EastEnders’ Ian Beale has been ‘written out of the soap’ as Adam Woodyatt takes an ‘extended break’ after 35 years

EASTENDERS icon Ian Beale is being “written out” of upcoming scenes as Adam Woodyatt is taking a break from filming the soap. Adam Woodyatt, 52, who has played the character for 35 years, is expected to be off-screen for 10 weeks according to the Daily Star. “Writers are staying tight-lipped about what happens, so it’s not […]

EASTENDERS icon Ian Beale is being “written out” of upcoming scenes as Adam Woodyatt is taking a break from filming the soap.

Adam Woodyatt, 52, who has played the character for 35 years, is expected to be off-screen for 10 weeks according to the Daily Star.

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Ian Beale won’t be on EastEnders for 10 weeks[/caption]

“Writers are staying tight-lipped about what happens, so it’s not known yet what the future will hold for the character,” a source said.

“There are no guarantees and anything can happen in Albert Square.”

“It will be strange for viewers not to have Ian on screen for such a long time.

“But it will be nice for Adam to have some time out after working on the show for so long.”

It’s thought the break has been plotted and planned in advance as part of an upcoming storyline.

The BBC declined to comment when contacted by The Sun Online.

Earlier this month, Adam Woodyatt revealed he has slimmed down dramatically during lockdown.

This Morning fans were left stunned when the show aired a clip of Secrets From The Square showing the Ian Beale actor’s remarkable weight loss.

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The soap star has played Ian Beale since the first episode in 1985[/caption]

Fans were stunned that the star, whose catering mogul character runs the Square’s fish and chip shop, looked so different after months away from the fryers.

One fan wrote: “I didn’t recognise Adam for a minute!” Another tweeted: “F*** me Ian’s lost some weight ain’t he.”

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They are in a special mums-and-sons edition of the EastEnders spin-off[/caption]

BBC

Ian Beale during the appeal to find daughter Lucy’s killer in 2014[/caption]

BBC Press Handout

He looked larger last year, when he got a glass of wine in the face from Kat[/caption]

In the clip, Adam explained that he has called his on-screen mum Gillian Taylforth “mum” ever since day one – saying he even popped round her house to raid her fridge in the dead of night.

He said: “I’d be coming come from a night out, coming through Islington on the way home.

“She’d get a ring on the doorbell at two in the morning: ‘Mum, I’m hungry.’ I emptied the fridge.”