EastEnders fans demand reunion as they wonder who Ian Beale called love at Dots funeral

2022-12-13

EastEnders momentarily brought back Ian Beale for Dot Cotton's funeral on Monday night – and his surprise appearance has left fans with plenty of questions.

Not seen around Albert Square for two years now, actor Adam Woodyatt returned with a dishevelled look as Ian secretly paid his respects to Dot Cotton under the cover of churchyard trees while the rest of the grievers huddled together at her graveside.

While bidding the inimitable Dot goodbye, he then answered a phone call with a noticeable amount of affection, promising he'd be home soon and referring to the as 'love'.

EastEnders fans then took to social media to share theories about who he was speaking to.

"IAN AND JANE REUNITED I BEG #eastenders," tweeted one person, while some begged executive producer Chris Clenshaw to bring Ian's ex-wife Jane Beale back.

"Ian and Jane return in 2023 pls #EastEnders," write one fan, before another wrote: "IAN WAS ON THE PHONE TO JANE JANE BEALE RETURN RN I DEMAND IT #EastEnders."

Played by Laurie Brett, Jane has been AWOL since 2017, when she got tangled up in Max Branning's plot to punish those responsible after he was wrongly imprisoned for Lucy Beale's murder.

With Jake Wood's Max long gone, and Ian free from Letitia Dean's Sharon Watts, the duo could well reunite.

The funeral scenes themselves proved as emotional as fans had hoped, with Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) delivering a eulogy that was capped off with three powerful words for her late grandmother: "I love you."

A number of Albert Square favourites returned for Dot's final goodbye too, with Jacqueline Jossa reprising her role as Lauren Branning after leaving Walford back in 2018.

Speaking about filming Dot's send-off earlier this month, the actress, 30, admitted that it also felt like a funeral for June Brown, the late icon who passed away in April aged 95.

Asked about the offer to return for such a special storyline, Jacqueline said: "I'd hoped it would happen. June deserves the send-off she’s going to get at EastEnders, and I wanted to be a part of that and be involved.

"It was nice to be there to represent that side of the Branning family because there are family members always off gallivanting and doing different things."

She went on to reveal: "I was really nervous because, no matter what, it’s always such a big thing to be at EastEnders. But when I got there, it didn’t feel like anything had changed.

"It just felt like being back at home. The two episodes are very emotional from top to bottom because there are so many layers."

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