Lee

Leopold "Lee" Phillips is a foe turned friend in the KateModern series. He currently resides in East London, and has had job in work experience at G&T IT and JustIncredible.TV, both of which were involved in illegal operations.

Background
Lee grew up in Liverpool, where he went to school and finished doing his 'A' Levels in History, Business Studies and I.T. He was eager to get into the job market and sent an e-mail to Gavin requesting a position at their company. Gavin, appreciative of the opportunity for free labor, hired him immediately. He first appeared in the video Birthday Surprise, where he came across as a suck up, but a bit spacey.

Playing Games
Since that time, Gavin and Tariq have taken complete advantage of Lee's position of a free employee. Gavin had Lee deliver flowers to Charlie, and he arrived just after Kate murdered Dudley. A fews days later, Gavin forces Lee to work Halloween night after Tariq takes the night off to spend it with Julia. Gavin has Lee strap a trash can to his head, and yell "Crikey!" every time he throws something in. Once he gets bored, Gavin leaves, a throws a piece of paper at Lee's face "accidentally". Gavin later has Lee help Charlie practice for the viral campaign for Gilette Power Stealth Razors. Gavin and Charlie agree that the original idea is terrible, but neither suggest any new ideas. When Charlie tries to ask Lee if he has any ideas, Gavin tells her not to bother, implying that he is too young to shave. Charlie gets fed up, and leaves. Lee suggests to Gavin that he get her chocolates, and Gavin reluctantly admits that it is a good idea.

Gavin and Tariq continue to abuse Lee, and deny his request to see the software they are developing. They send him off to get Luch, and scold him for not cleaning the office. Gavin further humiliates him by posting a contest called "Subservient Lee," where viewers tell Lee to do ridiculous things and he'll do them all on camera (minus the suggestion that he punch Gavin in the face, though Lee says that he'll be happy to do it). Lee finally fights back and leaks information about Tariq and Gavin's software onto the internet and removes all traces of the program from Tariq and Gavin's computers, leaving only a copy on his own hard drive. Due to the software's legal questionability, Gavin and Tariq are forced to go into hiding. Lee promises to give the software back as soon as Tariq and Gavin started apologizing for their treatment of him. However, when he meets with them, they attack him and try to force him to give the software back.

Lee made Gavin, Charlie and Tariq (and with them, all the fans, including the supposed fan called Sophie) go on a treasure-hunt for the software with riddles that led them to different places within London. During this treasure-hunt, Sophie tried to help Gavin and Tariq by even getting involved in it personally, and Lee developed a crush on her. The treasure-hunt ends on a sour note with a Watcher getting the software and Lee being beaten up by Terrence. Afterwards, Lee goes to Liverpool to spend the holidays with his parents, but leaves after he is unable to handle his mother's constant nagging.

A Star is Born
Beginning the new year on a fresh foot, Lee was revealed to be the Internet celebrity at JustIncredible.TV, gaining prominance for the "treasure hunt" he held in November. He became the "face" of the channel, and the majority of their programs had Lee in a starring role, including "SpirituaLee", "Artifacts or Crap, In Fact", and "Car Park Cookery". Lee was pleased to work with Julia, however, the feeling was not mutual. He became nervous when Tariq applied for a job, but was relieved to discover that Tariq did not hold a grudge. However, Lee became frightened once more when Gavin was hired at the office instead of Tariq.

It was clear that Gavin wasn't as willing to forgive and forget as Tariq, and Lee contemplated quitting altogether. Fans managed to convince Lee that he needed to stay at the channel and face Gavin head on. He begins looking for an apartment, and answers Charlie's ad in the paper looking for a new roommate. However, Charlie decides to go with Kyle, who turns out to be the worst roommate ever. In an effort to promote the channel, Lee was ordered to go on a road trip with Charlie, Gavin, and Julia. Gavin initially picked fights with Lee, still angry about the software incident. During once such fight, Gavin pushed Lee into a table with food on it, and Lee inadvertently ended up getting a peanut in his mouth. Due to Lee's horrible allergy to peanuts, he immediately went into shock and had trouble breathing. Gavin saved Lee's life by giving him an adrenaline injection, ending the feud between the two.

Upon returning to work, Lee acts like Gavin is his best friend and begins tagging along with him. He is filming when Julia and Gavin decide to snoop around Justin's office, and is weirded out by a picture of him in a jockey outfit hanging on the wall. Gavin eventually determines that Justin is committing Carousel fraud, and that he was never planning on paying his employees. At The Easter Party, Gavin stages a walk out which Lee hesitates to join after Justin personally asks him not to. He ends up walking-out anyway, though the rest of the staff believe that he might scab (though Lee points out that he is work experience and technically can't scab). He joins the employees' surge of the office. They find Justin gone, and a video message from him where he informs everyone that he has signed over full directorship of JustIncredible.TV to Lee. Because of this, Lee gets arrested by the police because of the scam and spends the night in jail. The employees watch this unfold, and decide to steal the office equipment as compensation for their work.

Life after JTV
Lee helps Sophie and community members figure out Terrence's code to Charlie's location after he kidnaps her, and realizes that the address is that of Gavin's Aunt Joan. Lee goes to find Gavin after sharing a passionate kiss with Sophie, and finds him pursuing Steve after finding out he had made a move on Charlie. Lee convinces them to work together, and the three (along with Lauren) go to Aunt Joan's house to rescue Charlie. Upon arriving, they discover that Terrence has doused the house in gasoline so he could set fire to it when they entered. Before he can, a Watcher and Shadow chase him away, and Gavin and Charlie begin arguing over the relations Charlie had with Steve earlier in the day. Both Steve and Gavin end up parting from the group, leaving Lee and Lauren to comfort her.

Lee moves in with Lauren and Charlie shortly after, and he attempts to bring Charlie out of her depression with the lure of "Happy Food" (which ends up working). He later helps Lauren prepare for Jonas's party, where he spends a lot of time interacting with Sophie.

While Steve is away in America, Lee obtains tickets to Saturday of Radio 1’s Big Weekend. He posts a blog saying that Scouting For Girls is playing, and he is really excited. He also says that Lauren is accompanying him and that Charlie will be working at the event. In the meantime, he begins his search for a new job with the help of his former co-worker Meryl. He runs into Gavin at the Job Centre, and invites him to a dinner party to try to get back with Charlie. However, Steve shows up as well, and Charlie gets held up at work.

The next day, Lee gleefully attends Radio 1’s Big Weekend, where he uses a microphone from JTV to get behind the scenes and try to meet Scouting For Girls again. However, they avoid him like the plague, with confuses and upsets Lee, though he bounces back when he thinks he sees Madonna.

Lee is invited to Julia's wedding, but is distressed when Lauren denies his request to go to Julia's hen night. However, Charlie and Lauren give in, but make him dress like a woman in order to attend. At the party, Lee runs into Sophie, and the two of them flirt before eventually making out after several drinks. They sit together at the wedding the next day, but Lee leaves to try to comfort Gavin after he is rejected by Charlie. Lee becomes concerned over Gavin's mental health when he begins to accuse people of conspiring with Kate and wrecking his life.

Assistance
Charlie begins holding interviews for the position of her assistant, and is taken off-guard when Lee comes in and begs Charlie for a job. Out of pity (and because the other candidates were rather strange), Charlie gave him the job, and planned to announce it to everyone a week later if it went well, but Lee spoils the surprise when he comes on camera and accidently knocks over some Skittles onto Charlie's desk. The two immediately get to work on brainstorming for the Skittles Campaign, and Lee comes up with an idea that Charlie actually likes: to have theirs friends on Bebo make videos about Skittles to help them out. Lee decides to participate as well, but has to harass Lauren to help him, as he can't do it well on his own. In the end however, Charlie deems Lee's submission to be the worst.

Lee and Charlie become concerned after Julia returns from her honeymoon with a black eye, believing that Rupert has been abusing her. Julia denies this, and goes as far as saying that their need to post footage on the internet has made then suspicious of anything that is not out there for all the world to see. Lee invites Sophie out on a date, accompanying Steve, Charlie, and Lauren on a fun day out. The day turns sour, however, when Lauren is "kidnapped". Lee and Charlie begin searching the streets for her, extremely worried. After coming home from a day of searching, Michelle Clore's Shadow breaks into their apartment, attacking Lee and demanding information on Lauren's whereabouts. They convince him that they don't know anything, and he leaves them wheezing on the floor.

Anxious and concerned, Lee called his older brother, Anthony "Toe" Phillips. Toe arrived at his flat soon after, and threatened the Shadow via webcam. Lee isn't thrilled by his brother's behavior, and tries to paint his brother in a better light by interviewing him. However, it is cut short by a call from Lauren, who reveals that the Shadow was enraged at Lauren because she voluntarily participated in a scheme that got Michelle Clore killed. Lee is taken aback by the revelation, and doesn't take to kindly to Charlie's promise to keep Lauren safe and ignoring her job.

With Sophie
When the group decides to go to Paris to rescue Julia, Lee initially wants to join them, having an argument with Toe about who would go. When Sophie suggests that she can look after him, Lee suddenly becomes happy to let Toe go to Paris and for himself to stay in London with Sophie. To keep safe, Charlie suggests that Lee stays at Sophie's, which only seems to make the two of them even happier. Lee and Sophie then run, hand in hand, towards a bus which didn't exist and do not accompany the others to Paris. They watch from afar as Charlie is arrested and the others begin to blame one another for framing Charlie and stealing Michelle Clore's Last Artwork. Lee is very upset, but Sophie manages to hold herself together and figure out that Julia is the one responsible for Charlie's arrest. Lee is reluctant to believe that anyone could betray the group, but is convinced when he spots Julia walking the streets of London with Rupert.

After Charlie is released from prison, they meet the others as they return from Paris. Toe reveals that he had scammed Steve and Lauren to pay his way home, and Lee tries to persuade his brother to pay them back, but to no avail. After Toe leaves, they discover that Lauren has run off, and discover that she has gone to Bill Cowan's flat and attacked him in order to provoke Julia. Lee and the others rush to her rescue, and are able to shield her from Julia's wrath. On their way back home, they come across an injured Rupert and reluctantly take him to the hospital. Meanwhile, Terrence goes to Sophie's office and terrorizes her. Though Sophie claims she is fine, Lee becomes anxious and pleads with Charlie to go see her and make sure she is okay. Needless to say, he isn't happy when they are sidetracked by Gavin, who has escaped from his mental institution and gone to Kate's childhood home. There, they meet Kate's mother, who explains to them why Kate moved to London and changed her name.

On their way back to London, Hazel calls Charlie and asks her to come back so she can show them something. Lee refuses, the urge to check on Sophie winning out. Charlie and Lauren go alone, where they are attacked by Terrence. They manage to escape when Lee and Gavin show up and try (and fail) to overpower Terrence. Terrence pursues the girls, and is stabbed to death by Charlie while he focuses on Lauren. Afterwards, the group met up with Sophie, and Lee was relieved to see that she was indeed okay. They then go on to the new flat where Steve has set up a birthday celebration for Lauren.

While they celebrate, they realize that taping their lives was partly responsible for the chaos that ensued. While Sophie admits that some good has come out of it (i.e. meeting Lee), the group agrees that they should stop unless something major happens. They throw the camera up in the air, and wave goodbye as it smashes on the ground.

Etymology
Lee comes from a surname which was derived from Old English leah "meadow". The surname belonged to Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), commander of the Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In his honour, it has been commonly used as a given name in the American South.