EASTENDERS’ Ian Beale will return and take over the Queen Vic after Mick Carter’s exit, bookies claim.
Bets are on that Adam Woodyatt could be about to return to EastEnders as show favourite Danny Dyer leaves the BBC Soap.
Adam, 53, played Ian Beale on the square for 36 years before leaving the show last year.
He has appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me out Of Here! and went on tour with stage play Looking Good Dead during his break.
Bookmakers William Hill have now priced his character’s return at just 6-1.
Others they say could get their hands on the Queen Vic’s licence are Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) and Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), both priced at 9-4.
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Phil was pulling pints as landlord on and off between 1991 until 2013, and suffered for it during the Queen Vic Fire Week in 2010, which led to Peggy Mitchell’s (Barbara Windsors) exit.
Adam also dropped a huge hint about when his soap character could make a return to Albert Square during his stint in I’m a Celeb.
The Walford legend opened up about playing Ian Beale for decades and his future on the ITV show.
His iconic character was last seen in EastEnders in January 2021, when he scarpered in the middle of the night after discovering wife Sharon Mitchell (Letitia Dean) had been poisoning him.
The dramatic storyline marked Adam‘s first ever exit from EastEnders, and he was probed by his I’m A Celeb co-stars on why he had left the popular role.
He told Frankie Bridge: “I just had another opportunity, there was this play that came up and I just fancied doing something different.”
He then admitted the show’s bosses had wanted his character to take a pause.
“The way the storyline went, they needed me to take a break and the break’s just got longer.”
Paralympic champion Kadeena Cox queried Adam on whether or not he’d fancy trying his hand at film acting.
“I’m available as of April,” the star joked – as he revealed when his run in play Looking Good Dead will come to an end at Churchill Theatre in Bromley, south east London.
That would make Adam available to sign a new contract with EastEnders from next month.
