Ian grew up in the Square surrounded by his family. He had an eye for business as soon as he hit his teens and he was a nice boy once, but he’s been constantly let down in love and it’s made him bitter and twisted.
It's supply and demand, the basic principles of marketing. You don't like it - you know where the door is
1985 Just 16, he learns boxing to combat his wimpy image and wins his one and only match.
1986 Dates first proper girlfriend Sharon Watts, daughter of the Queen Vic’s Den and Angie.
1987 Takes a catering course at college and lands his first job, working part-time in Ali’s cafe.
1988 Runs his own business hiring out a mobile disco with the Square’s Barry Clark. Finishes his catering qualifications and gets a full-time job at the cafe.
1989 Falls for the glamorous Cindy Williams and she falls pregnant. They marry in October and their first baby, Steven, is born in December.
1990 Cindy confesses that Ian’s ‘mate’ Simon Wicks is Steven’s real father. A distraught Ian ends up in intensive care after crashing his car in a rage. Recovers and threatens Cindy and Simon with a shotgun.
1991 Sells the café and starts a catering business, The Meal Machine, employing teenager Hattie Tavernier.
1992 Sinks to an all-time low, curb-crawling for prostitutes. Tracks down Cindy and finds her alone in a bedsit and convinces her to come back to him.
1993 Cindy falls pregnant and Peter and Lucy are born two months premature. After the birth, Ian’s dad, Pete, dies in a car crash.
1994 Ian starts a loan-shark business and sells it to open up a chip shop.
1996 Cindy has an affair with Simon’s brother David and hires a hitman to put Ian out of the picture. Ian survives, but Cindy flees to Europe with Steven and Peter, leaving Lucy behind.
1997 Hires Private Detective Ros Thorne to get his kids back and she finds Cindy in Italy.
1998 Cindy returns to Britain to fight for custody but is jailed for the attempted murder of Ian. She dies in prison.
1999 Has a whirlwind romance with Mel Healy. She dumps him just minutes after their Millennium Eve wedding after discovering that Ian lied that Lucy had cancer to ensure that Mel went through with the vows.
2000 Employs nanny Laura Dunn and they get together. Goes bankrupt owing £10,000 to the taxman.
2001 Laura raises the money to buy him back the chippy and they make a fresh start with the kids.
2002 Has a secret vasectomy. Is outraged to discover that Laura is pregnant and kicks her out. Thinks Garry Hobbs is the dad.
2003 Baby Bobby is born but Laura secretly has a paternity test done and discovers that Ian is his father after all – the vasectomy failed.
2004 Laura falls to her death. Discovers in the aftermath that he’s Bobby’s dad and takes Bobby from Garry. Employs Jane Collins to work in the café and falls for her.
2005 Jane moves in. Tries to buy the Queen Vic, but his hated ex-stepdad Phil Mitchell gets in first.
2006 Mum Kathy dies in South Africa and he brings half-brother Ben over to Walford. Sets up a fake wedding to humiliate Jane after discovering she had an affair but they reunite.
2007 Clashes with daughter Lucy after she starts seeing teen tearaway Craig. Finally marries Jane. Fears he's getting stalked by his late ex-wife Cindy but it turns out to be stepson Steven, who is playing evil games.
Adam was born on June 28 1968 in Walthamstow, east London to father, Brinley, a policeman, and mother Maureen. Adam attended Sylvia Young’s acting school when he was a child and won several parts in advertising campaigns, including a starring role in an ad for an American chocolate bar when he was nine.
His first proper acting role was in 1980 in the stage version of Oliver! and he appeared in several children’s TV shows, including The Baker Street Boys and The Witches of Grinnygog.
Adam was working in a butcher's shop when he was snapped up for the role of Ian Beale when he was 16 and he has acted almost exclusively in the soap ever since.
Adam married dancer Beverley Sharp in Disney World, Florida, on April 8 1998 and the couple have two children, Jessica (b.1993) and Sam (b.1997).
