Casualty’s Jacob Masters (played by Charles Venn) has become increasingly worried about his son Blake in recent weeks. In an attempt to find his wayward offspring who abandoned his child and robbed Jacob’s house, he reported him missing to the police.

In the latest episode of the long-running BBC medical drama, Jacob gets the call every parent dreads when he is asked to identify a body. It sends the usual stoic paramedic reeling and it is left to Jan Jenning (Di Boucher) to persuade him that he needs to know if it is Blake either way.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk actor Charles explained why, despite all his wrongdoings, Jacob isn’t prepared to give up on his son. “Hope,” he says. “Hope. Jacob is clinging on to that word. I hope I can find him. I hope I can be a good grandfather to my grandson.

“I have to keep fighting to try and find him. I have to, I can’t give up on him. It goes back to that guilt thing – I wasn’t there for him when he was young. I can’t let him down now in his time of need.

“He (Blake) is actually desperate, and he’s crying for help. The fact that he’s robbed Jacob’s house, and he said, I’m sorry. That’s this message. I’m sorry, Dad. That’s not arrogance, that’s not malicious, that’s a cry for help. So at the end of the day he’s doing everything he possibly can to get him back.”

Jacob’s guilt is compounded by the fact that, through no fault of his own, he only met Blake when he was a teenager.

“With Jacob and Blake, it wasn’t his fault the fact that he only met his son when he was in his teens. That was because Elle chose to keep it quiet.

Jacob Masters – Wikipedia

She kept him away from him by not saying anything because she felt like she didn’t want to affect or possibly ruin his life and his medical ambitions and things of that nature.

“But still, you feel as though [you could have done more],” Charles muses as he chats over Zoom. “I guess any parent feels as though they fail their child, if their child falls into, descends into drug addiction, or any sort of regressive practice.

“I know I would feel that way, even if it wasn’t my fault, even if I provided all of the necessary amenities and privileges. I would still feel like: ‘Where did I go wrong?’” he confessed.

Jacob’s work also isn’t doing anything to assuage his anxiety about the situation as he knows how these stories can often end having seen numerous people like Blake come through Holby ED over the years.

“Absolutely I think because he has seen so much it has definitely had an effect on how he’s dealing with this situation. In this instance, because of the fact that it’s actually his son who is missing and maybe desperately crying out for help, he can’t think as rationally as he would typically have if it was an impartial situation.

“So as a result of that, your choices can be a bit irrational and things are done through desperation and I think that’s what’s happening with Jacob.

“It’s affecting his work. It’s affecting the decisions he’s making. He’s doing everything he possibly can to be professional and not bring it into work with him but it is difficult, because every minute as a parent, as a parent myself, the thought of my child being out there, we don’t know where he or she is, every second counts,” he said.