Jack James Ryan has spoken about his 'crushing' Coronation Street exit as his character was forced to flee Weatherfield. Fans of the ITV soap have come to love Jacob Hay after initially being despised for grooming Simon Barlow and for his treatment of a grieving Leanne Battersby.
When he returned to the cobbles in 2022, Jacob struck up a relationship with Amy Barlow which has seen him stay on the street. While his return was initially met with disapproval from Simon, Leanne and Amy's family, he has since turned things around and even moved in with Ken Barlow and co at Number 1.
But all good things must come to an end and during Friday night's trip to the cobbles, Corrie fans saw Jacob leave with those closest to him thinking the worst.
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Earlier this week, viewers slammed the return of the drugs storyline as Jacob was dragged back to the dangerous world by his dad, Damon, who made his arrival on the street just before Christmas. He got his son a job at the Bistro, after Damon's brother Harvey Gaskell gave Nick money, and told him to expect his first package.
While not wanting to get mixed back up in that world, he had no choice but to act when a party of police officers came to enjoy a retirement lunch at the Bistro - and with a sniffer dog in tow. And of course, things went wrong with the dog acting suspiciously. They decided to check out the kitchen but Jacob had already faked being unwell and left with the drugs.
While there was nothing to be found, fingers were pointed at Jacob and Craig headed straight for Jacob's flat. Locking himself in the bathroom Jacob hastily tipped the drugs down the toilet and flushed them away before facing Craig and his colleagues. They're soon given the all clear with Craig apologetic that they had to conduct a search.
But after a warning from his dad to either leave or risk being killed and then a horror beating from Damon in the ginnel, Jacob tells Nick how his dad is smuggling drugs through the restaurant and he has no choice but to leave as Amy's life is in danger. Hearing Amy entering the flat, a desperate Jacob pretends he’s on the phone dealing drugs leaving Amy horrified to think he’s up to his old tricks.
Speaking about Jacob leaving with Amy and his friends thinking the worst of him, Jack told the Manchester Evening News and other press: "It's crushing. It's because it's so unjust and there's nothing you can really do about it. They think he's been lying the whole time and he was just this drug dealer all along.
"It's heartbreaking. And it's not just for Jacob, it's heartbreaking for me as well." He added with a laugh: "Hashtag Justice for Jacob." He also shared how his final scenes on the soap weren't what he actually filmed on his last day on the Salford-based set. But it was still emotional.
"It was odd because we don't obviously always film everything in order so I filmed my final scenes two weeks before I was actually leaving," the soap star revealed. "So my last scene is a random scene with Ciaran on the street outside Underworld, just him telling me to leave the factory.
"But it was good because I had that two week to mourn the death of Jacob Hay, mourn me leaving the show."And he was given a lot of support as he headed off to pastures new. "It was really sweet, Elle [Mulvaney, who plays Amy], Harriet Bibby [Summer Spellman] and James Craven [Aaron Sanford], all came in on their day off and watched me do my final scene," Jack said.
"They all gave me a massive hug at the end and Iain [MacLeod, Corrie's producer] came out with a bottle of champers and did a nice speech. But it was super emotional."
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