Character Development
The first signs of Jake's nasty personality started after discovering wife Becca Dean had been having an affair with former school pupil Justin Burton. Becoming aggressive and manipulative, Jake beat up Justin several times and, on one occasion, physically attacked pregnant Becca.
After being rushed to hospital, Charlie was diagnosed with leukaemia. Jake offered himself as a donor, being Charlie's father, however doctors informed Jake and Nancy that Jake was not Charlie's biological father, and therefore must have been conceived during Becca's affair with Justin. Jake was furious but refused to admit Justin was Charlie's father. Jake grew more out of hand and even more controlling of Nancy. On their wedding night, Jake wanted to have sex with her, however she did not. Steph entered the flat, stopping Jake before he got out of hand and raped her. Nancy and Jake split up and she told him she was filing for full custody of Charlie. Jake began a vendetta against her in order to make her look bad. Jake ended up kidnapping Charlie and attempted to kill himself and Charlie.
Domestic abuse charity Tender praised the soap opera's portrayal of Jake attempting to rape Nancy. A survey conducted by the group found that 96% of participants thought the scenes were effective in bringing the issue to viewers' attention. Discussing the reasons behind the attempted rape, 68% thought Jake craved control, while 30% put his actions down to mental instability and 1% blamed abuse suffered when he was young. The poll also revealed that 54% of respondents thought Jake should receive counselling and 45% felt he should serve time in prison. Tender stated, "As a national platform, Hollyoaks played a vital role in educating the public about the issue of abusive relationships."
On 11 April 2008, Kevin Sacre announced his departure on the Hollyoaks website, and confirming he has filmed his final scenes. When quizzed over his decision, Sacre said, "I have been here since I was 24 and I turned 30 in March. I decided that once I turned 30 I'd go and explore other avenues. We have a lot of good actors on the show and it's good to see them go on to do great things because people are always saying that Hollyoaks actors are rubbish, which is so unfair and untrue. I'd love to go and do something and people say 'oh look there's Kev, he's doing well and he's one of our lot."
In July 2009, it was reported by entertainment website Digital Spy that Kevin Sacre had agreed to return to Hollyoaks briefly later on in the year. The Channel 4 official website confirmed the characters return in October. On the character's arrival, he appeared to have changed and his mental health had improved greatly. This led to the announcement of his release.
Read more about this topic: Jake Dean
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