Casualty favourite Jacob Masters faces death when a suicidal bomber takes him hostage. Charles Venn tells us more...
Casualty nurse manager Jacob Masters is having a hell of a time of it. Having recovered from Covid-19 he thought a nightmare period of his life was over.
All his dreams had come true, thanks to his rekindled romance with Connie Beauchamp. It didn’t last however - Connie (Amanda Mealing) dumped Jacob when lockdown ended and since then he’s barely able to tolerate her presence!
This week his world gets much worse when mystery man Roy (Father Brown star Alan Williams) turns up in the ED with a bomb strapped to his chest and a vendetta against Jacob! But why?
Casualty star Charles Venn, who plays Jacob Masters, tells us more…
Jacob is having a time of it at the moment…
Charles Venn: "When it rains, it pours! He’s lost the love of his life, and now he’s got someone he’s done wrong to on his case. It’s all gone bad."
Roy’s arrival is a shocking twist!
CV: "It’s a very frightening scenario. You have a man who has his finger on the trigger. Roy can let go of that at any point and that’s immediate death..."
What can you reveal to us about Roy’s motives?
CV: "It turns out Roy’s wife came to the ED for treatment and unfortunately it ended tragically. But because Jacob deals with so many patients he has no knowledge of this man at all. Roy feels there’s a score to settle and his main focus is Jacob."
MORE: This week's Casualty spoilers in full
In a way, are Roy and Jacob experiencing parallel losses?
CV: "Absolutely. They’re opposite ends of similar scales. They’re coming from two different places but the intentions are the same. Roy is dealing with the death of his loved one, Jacob’s dealing with the breakup loss of his loved one. Pain is the undercurrent throughout this episode. It’s an intriguing duality."
How did you get into the headspace to play these high octane, emotional scenes?
CV: "It was really difficult for me to play. I had to go into a method state for that particular episode in order to really be in touch with fear. You have to take your mind to a place whereby you visualise loved ones in life or death situations. You really have to go to dark places to conjure up the emotions needed to authenticate that feeling."
When Roy leads Jacob outside and reveals his suicidal revenge plan, does Jacob realise he’s going to die?
CV: "Yes, and when he sees Connie [on the sidelines] that’s when his life flashes past him. All of a sudden he starts reflecting on all the things he’s gone through, the people who mean so much to him, the good times, and that it’s all coming to an end imminently. You see that in these moments between Connie and Jacob. In that moment he’s saying goodbye to the woman he loves."
Find out if Jacob lives or dies when this episode of Casualty airs on BBC1, Saturday 30 January 2021 at 8.50pm
