Steve Owen (EastEnders) in feuds with dangerous adversaries Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) and his brother Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass), with both feuds stemming from their connections to Steve's girlfriend and future wife Mel Healy (Tamzin Outhwaite). During 2001, Steve was involved in one of the most memorable storylines ever to air on "EastEnders", when he became a prime suspect in the "Who Shot Phil?" whodunit storyline. Martin Kemp quit the series after his contract to the show expired. His final scenes, which aired on 1 March 2002, saw Steve killed during a fierce car chase with archenemy Phil
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan of the second series, 5 SCOTS and Kemp are ambushed by the Taliban within 30 minutes of his first patrol, targeted by small arms fire and RPG rockets, as well as mortars. Kemp is extricated to safety by crawling 50 metres along a ditch. In a later contact, after coming under fire, Kemp unwittingly ran into an area Kemp described as "probably" featuring the pressure plate devices used to detonate IEDs and mines, necessitating 30 steps back to the cleared area. During the filming for the second series, 100 metres from the crew a 22-year-old Royal Marine was fatally wounded