EASTENDERS’ Adam Woodyatt has ripped into soap bosses for ‘turning Ian Beale into a sociopath’.
The 53-year-old actor has played the character since EastEnders began in 1985, but was last seen on screen in January 2021.
Soap fans continue to hope Ian will return to Albert Square at some point, but Adam has now slammed bosses for what his character became before his departure.
He said: “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t always think some of the changes were right.
“And maybe they should’ve chosen other directions in which to go. But they weren’t my decisions, they were stuff that the bosses obviously chose.
“Did it make Ian unpopular? Yeah, at times, because he was quite forthright and quite rude to everyone, even people he loved.”
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He continued during an appearance on the White Wine Question Time podcast: “He claimed to be a great father when actually no he wasn’t, he was an absolute narcissist.
“I mean some people would actually say he’s actually a sociopath, if you really want to analyse, really psychoanalyse him.”
Adam said Ian’s marriage to Jane – played by Laurie Brett – helped balance the character out, but after their split and his son Bobby killing his sister Lucy, things went awry.
He explained: “I think once that was broken up again, I dunno… it was almost like Ian was trying to go back to Ian, the 90s, the 2000s.
“And yeah I think it probably did make him very unpopular again because all this stuff he’d learned over the years, suddenly he forgot again and reverted to a previous, almost reverting to a previous version of him which is why the storyline ended up where it was, because there was nowhere else to go with Ian at that time.”
Since his departure from the show, Adam has appeared on I’m A Celebrity and in theatre productions, but he previously said he was “open” to returning as Ian.
However, when asked where he thought Ian was now, he joked: “I think at the moment he’s on the Circle line and he can’t work out where to get off!
“Yeah, just going round… He’s found a night tube and he stayed on it. I haven’t got a clue what’s gonna happen.”
He added of going back: “No genuinely got no idea. They’ve not asked, I’ve not asked them. So I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing.”
