{"id":780726,"date":"2026-09-24T05:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T05:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780726\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T05:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T05:20:12","slug":"eastenders-spoilers-confirm-ian-beales-walford-return-date-and-linda-carter-going-public-with-max-branning-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780726\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders spoilers confirm Ian Beale’s Walford return date and Linda Carter going public with Max Branning romance"},"content":{"rendered":"

We finally know when Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) will be returning to Walford in EastEnders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The BBC One soap’s longest-serving character was sent to prison earlier this year<\/a> for drink-driving and causing Jordan Fox (Jahsaiah Williams) to sustain injuries.<\/p>\n

Despite attempts by Jordan’s guilty mother, Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams), to help him, Ian was imprisoned and even ended up crossing paths with Jordan’s serial killer father, Gray Atkins<\/a> (Toby-Alexander Smith), and even had to stab Gray to save his own life.<\/p>\n

Since then, we haven’t seen Ian, and he’s been languishing in prison, waiting for an appeal to go through.<\/p>\n

Now we know via the BBC<\/a> that Ian will be back on our screens and in Walford on Wednesday 7 October, but we imagine he will be somewhat shaken up by his stint inside.<\/p>\n

It seems he will find support in Nicola’s cool and collected brother-in-law Ned Hawkins (Jamie Bamber), who we already know is a war veteran and trained therapist.<\/p>\n

\"Ned<\/p>\n

Ned Hawkins (Jamie Bamber) is a busy bee in Walford soon…\u00a0BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron<\/p>\n

However, Ned is a busy man that week as he appears to be locked in a power struggle with Nicola.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it seems Nicola will bond with her nephew and Ned’s son Ryder Hawkins (Felix Uff), but how will Ned feel about their closeness?<\/p>\n

As if that wasn’t enough, it seems now is finally the week that Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) will go public about her romance with Max Branning (Jake Wood)<\/a> as she tells her family about him. How will this go down?<\/p>\n

Well, it seems whichever family members she tells are hiding their own secrets…<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Jake Wood as Max Branning and Kellie Bright as Linda Carter in EastEnders.\u00a0BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron<\/p>\n

Catch the full episode descriptions for these early October episodes below…<\/p>\n

Monday 5 October 2026<\/p>\n

Nicola continues to struggle with Ned. Linda receives a shock. Harvey tries to support Kathy.<\/p>\n

Tuesday 6 October 2026<\/p>\n

Linda tells her family about Max. Ned tries to goad Nicola. Alfie wants to get through to Kat.<\/p>\n

Wednesday 7 October 2026<\/p>\n

Linda worries, as she fears her family are not being honest with her. Ian returns to Walford. Nicola tries to support Ryder.<\/p>\n

Thursday 8 October 2026<\/p>\n

Nicola and Ryder continue to bond. Ned helps Ian open up.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Visit our dedicated EastEnders<\/a> page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.<\/p>\n

Add EastEnders to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app<\/a> \u2013 download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.<\/p>\n

Check out more of our Soaps<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide <\/a>to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We finally know when Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) will be returning to Walford in EastEnders. The BBC One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-780726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}