Ian Beale

Ian Beale

Ian Albert Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Adam Woodyatt. He is the longest-serving character and the only remaining original character to have appeared continuously since the first episode on 19 February 1985. The character appeared in his 2,000th episode in the show on 26 March 2007. He took a temporary break from the show on 25 May 2012, when Ian had a breakdown and disappeared from Albert Square, and he returned on 31 July 2012. He is currently one of only two original characters in EastEnders, the other being Sharon Rickman.