Casualty star reveals Jacob's 'desperation' as missing son Blake is found (2024)

Jacob Masters (Charles Venn) has been on a desperate search for his son Blake in Casualty.

After discovering Blake had become a father to a baby called Carter, Jacob became the sole carer for the little tot as a result of the mother being in prison, and Blake not being around.

With help from the likes of Jan (Di Botcher), Iain (Michael Stevenson) and Teddy (Milo Clarke), Jacob has just about managed to find a balance between being a granddad and working as a paramedic.

Despite adjusting well to his new normal, Jacob has still gone on an extensive search to try and track his son down and in tonight’s episode, he finally finds him.

As I sat down to talk to Charles Venn about the instalment, we started by reflecting on the past few weeks for Jacob, and how determined he has been to find Blake.

‘I would say he’s stressed as well. All of a sudden his life has been turned upside down. Typically when you become a grandparent it should be, for the most part, a joyous celebratory time in your life. You get to see the next generation. To be bombarded with the reality you’re going to be a grandparent and the full-time carer, that’s a lot! You’re also working, it’s a lot to deal with. To add to that, Jacob has a son who is in distress, crying out for help, but doesn’t know how to approach and get that help. It’s a whole lot of stress.’

‘For him, he’s at sixes and sevens. He’s trying to find his son, be a grandparent, do his job and save lives. He’s not exactly doing a desk job! It’s a lot.’

As we pondered over Jacob’s passionate mission into finding his son, I was curious to know what was driving this character to not rest until he lays eyes on Blake again. Was it for Carter? His son? Or was it for himself?

‘During Jacob’s coercive control story, Tina asked him if he’s saving lives from a Samaritan standpoint, or is it because it makes him feel good. For a time, Jacob had to stop and ask himself that. In this instance, it is because his son is crying out for help. It’s a paternal instinct’, he said.

‘He’s trying to form this bond and now, he’s in this situation where he’s all over the place. His son is calling for help, he’s in a sense of danger so naturally, it’s about Jacob trying to get his son back and have his son be a father figure to Carter.

‘It’s not about him, it’s his paternal instinct kicking in. What better motivation than to see his grandchild. He’s doing it because he wants his son back, but he wants Blake to have a relationship with Carter too.’

During tonight’s episode of the medical drama, Jacob will finally lay eyes on Blake after so long.

Describing this moment, Charles explained: ‘The first thing is shock and desperation of course. He wants to get hold of his son but he just bolts! He runs and chases after Blake so there’s that determination again – he would’ve run to the end of the earth to grab hold of Blake and do whatever it takes to convince him to come home. He wants to help his son but at this point, he knows Blake has been under the influence of drugs to some extent so it’s not a surprise to see him run off.’

Blake is now played by David Ajayi. Praising his performance, Charles smiled: ‘David is a wonderful actor. When the audience sees this young, wonderful actor and how he plays Blake – they’ll be bowled over. The emotional complexity of the character and the time of which the audience are seeing him, David plays that beautifully.’

‘He will try and read the situation with Blake as best as possible’, Charles added, revealing what’s ahead for Jacob over the next few weeks.

‘Slowly but surely, he’ll try and etch Blake into a normal scene and ultimately, get him some help. Essentially, pick the moment and find the right time to introduce Carter into Blake’s life. That’s the main objective.

‘How well he does, you’ll have to wait and find out! Jacob is very determined though, he’s going to do everything in his power to try and achieve that objective.’

Last year, following the very sudden and heartbreaking death of Nurse Robyn Miller (Amanda Henderson), Jacob resigned from his job in the Holby ED. His position as clinical nurse manager was ‘untenable,’ he said, after he blamed himself for the death of Robyn and the resignation of David Hide (Jason Durr) and Marty Kirkby (Shaheen Jafargholi).

There was an outpouring of love for the character and the actor on social media following this. One person tweeted: ‘Won’t be the same without Jacob Masters. Your a legend @ChuckyVenn Good luck in your next job. I’m so proud of you in everything you do. I will miss you in Casualty’ and this was very much the feeling among fans.

Charles Venn replied to the many messages with heart emojis – but he was keeping a secret. Jacob had vanished from our screens for one week only because when he returned, it was revealed Jacob Masters had become a paramedic.

In the chat with Charles, I described this transition as a ‘bold move’ for Casualty to make. Keen to know his thoughts on Jacob swapping roles, Charles told me: ‘To paraphrase from Mohammed Ali, “if a challenge doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough”. In this instance, it was a really new challenge that I felt Jacob was a great fit for, but there was a worry as to whether the audience would even take to it. Would I even take to it?! I don’t take to the cold very well!

‘My tolerance for the cold is poor. Michael Stevenson the little bugger, he teases me all the time about not lasting out in the cold! That was the part I really found the most challenging but what I think did it for me was, when I knew it was coming to the end of Jacob’s time as a nurse in the ED, we had the break, I had to play along and pretend Jacob had left the show.’

‘I had to play along with it!’, he added.

‘I couldn’t kill the reveal but at the same time, it was one of those situations where I couldn’t stay quiet at all, because that would’ve been weird. I had to play along but I was very specific with my words – I never actually confirmed Jacob left! Between that time, I was getting messages from people wishing me luck with my career and things like that, it really surprised me!

‘Then, when I came back, I remember I was in New York at the time. I was watching it all live on social media – I received so many messages! It was the likes! In many ways for the production, the bosses, and myself, it assured me that was the right decision. I had a great 8 years inside the ED and a bit like Madonna, I’ve reinvented myself now.’

Away from filming as Jacob, Charles is busy promoting his new short film, How to Navigate Being a Monster.

‘It’s a psychological thriller which has just won an award for Best Short Thriller’, he told me.

‘It’s about a journalist, a thrill seeking journalist who bags an interview with an active serial killer – a very graphic and monstrous man. It’s about what takes place in that meeting room and questions the parallels between the linear and non linear and questions the reality of our intrusive thoughts – those who act on them because they cannot control or help themselves, and those who don’t.

‘We go on this rollercoaster ride and see what being daredevil can lead you into. I play the serial killer, Milo Clarke plays the journalist – it’s a powerful piece.’

One person who knows all there is to know when it comes to juggling a short film and filming at Casualty is Mike Stevenson, whose film The One Note Man qualified for the Oscars.

‘Mike is one of my inspirations!’, Charles smiled.

‘When we were shooting the scenes on the show, he was juggling and making calls and doing the production stuff – I was so motivated by that. He showed me that impossible is nothing, you just have to work a bit harder. He was advising me about loads of things because it was very daunting!

‘I was scared to direct, let alone produce, make the music and everything else! But I dared to dare.’

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