Veteran WALFORD member Ian Beale hasn’t been spotted in Albert Square in months.
Fans of EastEnders, who had initially been anticipating his return, are now urging the producers to keep him away in order to keep Sharon out of trouble.
On February 19, 1985, Ian Beale made his first appearance in the long-running drama as a longtime inhabitant of the fictional London borough of Walford.
But when his ex-wife Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) tried to poison him in retaliation, the local businessman felt compelled to depart after playing a part in Dennis Rickman Jr.’s untimely death in 2020.
The Square mainstay hasn’t been seen or heard from since leaving in January 2021.
Fans of the soap opera were first interested in learning when star Adam Woodyatt will be repeating his legendary role as another great this summer.
The purchase of the neighbourhood nightclub Ruby’s, which has been renamed to honour Peggy Mitchell, has caused viewers to drastically change their minds because Sharon is once again at the centre of the story.
After giving recent events on their screens some attention, viewers are pleading with the show’s producers not to bring Ian back because they fear it will damage Sharon because she nearly killed him.
But the development of Ian in the BBC One show also accounts for their refusal to ever see him again.
“Although I haven’t really missed Ian much, I have a feeling we won’t see him again for a while. Sadly, he’s been destroyed “, a viewer posted on a Digital Spy discussion board.
Another reacted to this by saying: “Nobody in the show, in my opinion, misses him either. The majority of them appear to be aware of Sharon’s poisoning of him and could care less. That must be what happens when you act the way Ian has over the years, I suppose.”
Even his own relatives don’t appear to give a toss, said a third observer.
Another simply remarked, “Hope he never comes back.”
When Sharon learned that Ian had contributed to her son’s death, she conspired with her ex-husband Phil to harm him.
When a bleed on his brain was discovered, which put Ian in a critical state, he proposed to Sharon out of worry that he might not live long enough to wed her.
Despite his mother Kathy’s insistence that she have the marriage annulled, she consented to marry him; nevertheless, this did not imply that she was ready to make amends.
Instead, Sharon was adamant about obtaining her revenge and resolved to do so by being as close to her adversary as she could.
By poisoning Ian with lithium tablets in his Christmas pudding, she escalated the situation.
In the end, Sharon succeeded in executing her plan, making it all the way to a carbonara dish, but Ian discovers the truth.
Devastated, Ian agreed to consume the contaminated meal, but Sharon had a change of heart and forced him to vomit the pasta, saving his life.
As was already revealed, Ian escaped Albert Square before Phil could reach him, leaving Sharon as the only owner of The Queen Vic, which she eventually gave back to Mick and Linda Carter.
Fans of EastEnders will probably never receive the closure they desire despite the obvious loose end.
Although it was rumoured that he would return to the legendary show, Adam Woodyatt made it clear that he had no plans to return to Albert Square.
BBC One broadcasts EastEnders from Monday through Thursday.
