Sam Mitchell (also Butcher and Hunter), is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam arrived as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. The actress quit in 1993, but Sam was reintroduced from 1995 to 1996 and from 1999 to 2000. In both her 1996 and 2000 exits, Sam was written out earlier than the producers intended due to off-screen controversies surrounding Westbrook. In early 2002, the character was introduced for a fourth time, but the role was recast to another actress, Kim Medcalf, who stayed in the role until late 2005. Diederick Santer later decided to reintroduce the character for a brief stint in 2009 and he opted to bring Westbrook back. Sam resurfaced in September 2009 for a short stint and departed in January 2010, before then reappearing for another short stint from August until September that year. In 2016, Westbrook agreed to reprise the role once again in the events that surrounded the funeral for her on-screen mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor); this started on 30 June and ended after four episodes on 8 July. In January 2022, it was announced that Sam would be returning to the show, this time played by Kim Medcalf again.Medcalf returned to filming in February 2022. The character of Sam Mitchell was initially portrayed as a young, naive girl who had initially relied less upon her mother Peggy (Jo Warne/Barbara Windsor) than her two older brothers Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp) - although she gradually evolved into becoming more flirty, headstrong, and charismatic, with a determination to be taken more seriously. During her time in the soap, Sam established a teen elopement with her first husband Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen); repeatedly clashed with his future spouse Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) in light of the couple's divorce, and Sam thereafter sleeping with Bianca's father David Wicks (Michael French); had an unsuccessful relationship with Grant's nemesis Beppe di Marco (Michael Greco); slept with Phil's archenemy Steve Owen (Martin Kemp) without knowing that it was part of his intent to make his wife, Mel Healy (Tamzin Outhwaite) jealous; briefly dated Peggy's barman, Trevor Morgan (Alex Ferns), until she learned that he had been using this to antagonize her cousin Billy (Perry Fenwick); temporarily worked for her brothers' estranged lover Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and her half-brother Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman); quarrelled with Phil's ex-wife Kate Morton (Jill Halfpenny); embarked on an ill-fated marriage with her community's gangland kingpin Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs); developed a conflict with Sharon and Dennis' family, the Watts, after their father Den (Leslie Grantham) blackmailed her lawyer Marcus Christie (Stephen Churchett) to con the Mitchells from their ownership of The Queen Victoria public house; feuded with Den's widow Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman) after she incriminated both Sam and her friend, Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) for Den's murder; was manipulated by her uncle Archie (Larry Lamb) into unknowingly causing their family to lose their pub for a second time; got framed by her own family for Archie's murder; sparked a rivalry with his two daughters, Ronnie (Samantha Womack) and Roxy (Rita Simons), over the trio's separate romances with their common boyfriend Jack Branning (Scott Maslen); struggled to cope with motherhood after giving birth to Jack's baby, Ricky (Henri Charles); and attended her mother's funeral after losing her to cancer.