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Ian Albert Beale is a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. He is played by Adam Woodyatt and is the only remaining member of the original cast that appeared from the first episode on 19 February 1985 to the present without a break. Woodyatt celebrated his 2000th appearance as Ian on 26 March 2007..

Ian is the son of Pete and Kathy Beale, the father of Lucy, Peter and Bobby Beale, the nephew of Pauline Fowler and cousin of Mark, Michelle and Martin. Ian is currently engaged to Jane Collins. He has been married three times before.

Character creation and development

Ian Beale is one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Ian is a member of the first family of EastEnders, the Beales and Fowlers, and Holland took the inspiration for some of the series' earliest characters from his own London family and background. Ian's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.

"There is a pressure from home to do well at school and he may be a bit worried that he's not doing as well as they hope. The shadow of his father (however fictional the image is) and the pressure to be a man's man and a chip off the old block might cause trouble in the future. A point is going to be reached when Ian is going to have to assert himself as himself. He can't allow his father to live his life, by proxy, through him. Or, maybe he can...?" (page 56)

Ian was meant to be fourteen when the programme first aired, but because of licensing regulations, the actor cast was required to be a 16 year old who could 'play down'. Because the actress playing Ian's mother (Gillian Taylforth) was fair, they also wanted him to be fair, and because of Taylforth's age he also had to look very young. Adam Woodyatt, born in the East End of London, had worked as an actor in his youth, but had given it up and relocated with his family to Wales. He was recruited from his old agency and it was decided that he was perfect for the part and he was subsequently cast as Ian Beale.

Ian Beale has gone on to be one of the longest running characters in the soap's history, and as of December 2006 he is the only remaining original character left in the soap after Wendy Richard's departure. Initial storylines shaped Ian as a sensitive young boy with professional aspirations that went against his father's wishes. Not content to follow in his father's footsteps and take over the family fruit and veg stall, Ian wanted to become a chef and this caused a certain amount of hostility between him and his father, who viewed the occupation as effeminate. Ian's keenness to succeed in his business ventures continued as the character grew, so much so that he started using underhand methods in order to get what he wanted and has arguably become one of the soap's most renowned 'slimeballs'. The character is regularly referred to as a "weasel" in the British press and has been voted one of the top five television characters "we most love to hate" in a Channel 4 poll in 2001.

In 1989, a deliberate continuity error (SORAS) saw Ian celebrating his twenty-first birthday just two years after his eighteenth. The producers felt that Ian needed to be a bit older, as they wanted him to be more mature for the storylines they were planning for him later in the year.

Obsession with success has been an underlying theme with the character for almost the entire duration of the show, but the acceleration of Ian's nasty side can perhaps be traced back to his disastrous first marriage to one of EastEnders most renowned bitches, Cindy Beale. The storyline centred around Ian's discovery that the child he thought was his, was actually his best friend's. The climax of this revelation was known to script-writers as the "Devon cottage climax" and aired in September 1990. The episode saw an enraged Ian trace Cindy and Simon Wicks to her parents' house in Devon, just after being released from hospital following a failed suicide bid. The script, written by Debbie Cook, led to a confrontation that contained elements of tragedy and farce. Particularly memorable was Ian furiously throwing bricks through the window of the house, followed by one of his crutches. The episode ended ominously with Ian finding Cindy's father's shotgun and stealing it. Directed by Matthew Evans, these episodes not only brought the story to a shocking climax but also laid roots for the next three months' worth of storylines, building up to Cindy and Simon's departure, and Ian's spectacular fall from grace.

Other notable storylines include Ian's attempted murder at the hands of Cindy, two other marriages both ending in disaster, the loss and rebuilding of his business empire, and an on-going feud with hardman Phil Mitchell.

Early history

From an early age, Ian took a keen interest in business, even starting a knitting company with his best friend Kelvin Carpenter and Lofty Holloway, which was named Loftelian (a portmanteau of the three owners' names). Despite a huge effort from all involved, the business was doomed from the start and didn't last long.

Initially quiet and caring, Ian was perhaps a little too sensitive for his father's liking and he was always on at him to become a man and experiment with girls, although his mother Kathy always had grander ambitions for him. Ian's one main interest in 1985 was cooking, a fact that worried his father Pete. Pete felt that it wasn't the appropriate kind of interest for a young boy to have, so after much pressure, Ian took up boxing just to please his father. He even managed to win a fight at the local club, but after the match, Ian was set upon by the opponent's friends so he decided to give up boxing for good.

In April 1986, Ian began dating his childhood friend Sharon Watts, but she soon showed she preferred the more experienced Simon Wicks, so their relationship didn't last long. Neither did his brief spell as a drummer for Walford's budding pop group, known as The Banned. For a short time in 1987, Ian lived with a young girl named Tina Hopkins, but this ended when her parents discovered what she was up to and forced her to return home.

In 1988 Ian began a new business venture. He became partners with Barry Clark, running a disco at the community centre and using equipment hired through the petty criminal Darren Roberts. After a few successful gigs, Ian and Barry decided to purchase the equipment from Darren, but he neglected to inform them that the equipment was only on hire purchase. The disco promptly folded and the equipment was repossessed, whilst Darren disappeared with all his money.

1988 saw Ian embark on a brief romance with his cousin Elizabeth Beale, which ended when Elizabeth started flirting with other men. Pete eventually threw her out of their house when she tried to bring a boyfriend home. Ian later thought he'd found a new love interest in barmaid Donna Ludlow, but was devastated to discover that she was actually his half sister, using him to get closer to his mother Kathy, who at the age of fourteen, had put Donna up for adoption after she was conceived from rape.

After successfully graduating from catering college, Ian began working for Ali Osman in his café on Bridge Street, whilst hiring himself out as a private caterer on the side. It was around this time when he began to fall for one of his waitresses, Cindy Williams, who happened to be dating his alleged half brother Simon Wicks. Cindy was attracted to Ian's money making capabilities, and although she was only really using him to make Simon jealous, they soon began dating, much to Simon's bemusement. Later in the year, Ian began to show signs of becoming a sharp businessman when he loaned his café bosses, Ali and Mehmet, money at interest to finance their gambling. This eventually led to Ian taking over full ownership of the café in 1989, when Ali could no longer afford the repayments. After a failed attempt at an insurance scam, Ian forced Ali to sign the lease over to him. Ian transformed the café from a greasy spoon to a slightly more upmarket establishment.

Life with Cindy

Ian and Cindy got engaged in February 1989 and they initially lived together in Walford Towers. However, Cindy's ex-boyfriend Simon was showing signs of moving on and looked as if he might be settling down with the barmaid Sharon Watts. This did not please Cindy, so she set about seducing Simon and their subsequent romp left her pregnant. Cindy thought that Simon would now want to be with her permanently, but the prospect of fatherhood frightened him and he informed her he wanted nothing more to do with her or her unborn child. With nowhere left to turn, Cindy decided to marry Ian and pretend the baby was actually his. They married at a registry office in October 1989, although the day was all but ruined when an emotional Cindy argued constantly with both Ian and Pete and ended up in tears at her own reception.

The baby was born on Boxing day that year, a boy, who they named Steven. However, as soon as mother and baby returned from the hospital, Simon started to develop a paternal instinct. Whilst Ian was busy building a successful business for his new wife and child, Cindy and Simon rekindled their romance and Cindy made plans to leave Ian. In August 1990, she finally decided to tell Ian that Steven was not his son, although she neglected to inform him who the real father was. In a fury, Ian drove off and deliberately crashed his van in a suicide bid. Ian temporarily lost his memory and, while laying in hospital and recovering, Cindy persuaded Simon to move into a flat with her, before taking the opportunity to escape for a few weeks to her mother's house in Devon. While Simon and Cindy played happy families, Ian, newly released from hospital, went to Devon and was unhinged to discover that the real father was his best friend and possible half brother, Simon. This revelation stunned him and he returned to Walford and attempted to erase all traces of Cindy from his flat, by throwing her belongings onto the street.

In October 1990, Ian — who still couldn't accept that Steven wasn't his son — had blood tests performed and learnt that he was definitely not the father. He abandoned his plans to seek custody and preoccupied himself by building up a mobile catering business. Ian then started a campaign of revenge, first getting Simon fired from his job at The Queen Vic and then tampering with the brakes in his van. This backfired when Ian discovered that Simon was about to take Steven in the van with him, and he was forced to travel with him instead. After the inevitable accident, it became clear that Ian was responsible, so Simon, Cindy and Steven all departed Walford in December 1990.

With Cindy now gone, Ian concentrated on the catering business, aided by the eager Hattie Tavernier. In March 1991, Ian took over the lease at The Dagmar and named the new catering establishment "The Meal Machine". He also tried to sell his café to his mother for an extortionate price, but Kathy teamed up with Pauline Fowler and Frank Butcher to buy the property and prevented Ian getting a widely inflated price for it. Ian began to show signs of just how lonely he was by making an impromptu pass at Hattie, and getting a swift knee in the groin for his troubles. He took to hiring out women for dates with business clients and then took to kerb-crawling around King's Cross to pick up prostitutes.

He desperately missed Cindy and Steven and his business also went through a bad patch after it was infested with cockroaches. The only way he could afford to have the place fumigated was to cash in some old insurance policies he had taken out with Cindy. Needing her signature, he tracked her down in 1992 and discovered that she was living in a tiny bed-sit, having been abandoned by Simon months earlier. Ian began wooing Cindy again, showing that he had grown up since she left. He persuaded her to come and spend Christmas with him in Walford and the two eventually reconciled, much to Kathy's dismay.

Things did not go smoothly for the couple. Cindy attracted the attentions of the market inspector Richard Cole, who wouldn't take no for and answer and did everything he could to cause trouble between Ian and Cindy. He managed to get the Meal Machine shut down by environmental health, and later when Cindy fell pregnant again, told everyone that he was the father, despite them never having slept together. Kathy and Ian were ready to believe the worst, but truth finally prevailed, and Ian was overjoyed when Cindy delivered twins, Peter and Lucy, in December 1993.

1994 saw Ian embark on a new business venture, operating as a loan shark. He became so obsessed with his unsavoury business and hounding Richard Cole out of the Square, that he neglected Cindy. She quickly found distractions at the local leisure centre and embarked on a brief affair with a lifeguard named Matt. Blissfully unaware of his wife's misconduct, Ian decided that being a usurer wasn't for him, and he decided to open a fish and chip shop instead.

Ian began a longstanding rivalry with Phil Mitchell in 1994, when Phil embarked on a relationship with Ian's mother Kathy. Ian tried to do everything he could to embarrass Phil in front of his mother and turn her against him, which even resulted in Phil flushing Ian's head down the toilet when they were out to dinner one evening. Despite his protests, Kathy went on to marry Phil in 1995, who then proceeded to destroy her life with his alcoholism shortly afterwards.

Cindy strayed again in 1995, this time with the brother of Simon, David Wicks. Cindy became infatuated with David and Ian nearly caught them together on several occasions. By 1996, Cindy had decided that she wanted to be with David full-time, but despite his promises David just couldn't face up to his responsibilities. Eventually, Ian twigged that something suspicious was going on, and he hired a private investigator, Ros Thorne, to follow Cindy. The proof she brought was a video tape of Cindy and David romping together, which was too much for Ian to handle and he threatened to take Cindy to court for custody of their children. Cindy decided to rid herself of Ian once and for all. She hired a hit man called John Valecue, who agreed to dispose of Ian for £1500. Just when Cindy began to rethink the situation, a car pulled up alongside Ian and he was shot. Ian was only winged, and recovered, but Cindy buckled under the pressure from the police and decided to flee Walford. She tried to snatch her three children and leave with them, with the help of David's friend, Barry Evans, but was unable to kidnap Lucy. She was forced to leave the country without her.

After his recovery, Ian became hell-bent on retrieving his children. He managed to trace Cindy to Italy and set after her with Phil and Grant Mitchell in tow in 1997. Whilst he began smooth-talking her, Grant and Phil re-abducted Peter and Steven and returned to Walford with them. Cindy was not about to give her children up so easily and she returned to Walford with her new wealthy boyfriend Nick Holland. She took Ian to court for custody of the children and won the case, leaving Ian to spend a night in the cells for contempt of court. Upon his release, Ian decided to find evidence to implicate Cindy for his attempted murder years earlier. After tracing the hitman to Wandsworth prison, he managed to gain a confession. Cindy, who was again pregnant, was promptly jailed on remand, but the trial was delayed until after she had given birth. The trial never happened because Cindy died of a blood-clot to the lung whilst giving birth. Ian was given temprorary custody of Cindy's new born daughter, but he quickly passed her on to Cindy's sister Gina and the baby, Cindy Junior, started a new life in Devon.

Second marriage

In 1998 Ian opened up a new bric-a-brac shop in Walford, and employed Melanie Healy to manage the shop for him. Melanie was on the rebound from Steve Owen and she soon found herself drawn to Ian, particularly when she saw what a loving father he was. Their romance was kindled at Peggy and Frank Butcher's spring wedding in 1999 and by May they were not only living and working together, they were also sleeping together.

Mel proposed to Ian while they were watching the eclipse in August 1999 and agreed to Ian's plans for a spectacular millennium wedding. However, on a subsequent holiday to Brighton, Mel ended up in bed with her ex Steve Owen, and she suddenly began to have second thoughts about marrying Ian. Soon after, Ian discovered that his daughter Lucy was ill with suspected lymphoma, so Mel decided that she couldn't walk out on her new family, and decided to stay, if only to be a mother to the poor dying girl.

As the countdown to the millennium began, Mel began to realise that she was marrying Ian for all the wrong reasons, and tried to tell Ian as much. However, Ian, knowing full well that Mel was trying to leave him, falsely told her that Lucy's biopsy results were bad and that the child was dying in order to emotionally blackmail her into marriage. In actual fact the opposite was true and she had been given the all-clear. The ploy worked and the two were married in a joint millennium wedding with Barry and Natalie Evans on New Year's Eve 1999. However, on that very same night, disaster struck when Mel found out the truth about Lucy, and left Ian as the clock struck midnight into the new year, during their wedding reception.

Third marriage

Ian tried to bounce back from his failed second marriage by throwing himself into a new business venture once again, this time construction and renovation of some high-market flats. He hired a new nanny Laura Dunn to tend to his children. She was attracted to Ian right from the start, but all her attempts to get closer to him went unnoticed. All Ian's women up till now had been glamourous and beautiful and Laura, who was relatively dowdy and plain, didn't interest him in the slightest.

However Laura was fiercely protective of her employer, and defended him to anyone that dared speak badly of him, particularly his ex-wife Melanie. Eventually Ian began to think that having a loyal, faithful woman, who worshipped him (for a change), might not be such a bad thing after all. Initially Ian was just using Laura for sex and was quick to point this out. He would sleep with her only when he felt like it and was adamant that they were not seen together as a couple, which was due to the fact that he felt her inferior to his previous wives and lovers. After months of being in a casual relationship, Laura began to demand more commitment from Ian and when he refused to give it, she called off their 'arrangement' and tried to forget her woes by kissing new Walford arrival, Garry Hobbs. Ian was furious when he discovered her antics and after a blazing row, Laura decided to resign. Just before she was about to leave, Ian's life was thrown into turmoil when his over-zealous business venture ended up leaving him bankrupt. He could not afford to pay building contractor Danny Harrison and so he stopped all work on the flats, meaning that he was unable to sell them and make some of his lost money. Ian was forced to turn to his arch-nemesis Phil for a last minute loan, but Phil gleefully refused to lend him the money and Ian lost everything. Kind-hearted Laura couldn't bear to abandon Ian in his time of need, so she agreed to stay on working for him, free of charge. Ian was pleased to have the support and so the two became a couple.

With all Ian's businesses now repossessed, Laura set about raising the funds to buy back his fish and chip shop so they could run it together. Unbeknown to Ian, she ended up borrowing the money from his ex, Melanie, and she and Ian's family all moved into the flat above the shop when his house was also repossessed. Things between Laura and Ian were going well and in April 2001, Ian proposed marriage. This didn't sit well with Laura's wealthy father, Norman, who could not condone his daughter marrying a bankrupt man. Nevertheless Laura decided to go ahead with the wedding, although problems arose when she discovered that Ian had known about some secret inheritance she'd received, and she suddenly began to think that Ian only wanted to get his hands on her money. Ian managed to talk her round just at the last minute, and they married in May that year.

Ian became a suspect in the "Who Shot Phil?" storyline, when Phil was shot on his doorstep by a unknown person in March 2001. Although Ian was not the shooter, it transpired that he had discovered Phil's bloody body on the pavement and instead of getting him help he had left him to die.

Later in the year, Laura was seething with jealousy when Ian went into a new catering business with Melanie. In 2002 Mel was arrested for money laundering and drug dealing. In actual fact it was Mel's late husband who was guilty of the crimes, but unbeknown to Mel, she had been set up as the director of several companies that had been used for the laundering. Mel was now imprisoned and her only source of money for the bail were the funds she'd tied up in her catering business with Ian. As Ian was declared bakrupt, she needed Laura to sign the papers to liquidate the business. However, Laura saw her opportunity to rid herself of Mel once and for all, and she maliciously denied to sign the papers. When Mel was finally released she took great pleasure in informing Ian about Laura's spiteful deed and even greater pleasure in informing Laura that Ian had tried to kiss her several weeks earlier, and had only gone back to her after she turned him down.

Things between Laura and Ian started to go swiftly downhill after this. Laura, now in complete control of both of their businesses, took great delight in reminding Ian that she was in charge and Ian began to feel worthless and belittled. To make matters worse, Laura then decided that she wanted a baby, which Ian flatly refused. The pair were involved in regular arguments, and a dishevelled Ian then started frequenting the local prostitute, Janine Butcher, to escape his nagging wife. This backfired on him when Janine decided to blackmail money out of him for her silence. Things were about to get far worse, however, when Ian's son, Steven, witnessed him and Janine in a steamy clinch and promptly informed Laura. Ian had another blow when Steven discovered that Ian was not his real father, and he went to live with his biological father, Simon Wicks, in New Zealand.

Laura took Ian back on the promise that he would provide her with a child. He agreed, but then secretly went behind her back and had a vasectomy. Laura cheerfully went ahead with her pregnancy programme, demanding sex twice a night during her fertile periods, and she became quite frustrated when she failed to conceive. However, later in the year Laura did fall pregnant. Knowing that the child could not possibly be his, Ian tossed Laura onto the streets on Christmas Day 2002, but not before he'd managed to con her into signing over her share of their businesses. Laura had no choice but to turn up on the doorstep of the man that she thought was the father, Garry Hobbs.

In 2003 Laura gave birth to a son, named Bobby. Bobby was sickly at birth, and had to have a blood transfusion - during which it became clear that Garry wasn't his father after all, meaning that Ian must have been. Laura decided to keep this information to herself, and allowed Garry's marriage to Lynne Hobbs to collapse once again, while she appropriated him as father and provider. Meanwhile Ian made a play for the newly single Kate Mitchell, but was disappointed to discover that her feelings for him were purely platonic.

Laura and Ian continued to feud regularly, and things were made worse when Phil Mitchell appointed Laura as the new manager of Ian's old café. She renamed it Laura's. Ian managed to get the upper hand yet again when Phil's sister, Sam, sold the café back to him in 2004 and he subsequently sacked Laura. One night, after a vicious fight with Janine, Laura fell down the stairs in her flat and died, and Pat Evans discovered Bobby's birth certificate which revealed Ian as the true father. He had tests which confirmed this, and it turned out that, although his vasectomy had worked, he was not supposed to have sex for six weeks, to let the procedure kick in, but he ignored this, thus resulting in Laura's pregnancy. Bobby came to live with Ian, Peter and Lucy shortly before his first birthday.

Relationship with Jane and custody war with Phil

When Ian took his children to the funfair in 2004, he came to blows with Jane Collins who was selling candyfloss. A ride collapsed, resulting in injury to Peter, and Ian was also injured. Jane came to look after Ian and, despite their initial hatred towards each other, they soon felt a strong attraction. Ian wanted to get together with her, but Jane rejected him initially because she had a secret: she was married, and her husband David was terminally ill with Huntingtons disease. Eventually, her husband died, and Ian helped her come to terms with his death. They eventually fell for each other, and Jane now lives with Ian and his children. Jane and Ian talked about trying for their own child, before deciding they were happy as they were.

in April 2005, Ian tricked Phil into thinking he was helping him escape from police, by providing money when he was on the run and had turned up in Walford unexpectedly; instead, Ian had Phil arrested, and Phil vowed to get revenge. When Phil returned from prison later that year, he got revenge on Ian by covering him with tomato sauce in the street, and bullying him into handing the Arches back to him, free of charge, which Ian had bought off Sam Mitchell for a pittance a year earlier.

In November 2005, Ian bought the Queen Vic from Chrissie Watts, just before she was arrested for the murder of her husband, Den. As Chrissie was not the legal owner of the property, the contract turned out to be invalid. Ian lost a lot of money, as a result of this and the Mitchells were reinstated as the new owners.

Ian made a bad impession on Gus Smith's dog Wellard, who bit Ian on the backside whilst they were in the café. Ian had the dog taken away by police to be put down, and planned to take Gus to court. Ian and Gus went to court and Ian won the court case; however, Wellard was not put down; he just had to kept on a lead.

Problems emerged in Jane and Ian's relationship, after Ian brought his half brother Ben to live with them after the death of Ben and Ian's mother and stepfather in a car crash. Ian was reluctant to let Ben see his father Phil, while Jane thought Ben should get to know his dad. Meanwhile Phil was furious with Ian for keeping Ben's arrival in Walford from him. As Ian and Phil rowed, Jane and Phil's brother Grant grew close. In April 2006, Jane and Grant slept together, unbeknown to Ian. Grant left Walford in June, and told Jane to be happy if she wants to be with Ian. Meanwhile the situation between Phil and Ian appeared to reach a head after Ben ran away to escape all the arguing going on at home. Phil and Ian decided to call a truce and try to get on for Ben's sake, after he was found. Ben has subsequently gone to live with Phil in the Queen Vic.

In June 2006, Ian met an old associate, Victor Brown, and got a place on the Walford Community Charity Trust committee. Jane refused to attend a WCCT event, favouring Peter and Lucy's parents evening, so Ian paid Dawn Swann to act as his wife, Jane. This charade lasted for a couple of months, ending in the real Jane discovering what Ian was up to, only to forgive him because she felt guilty for having an affair with Grant Mitchell.

A few months later, Ian refused to service his Jeep Cherokee at the Arches. Jane tried to resolve the problem by taking it there. Nevertheless, Ian was furious to find that his car was at the Arches. He and Phil had an argument, then Ian sneaked into the Arches to get the car back. Minty forgot to fix a nut on the wheel, causing Ian to crash his car. Ian then blamed Phil and taunted him by saying he would take care of Ben while Phil was in jail. Phil erupted and revealed to Ian that Jane had slept with Grant. Ian then disappeared leaving Jane to fret. He returned the next day, and instead of being angry as she expected, he proposed marriage. Jane accepted, and in November, they decided that Jane should adopt Ian's children.

Ian was shocked when he heard that Pauline was dying but she confessed that she was lying about the whole thing to keep Martin and Sonia apart. He also confessed that the whole wedding was a way to humiliate Jane in front of everyone. Pauline convinced him to go through with his plans. On the day of the wedding, Ian gave Peggy a letter that he wanted her to read out in The Queen Vic but Phil was suspicious and opened the letter. The letter was about Grant and Jane's affair. Phil warned Jane not to come to the wedding and told her that Ian was planning to humiliate her. Ian knew that Jane was informed of his plans when Charlie Slater, Jane's taxi driver, arrived at the ceremony without her. He immediately realised that Phil had told her, who denied everything. Pauline then went on to reveal everything to everyone. Ian went to find Jane who was walking around the Square in her wedding dress in tears in the rain. They argued throughout the day and ended up fighting each other in the mud at the allottments. After some talking they realised that they loved each other too much and they kissed. Pauline saw this and Ian told her that he was going to be fine and that he did not need her to protect him. Pauline responded by telling Ian to go to hell.

Ian, Jane and the children went on a holiday and when they returned, Ian found out that the whole square knew of Pauline's lie. Pauline also announced that she was leaving to stay with her daughter Michelle in America. Ian, Jane and the children spent Christmas Day with the Brannings (Jim, Dot and Bradley). Ian tried to convince Pauline to stay but she told him to go. The residents of the Square celebrated the rest of the day at The Queen Vic. After going outside to enjoy the snow, Dot discovered Pauline's body under the Christmas tree in the Square. Ian, Jim, Dot and Sonia looked on in horror as they realised she was dead. Ian was the executor to Pauline's will, and fell out with Martin when the conditions in the will stated that Martin and Sonia could not live in the house as a couple. He was later saddened when Martin left Walford and put the house up for sale, but later bought the house from Martin, and later suggesting to Jane that they should move in there.

On 30 March 2007, Ian discovered bruises on Ben's back. When he asked Ben where he got them from, Ben told him that Phil's girlfriend Stella had hurt him. This was untrue: they had been caused by bullies at Ben's school, and although Stella had been psychologically tormenting Ben and had in fact seen the incident which caused the bruising, intentionally failing to intervene, she had not physically caused the bruises herself. Ian shouted at Stella and Phil, until Ben told Phil that the bruises were caused by bullies, and said that Ian had coerced him into saying that Stella did it.

The conflict between Ian and Phil arose again in April 2007, and began with Peggy not paying for a savaloy in the chip shop. It quickly escalated, and Ian was barred from The Queen Vic. After Phil's acquaintance, Polish builder Erek, built a wall in the Beales' gateway, and Ian retaliated by pouring cement in The Vic's drains, Dot Branning called a meeting between the Beales and the Mitchells, where Ian and Phil called a truce, and along with Billy, decided to take their sons Peter and Ben camping. After arguing on the camping trip, and burning their supplies, they decided to retun to Walford. Whilst arguing with Ian in the car, Phil failed to notice a fallen tree in the road, and swerved at the last minute, crashing the car.

Ian dislocated his shoulder, and Peter laid unconscious in the back of the car. Phil then dragged Ian out of the car and woke Peter up, and they continued to argue, not realising that the car was slowly rolling down a hill into a lake with Ben and Peter still inside. The car crashed into the lake and Phil dived in to save the drowning boys. Phil resurfaced with Ben, whilst Ian screamed for Peter, who was still trapped in the car. Phil went back down and brought Peter back to land but the boy laid unconscious with Ian screaming for his son to live.

Family

• Father: Pete Beale (deceased)
• Mother: Kathy Mitchell (deceased)
• Half brothers: David Wicks, Ben Mitchell
• Half sister: Donna Ludlow (deceased)
• Sons: Peter Beale, Bobby Beale
• Daughter: Lucy Beale
• Grandfathers: Albert Beale (deceased), Dennis Hills
• Grandmothers: Lou Beale (deceased), Brenda Hills
• Nephew: Joe Wicks
• Nieces: Bianca Jackson, Karen Wicks (deceased)
• Great nephew: Liam Butcher
• Great niece: Natasha Butcher (deceased)
• Uncles: Kenny Beale, Ronnie Beale (deceased), Harry Beale, Ted Hills, Colin Hills, Jonathan Hills
• Aunts: Pauline Fowler (deceased), Maggie Flaherty, Dora Beale, Stephanie Hills
• Great great aunt: Dolly Beale (deceased)
• Cousins: Mark Fowler (deceased), Michelle Fowler, Martin Fowler, Conor Flaherty, Tony Hills, Sarah Hills, Eamonn Flaherty, Tommy Flaherty, John Flaherty, Elizabeth Beale
• First cousins once removed: Mary Flaherty, Vicki Fowler, Mark Fowler Jr., Rebecca Miller, Eamonn Flaherty Jr., Colette Flaherty, Kylie Flaherty
• Second cousin twice removed: Nellie Ellis

References

1. "Adam's unique milestone", bbc.co.uk. URL last accessed 2007-03-26
2. ^ Smith, Julia (1987). EastEnders - The Inside Story. Book Club Associates. ISBN 0-563-20601-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
3. "Laurie Brett on Ian Beale", Sunday Mirror. URL last accessed on 2006-10-05.
4. "I'VE HAD MY PHIL OF STICKY SITUATIONS", Sunday Mail. URL last accessed on 2006-10-05.
5. "THE 100 GREATEST TV CHARACTERS", Offthetelly.co.uk. URL last accessed on 2006-10-05.
6. Brake, Colin (1995). EastEnders: The First 10 Years: A Celebration. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37057-2.

External links

• Ian Beale at BBC Online

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• EastEnders characters
• Fictional businesspeople
• Fictional shopkeepers
• Fictional chefs