Ian Albert Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Adam Woodyatt. He is the longest-serving character and the only remaining original character to have appeared continuously since the first episode on 19 February 1985. The character appeared in his 2,000th episode in the show on 26 March 2007. He is currently one of three original main characters in EastEnders, the others being Ian's mother Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) and close friend Sharon Mitchell (Letitia Dean).