Casualty star Charles Venn explains how he was affected by Jacob's story
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Casualty spoilers follow.
Casualty star Charles Venn has revealed how he personally connected with Jacob Masters' life-or-death ordeal.
Jacob's life will flash before his eyes in this Saturday's episode, when he's targeted by a traumatised Roy – the widowed husband of a late patient.
When Roy walks into the hospital with an explosive belt strapped to his vest, he demands to speak with Jacob – who he holds responsible for the death of his wife a few months ago.
Acutely aware he is on borrowed time, Jacob desperately tries to reason with Roy and bravely persuades him to let the police clear the area.
Discussing the powerful scenes, as Jacob is forced to plead for his life, Charles told Digital Spy how the story reminded him of a life-changing moment in his past.
"It was a great episode to read," he said. "I thought, 'Wow, I've never had a story like this before'. Jacob literally sees his life flashing past him. In that moment, there are so many things he wants to say but you can't.
"It made me think about my father. We didn't see eye-to-eye for a long time, and my cousin's father was very sadly on his deathbed. I remember my cousin telling me, 'There are so many things I want to tell my dad right now but I can't as he can't hear me'.
"When he said that to me, I immediately phoned my father to check in on him. He was really surprised to hear my voice but I had to make my peace with him. I couldn't live with the fact that I was holding on to all of this and didn't get to say some of the things I wanted to say before his time came."
Charles continued: "That is what is going through Jacob's mind in those scenes. It's that moment there where your time is seemingly cut short and you don't have the opportunity to say all the things you want to say.
"You see Jacob and Connie speaking to each other in Resus when Roy is about to pull the trigger and you see that there are so many things they want to say to each other but they can't."
Explaining how he had to go to a dark place in order to portray Jacob's fear, Charles added: "It's dealing with a situation like that – what do you do? What do you say? How do you respond?
"I really had to think about the best way to approach this episode and the fact that this man could kill Jacob at any minute. He wants to kill him and Jacob 100% believes he's going to die.
"It was difficult to film – I had to go to a dark place and stay in a dark place. I had let in thoughts which I don't usually let in my mind to portray that fear so the audience could follow that journey and put themselves in Jacob's shoes."
Casualty airs these scenes on Saturday, January 30 on BBC One.
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