Countdown to EastEnders climax

Nailbiter: Phil confronts his would-be nemesis

The identity of who shot EastEnders' Phil Mitchell is only hours away from being revealed, but the bookies say they will not pay out on bets until someone is convicted of the crime.

Prime suspects

Ian Beale

Mark Fowler

Steve Owen

Lisa Shaw

Dan Sullivan

The EastEnders storyline - billed as the biggest TV whodunnit since JR was shot in Dallas - has gripped viewers since the former Queen Victoria landlord was gunned down outside his Albert Square home five weeks ago.

In Tuesday's episode, viewers saw Phil, played by Steve McFadden, discharge himself from hospital to confront his would-be assassin.

Cliff-hanger

Thousands of bets have been placed by punters who think they know the attacker's identity.

Going down: Phil's shooting has gripped viewers

The final result of the BBC News Online poll showed Dirty Dan was the clear favourite to have pulled the trigger, with 29% of the votes.

The next favourites were Lisa and Mark, followed by Steve and finally Ian.

But Dan, aka Craig Fairbrass, told BBC Breakfast News that people were wrong to suspect him.

"I'm the last on the list, there are a few more people in front of me," he insisted.

"My money's always been on Ian Beale - never corner a rat," he added. "But then, half the square would want to shoot Phil, let alone us five."

William Hill bookmakers said they would only be paying out on the first character to be convicted of the shooting.

"Given the vagaries of soap operas we know that they can give us more cliff-hangers," said a William Hill spokesman.

'Conspiracy'

He said everyone who placed the bet was aware that the outcome could take some time.

"We might even find there has been a conspiracy and four characters have done it.

"It's also possible that the wrong person might be convicted and we might have a campaign for the Walford One and they might be freed.

"We decided the safest way to do it was to make it the first character convicted."

Bets

William Hill stopped taking bets a week ago.

The five main suspects are Steve Owen (Martin Kemp), Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass), Mark Fowler (Todd Carty), Lisa Shaw (Lucy Benjamin) and Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt).

The final odds have Phil's former lover Lisa Shaw as odds-on favourite at 8-11 and "Dirty" Dan Sullivan second favourite at 3-1.

The BBC earlier negotiated a delayed kick-off for a European football match to enable Thursday's special 40-minute episode of EastEnders.

The start of the Uefa Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Barcelona from the Nou Camp stadium will begin at 2010BST.