EastEnders' Ian Beale to face total chaos in dramatic Walford return scenes

EastEnders’ Ian Beale is released from prison and returns to Walford next week, though it’s far from a happy homecoming!

Having served about half of his sentence for the drink driving incident that injured little Jordan Fox, Ian is free to get his life back on track. But is this easier said than done?

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"It’s been a while since Ian set foot on Albert Square, and his loved ones are thrilled to have him home," begins our EastEnders insider. "But Ian went through a lot behind bars, particularly with evil Gray, and these traumatic experiences have left a mark. Plus, his first day back in Walford is nothing short of chaos…"

As the week begins, Kathy is busy making sure everything is perfect for her beloved son’s return. Harvey is keen to help his partner, but he’s pulled away by his promise to support ambitious Lily and heads to attend a career fair with the teen.

Kathy also has a scheduled inspection at the chip shop to contend with, so despite having a lot on his plate, Harvey tries to be helpful by cleaning up Beale’s Plaice before the business is assessed.

Later in the week, Ian officially becomes a free man again and returns to Walford, but he is still shaken by the tough times he faced as an inmate. Little does he know, an error from Harvey is about to give him another big problem…

"Harvey is tasked with waiting for the inspector to review the chippy," explains our spy. "But he soon gets word that Lily is missing a career open day to look after Charli, so he agrees to take over childcare duties. This proves to be a disastrous decision though, as Harvey misses the inspection as a result!"

The community are hosting welcome home drinks for Ian at The Vic, but the man of the hour arrives at the celebrations feeling overwhelmed, and he wastes no time in telling everyone what happened with the chip shop.

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He and Harvey end up in a blazing row and Ian runs off, unable to deal with work stress on top of everything else. Ian continues to isolate himself and shut out his concerned family, but things are about to get even worse…

"Ian discovers that the chippy has been cruelly vandalised, which truly is the final straw," says our source.

"Thankfully, Ned is on hand to help clean up the graffiti – and as a therapist, he also helps Ian to finally face up to what happened on the fateful night of Jordan’s accident. Their chat gives Ian food for thought and feels like a proper turning point."

On the back of Ned’s advice, Ian reaches out to Chelsea to have the chat that he’s been anxiously putting off. Could this mark a fresh start for Ian?

EastEnders airs on Mondays - Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.

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