EastEnders star Adam Woodyatt confirms he is open to return to BBC soap after year-long hiatus

The star has been absent from the show for a year, but is keen to return.
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EastEnders star Adam Woodyatt is very keen to return to Albert Square, 12 months after he took a break from the long-running soap.

He has portrayed the role of Ian Beale, and has also been at the core of some of the hardest hitting storylines.

His on-screen son, Bobby, murdered his own on-screen sister and Ian’s daughter Lucy, which saw Beale spiral out of control, culminating in him being homeless. It was the show’s longest ‘who done it’ and dragged on for many months.

He surprised fans by announcing he would be temporarily leaving the show, in order to try his hand at theatrical production of Peter James’ novel, Looking Good Dead.

After completing his work with the tour, Woodyatt also enjoyed a road-trip and even undertook a stint on the popular ITV show ‘I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here, where the London native finished in the top five.

But now, after a year off, he is keen to resume his role as Ian Beale.

Live on Sunday Brunch, Woodyatt said: “I think as long as I leave, I’m still going to be seen as Ian Beale.

“It doesn’t matter what I do, what else I do, where I go. Ian Beale is always going to be a part of my life.

It’s not just my decision to make, it’s also EastEnders.

“I left because of the way the storyline was going, because Ian needed to go.

“It wasn’t me going ‘I want to leave’, or them saying ‘you’re going’, that was the storyline.”

Woodyatt has spent 35-years living out the life out chip shop owner Ian, and the storyline in question involved himself and short-term wife Sharon Mitchell.

With Sharon formally the long-term love interest of the iconic Phil Mitchell, it was slowly poisoning Beale, forcing him to flee the Square and has remained absent from East London since January 2021.

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