Coronation Street's Jacob Hay and Leanne Battersby are far from friendly on the cobbles, considering that Jacob played a major role in luring Leanne's adoptive son Simon Barlow into a dangerous drug dealing ring last year.
But despite the fact that Jacob regularly tormented Leanne (Jane Danson) and Simon (Alex Bain), took over their flat and even made horrendous comments about the death of Leanne's young son Oliver, Jack James Ryan has revealed that he and co-star Jane actually have a great real-life relationship.
The actor, who recently returned as Jacob, has told Digital Spy and other media that everyone in the ITV soap's cast has "just been super supportive" since his recent return and has seemed "genuinely excited to have me back". However, he singled out Jane as somebody he has grown particularly close to.
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"In regards to advice, Jane Danson has given me lots of great tips," he said. "She has been super supportive of me and my work, which again is incredibly humbling. She was one of the actors that I really looked up to before coming onto the show. So it's cool to now call her a mate.
"Jane Hazlegrove as well, who plays Bernie (Winter), has also been amazing. She's just proper taken me under her wing and looked after me and just given me loads of great advice. I'd love to see some Bernie and Jacob scenes – I think they'd be mega."
But while Jack may be forming friendships on set, things won't be so easy for Jacob following the upset that he caused the last time he was a regular presence on the street. And even the actor himself admitted that he might not be friends with his character.
"From what we've seen of him so far, I'm going to have to say no," he said when asked if he'd be mates with Jacob. "But I do believe that everyone deserves a second chance. And I hope that Jacob can prove to us all that he really wants to change and be a better person.
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"But Jacob as a character, though, is obviously very close to my heart. I love playing him, and I'm really, really excited for viewers to get to know him a little bit better. I think the possibilities for Jacob are endless – I'm really excited to see what he gets up to."
Jacob will be attempting to prove to the Weatherfield residents over the next few months that he's changed, with a surprise romance with Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney) on the cards for him. And with Jacob set to change, it's quite likely that fan reaction to the character will too.
"I did not expect the character to have people interacting with them that much," he said of previous reaction to Jacob from viewers. "But it's been amazing, definitely out on the streets, at the height of the [drugs] storyline, I had a few people go, 'Leave Simon alone', but everything has been super playful. So it's been really nice.
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"I love people coming up to me and talking to me about the show when they're loving the storyline and stuff like that. It's been really great. It's been really positive overall. But I definitely think they all love to hate him.
"I'm really excited to see [if reactions change]. Hopefully they'll [viewers] see that change and I'm hoping that he'll start to win a few people over – so fingers crossed."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 7.30pm on ITV.
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Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing. She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who. Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine. Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
