Phillip Steven Karol "Phil" Cooper

A Bit About Phil

Born to English father Steven "Steve" Cooper and Czech mother Veronika "Ronny" Cooper, Phil grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and attended Stratford High School, where he became close friends with Natalie Jones and Ewan Hardy. From a young age, Phil was obsessed with cinema.

While most children dreamed of becoming footballers, musicians or astronauts, Phil wanted to become a filmmaker. He idolised directors such as Brian De Palma, Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Minghella and spent his teenage years imagining himself following in their footsteps.

His parents, however, weren't convinced.

Whenever Phil talked about making films, they repeatedly told him that he was living in a fantasy world. Their lack of support gradually became a source of resentment, particularly as Phil became more determined to prove that filmmaking could be more than just a childhood dream.

Eventually, Phil decided to try a different route. He started a YouTube channel where he uploaded film reviews and hoped to build an audience of his own. When the channel failed to gain the success he had hoped for, Phil became increasingly frustrated and asked his parents for financial support to help him properly launch it. Instead of receiving the support he wanted, Phil's request resulted in a major argument with his parents. The argument became a breaking point in their relationship, and Phil eventually fell out with them.

His relationships with his childhood friends also began to deteriorate. As Phil became more isolated and stopped seeing Natalie and Ewan as often, the friendships they had built at school slowly began to drift apart. Phil eventually settled into life with his older half-brother, Sean, sharing a flat in Stratford's Old Town.

And then there was Reds. Phil has now worked at the Stratford branch for a decade, making him the longest-serving member of the current team. While the job was never supposed to be his future, Reds has gradually become a constant in his life. Phil is also the best friend of Justin Green. The two developed a close friendship after Justin joined Reds, with Phil becoming one of the first people to see through Justin's larger-than-life personality.

Their friendship is particularly significant because both men once dreamed of creative careers but have ended up taking very different paths. Justin is still chasing his dream of becoming an actor. Phil has largely stopped chasing his. Despite his sometimes cynical outlook, Phil remains passionate about cinema and continues to see himself as a filmmaker at heart.

He is often the person on the Reds team who has an opinion about whatever film, television show or piece of pop culture happens to come up. Football was another major part of Phil's childhood. He supported Manchester United and idolised Sir Alex Ferguson, but years of disappointment following Ferguson's departure gradually drained his enthusiasm for the sport. These days, Phil barely follows football at all. Phil is intelligent, knowledgeable and often sarcastic, but beneath the cynicism is someone who still wonders whether he gave up on himself too easily.

Casting

If Order Up! were adapted for television, Elliott Tittensor would be the first choice for Phil Cooper. Best known for playing Carl Gallagher in Shameless, Tittensor may not be the most immediately recognisable face on British television, but that is part of what makes him appealing for Phil.

Phil isn't supposed to feel like a conventional television protagonist. He should look and feel like someone who could genuinely have spent ten years working in the same restaurant — someone audiences could believe had dreams of becoming a filmmaker but eventually settled into a life that turned out very differently.

Tittensor has a grounded screen presence that suits that perfectly. His experience in both comedy and drama would also allow him to capture Phil's dry humour while giving the character the emotional depth required when his relationship with his parents, his lost friendships and his abandoned ambitions come to the surface.

Most importantly, Tittensor could make Phil feel real. Phil is not the successful filmmaker he imagined himself becoming. He's not the charismatic leader of the Reds team. He's not even particularly interested in pretending that everything worked out. He's simply Phil — a cinephile, a lifelong Reds employee, Justin's best friend and a man who may still have one more film left in him.