Jack James Ryan couldn't look further away from the Coronation Street cobbles as he headed for a mini sunshine break. The actor is best known for playing reformed bad boy Jacob Hay on the ITV soap.
Jacob first appeared in Weatherfield in March 2020 as part of a gang who were running drugs under the cover of food deliveries which saw him befriend Simon Barlow. After his three-month stint on the soap, Jack went down to London to work at the National Theatre and also filmed a short for BBC called Peck Eds.
But the Manchester actor was thrilled to get the call about a return to the famous cobbles and Corrie fans have since seen him strike up a relationship with Simon's cousin Amy Barlow, which didn't go down well with her parents Tracy and Steve or Simon and his family.
And Simon has been trying to make things difficult, goading Jacob into hitting him and last week anonymously calling the police as Jacob sold alcopops he had legitimately brought from Evelyn Plummer at the corner shop.
Now, Jack James has treated that there are big things to come in the soap for him and his character as he shared a snap from his trip to Alcúdia. Taking to Instagram, the soap star shared a picture of him smiling for the camera in his shades and summer clothes - a mint green t-shit and stone-coloured shorts which he paired with a pair of brown sandals.
"Toes out 4 the lads," he captioned the post to his thousands of followers and was soon getting comments from his Corrie co-stars. Simon actor Alex Bain wrote: "D amnnnn styling on them mate!" with a fire emoji.
But when one fan asked: "When are we getting more Jacob scenes?" Jack was more than obliged to reply. He said on Friday (April 22): "Next week is a big week for Mr Hay."
Corrie spoilers for this week see Amy calling at the factory and begging Carla Barlow to give Jacob a job. Carla’s incredulous, but can’t help admiring Amy's cheek and offers Jacob a trial. As fans can already predict, the news doesn't go down well with her family and Carla has some questions to answer when news of Jacobs new job at the factory reaches Simon, Toyah Battersby, Nick Tilsley, Leanne Battersby and husband Peter Barlow.
No one can understand her decision and Simon rails at her for her lack of loyalty. Simon calls at the factory and publicly shames Jacob for his violent, drug dealing past. Jacob’s deeply humiliated whilst Carla is forced to masks her unease. Simon then makes it clear that he’ll never forgive him and he’d better watch his back.
At the end of the week, Jacob makes a furtive call giving Simon cause to think that he’s planting drugs in Victoria Garden for a client. Simon confronts Jacob and demands he hand over his stash. When Jacob reveals that he was planting a packet of custard creams, Simon realises he’s been duped. A
As Jacob describes his life of hell working for Harvey and how he grabbed the opportunity to escape as soon as Harvey was banged up, Simon looks at him in a new light. Could this be the start of a new beginning for Jacob?
Meanwhile, Jack has returned to the UK and spent the weekend singing his heart out at Craig David's Manchester concert with his sister, and former co-star, Rebecca Ryan before helping celebrate Summer Spellman star Harriet Bibby's birthday.
