I so nearly skipped my audition, admits Eastenders legend Adam

EASTENDERS veteran Adam Woodyatt has revealed just how close he came to missing out on his famous role.

The actor, who has played Ian Beale for 35 years, was just 16 and working for a butcher inwales when he reluctantly attended an audition.

“It meant losing two days’ wages,” he said. “I kept thinking, ‘Is it worth it?’ It was going to cost me a week’s wages to get down for the audition.”

He decided to go for it but as he walked out of the auditioning room, he paused. “I said, ‘I’m not being cheeky but I’ve come down from Wales.

“If I go back today and you call me back for a recall tomorrow, I can’t make it. If you want me, then can you let me know today?’

“I thought that was the end of it. Next thing I know a voice is shouting out of the window, ‘Stop, stop’.then one of them is running down the road.

“They wanted me to meet the producer. It was an instant recall.”

A few days later, back in the butcher’s shop, he got the offer.

“It felt amazing,” he says.

And he was so excited he punched the wall. “A tile on the other side of the wall came off,” he says.

Adam, 51, has been on the BBC soap since its first show in 1985 – and admits he’s not sure how he’s still there.

“I haven’t got a clue. I haven’t been found out yet! Some weeks I’m amazed I’m still there. I think, ‘My god you did that really badly’.

“One of the things that has helped is that Ian Beale is a chameleon. He can do a variety of things.”

As Eastenders gears up for a week of high drama to celebrate its 35th anniversary, Ian says he’s never felt nervous – even during the live episodes.

He told Ed James on the How Doyou? podcast: “If a take goes wrong, it goes wrong. It’s not like you’ve pressed the nuclear red button.”