was " making a right pig 's ear " of investigating archie 's ( lamb ) murder . the daily mirror 's tony stewart characterised her as " vindictive " . introduction , 2002 and 2003 returns marsden first appeared on 5 march 2001 in the " who shot phil ? " storyline . in the whodunit storyline the five main suspects were dan sullivan , steve owen , lisa shaw , ian beale and mark fowler . a source in the daily record said , " sooner or later the truth will out . but until then there 's going to be a lot of probing going on . " she left on 27 march 2001 after unsuccessfully identifying the shooter ( who turned out to be lisa ) . in 2002 she appeared in january , april and from 14 november to 6 december . in november , when marsden returns , the police suspect that phil has murdered his ex - wife lisa . the daily mirror said , " they are the words phil mitchell has heard many times before . ' you 're nicked ' , . intrepid dci marsden may not be a jane tennison , but she 's nabbed her prime suspect . " i 've got some good news for you , phil , " she says , after arresting him on suspicion of murder . " the police in portugal found your jacket . unfortunately for you , it 's covered in blood . mrs fowler 's blood ... " in 2003 , marsden returned in march july , august , november and for a longer stint in december . who killed archie ? and 2012 returns in november 2009 , it was reported that stanton would reprise her role as jill . digital spy forum members had previously pointed out that her return was hinted at in a photo on the official eastenders website and in a feature ( " script peek " ) where phil is quoted as saying , " i know exactly what makes her tick " before adding " i 've wriggled off her hook so many times . she 's already picturing me standing in the dock " in the 29 december episode . marsden returned to investigate the murder of archie mitchell . a source told digital spy , " marsden has a score to settle with phil . she was never far behind phil when he put a foot out of place all those years ago and she 's back with a vengeance ... with so many people in the frame for archie 's murder , marsden has a difficult job on her hands if she wants to pin it on phil . " of her return she said , " it came completely out of the blue , and knocked me for six . " ... i really thought marsden was no more . it was a really great surprise because i ’ d just finished a year ’ s run at the national theatre , appearing in a new play called england people very nice – so it couldn ’ t have come at a better time . " she returned on 28 december 2009 . although stanton did not know who murdered archie , she guessed that it could be stacey slater ( which turned out to be correct ) . speaking of this , she said that sophie was one of the few to correctly guess it was stacey . " i had an epiphany about a week before the live episode . it was a memory of the whole who shot phil ? storyline , and how there were eight different suspects , including some really hard blokes , and it turned out to be lisa . i knew dci marsden wasn ’ t going to get the culprit , because of a couple of scenes of the following episode we ’ d shot in december , and i thought that narratively , stacey was the only person who the audience would forgive , and who could get away with it . that was my theory and it turned out to be right ! " naomi mcelroy from the sunday mirror thought that marsden could be archie 's killer . marsden left on 22 february 2010 , and returned on 5 january 2012 . she returned after phil is framed for kevin wicks ' ( phil daniels ) ' s death and that of a homeless man , who died accidentally in a car - lot fire ( part of an insurance scam ) . according to inside soap the police would begin questioning phil 's former fiancée stella crawford 's death , teasing marsden 's return : " the investigation is set to bring phil face to face with his old , dci marsden – and this time she 'll stop at nothing to put the bad boy permanently behind bars " . digital spy reported that marsden re - opens the investigation into stella 's death , " suspecting that all is not what it seems " . finally , marsden returned for two single episodes on 17 august 2012 . who killed lucy beale ? in july 2015 , it was revealed that stanton would be reprising her role as marsden for the continuation of the who killed lucy beale ? storyline . whilst viewers know bobby beale is the culprit , marsden , samantha keeble and cameron bryant will reportedly make an arrest for the murder , arresting an innocent suspect . related media the bbc used viral promotion on the eastenders homepage to further develop the storyline of who killed archie ? , with marsden the main character in the nine videos . a new section ( " marsden 's video diaries " ) was launched , encompassing events on the show from 25 december 2009 onwards in diary style from marsden 's point of view . insight was provided on the character 's thoughts and feelings on the events surrounding her each week , beginning with the introduction : " christmas day . i should be at home with my feet up eating a mince pie and watching the doctor who christmas special . instead , i ’ ve been called into work . murder . a bloody one too . the victim , one archibald mitchell . not the first time a mitchell 's ruined my night . still , if this leads to phil mitchell all wrapped up in walford nick by new years day , might be the best present i ’ ve ever had . " on the videos marsden discussed evidence , suspects she had brought in and her relationship with phil . during the next three video diaries , marsden talks about the suspects and the evidence against them . in episode three it is ronnie , peggy and sam ; in episode four she talks about janine butcher , and in episode five she discusses ian 's motives . towards the end of the series ( in episode seven ) , marsden 's boss threatens to fire her if she does not capture the culprit : " i ’ ve got to get someone . i ’ ve got to pin this on someone . every address in the immediate area door - stopped . five suspects questioned , one arrest . nothing . they tell me nothing . mitchell , the ex wife , the daughter , beale , butcher , [ jack ] branning , i ’ m getting closer , i just need time . of course my boss is putting pressure on . says i ’ m losing my touch , that he 'll take the case of me . this is my case . somebody 's going down for it and it ain ’ t going to be me . " in the penultimate episode , marsden announces that the dna results have come through ; this is aired on eastenders . the final episode of marsden 's video diaries aired on 19 february 2010 , three days before marsden 's departure in 2010 . in this episode ( " case closed " ) , the lionel richie song " hello " plays as the " who killed archie ? " storyline replays with the focus on marsden . the bbc described the episode : " dci marsden 's caught archie 's killer – or she 's collared someone for it at least . but hello ! ? was it phil she was looking for ? don 't tell us you didn 't spot the latent chemistry between this pair . shirley must have been livid . we wouldn 't like to surmise what the dci planned to do with phil if she got him behind bars . but we do hope this is one endless love that will be revisited ... " reception when marsden returned in december 2002 , ian hyland of the mirror said he disliked the " smouldering " sexual tension between phil and marsden . jo of the western mail discussed the marsden - kate - phil storyline , saying , " betrayal with a capital b is the order of the day in the square this week . it 's the cop kate plot i 'm interested in . to shop or not to shop is a dilemma that kate finds hard to cope with as she waits for the confession that will nail phil for good " . in an interview with the east anglian daily times , stanton remarked that she was frequently asked to have her photo taken due to her role in eastenders . real - life police detectives criticised the portrayals of detectives marsden and her colleague dc wayne hughes in the show , saying that viewers who see them talking to residents about the case and accepting bribes may believe that the police operate that way in reality . the bbc insisted that a police consultant was used , adding that " this is heightened fiction and all the things that we show might not always represent real life . " a spokesperson said , " we always have a police consultant on shows like this that we go to before casting . " jane simon and brian described marsden as having an " appetite for making random arrests " . simon added , " while the list of suspects includes the entire northern hemisphere , it 's time for dci marsden to make another of her daily arrests . like a formula one pit stop , she has got it down to a fine art . " kevin o 'sullivan of the sunday mirror commented on the " who killed archie ? " storyline : " despite widespread apathy , albert square 's cockney rabble on with the life - sapping saga of who killed archie ? who gives a toss ? while potential murderers phil , ian , bradley ( charlie clements ) and the gang hint furtively at their guilt , the absurd dci marple – sorry marsden – keeps arresting bunny - boiler ronnie without a shred of evidence . " i 've spent 20 years building a career on hunches , " bragged miss marsden . yeah , and you 've made it all the way to walford nick . a real high flyer ! " in 2015 , laura - jayne tyler from inside soap bemoaned marsden 's return , saying " can someone please explain to us why dci marsden is now in charge of the lucy beale case ? she couldn 't catch a bus , let along a killer . "