Jacob Hay

Jacob Hay
Father	Damon Hay
Sibling(s)	A sister
First appearance	1st February 2021
Last appearance	13th January 2023
Duration	2021-2023
Number of appearances	99
Played by	Jack James Ryan

Jacob Hay was a drugs courier for Harvey Gaskell, then a reformed character and boyfriend of Amy Barlow.

Jacob's father Damon Hay moved abroad when Jacob was a teen, delegating his brother Harvey the task of looking out for the lad. After doing time in a Young Offenders Institute, Jacob was groomed into recruiting other young lads as drug traffickers for Harvey. In 2021, he loaned money to Simon Barlow in order to recruit him, before he himself was caught taking a cut of the proceeds and put in hospital by Harvey. By the end of that year, he'd left the gang but was still peddling drugs.

A changed Jacob and Amy started seeing each other in secret in 2022. When their relationship was revealed to Amy's family, Amy was ordered to stop seeing Jacob, leading her to move into his bedsit in defiance until mounting bills eventually caused her to return to 1 Coronation Street, on the condition that Jacob was allowed to move with her. The couple then moved into 19a Victoria Street, with Jacob gaining employment in the sales department at Underworld. Following a reunion with Damon, Jacob went to work at the Viaduct Bistro where he was forced to help his dad smuggle drugs through the restaurant. After bungling a delivery of cocaine, Jacob left Weatherfield for his own safety, letting Amy believe he'd gone back to his old ways.

Biography

2002-2022: Childhood and drug mule

Jacob was born in the early 2000s and grew up on a council estate. His family included an older sister, father Damon Hay, and paternal uncle Harvey Gaskell. When Jacob was little, Damon moved to Ibiza without his family to make a living as a club owner, asking Harvey to look out for Jacob. As a child, Jacob thought the world of his dad, and enjoyed it whenever he returned home and splashed the cash. However, as the years went on, and Damon's visits became less and less frequent, Jacob came to hate him for absenting himself for so long. His visit on Jacob's 16th birthday was his last one for four years.

In Damon's absence, Jacob was forced to work for Harvey in order to survive. A local drug kingpin, Harvey operated by targetting vulnerable people, usually young men, and getting them indebted to him before recruiting them as couriers to pay off the debt. As his nephew, and lacking a father figure, Jacob was easy prey. At thirteen, he started dealing drugs for Harvey, and by 2021 he was one of Harvey's top recruiters. A traumatic experience early on saw Jacob witness his best friend Reuben being knifed to death. Unfortunately, he learned the wrong lesson from the incident; while dating a schoolfriend of Kelly Neelan's, he stabbed someone over drugs and did time in a Young Offenders Institute. After his release, he went back to working for Harvey, using his job as a delivery cyclist at chip shop For Your Fries Only as a front to traffic drugs.

2021: Jacob grooms Simon into becoming a drugs courier

In February 2021, when Simon Barlow was taken on at the chip shop, Jacob employed his usual grooming tactics by befriending him and loaning him money to pay the household bills, which had fallen on his shoulders due to Leanne Battersby being out of work following her son Oliver's death. Young and impressionable, Simon was easily persuaded to deliver drugs for extra money to help Leanne and pay off his debt to Jacob, ignoring a warning from Kelly to avoid the lad. Once Simon was onboard, Jacob got Monique, one of his cohorts, to pose as Simon's customer and drive off without paying for the goods, resulting in him owing the next person in the drugs chain £1,000 and entrapping the lad further into their web.

The following month, Leanne found a stash of cocaine in Simon's bag and found out about the trouble he was in. As a power move, Jacob began treating Simon's flat as his own, counting his drugs money there, lighting a joint in front of Leanne, and mocking her in her own home, telling her to call the police if she didn't like it. Unable to do so without implicating Simon, Leanne was forced to put up with Jacob. Later, when Jacob's flat was raided, he moved in with Leanne and Simon, giving them no say in the matter. His stay was a short one as when Harvey discovered that he'd been stealing drugs to sell himself, he put Jacob in hospital, breaking both of his legs, and "promoted" Simon to take his place.

In June, Harvey went to prison for supplying class-A drugs, and without him to fear Jacob started thinking about getting out. He continued to peddle drugs on the streets for a while, but he refused to sell spice to a homeless Kelly when he encountered her in November of that year, urging her to get help instead. He left the gang in January 2022, resulting in him being beaten up on Harvey's orders. Despite being badly injured, Jacob considered it a price worth paying to rid himself of Harvey. However, after an encounter with a hostile Amy Barlow and Summer Spellman at Weatherfield General, Jacob realised he'd have a tough job convincing people that he was a reformed character.

2022-2023: Relationship with Amy Barlow

2022: Jacob prepares a romantic picnic for him and Amy as they see each other in secret

By early February, Jacob had won Amy over and they were in a romantic relationship. As Simon was her cousin, Amy kept the identity of her new boyfriend a secret from her family in fear of a backlash. The couple were nearly caught out when Steve and Tracy McDonald found Jacob at 1 Coronation Street and reported him to the police for breaking and entering. He was released from custody when Amy gave him an alibi. Later, when Amy collapsed outside a nightclub, she was taken to hospital, where doctors found GHB in her system. As Jacob had been at the club with Amy, he was accused of drugging her. To stop Steve from calling the police, Jacob confessed that Amy was his girlfriend, but Steve refused to believe that his daughter would sink so low and called them anyway. Jacob was exonerated when the club's CCTV showed that Amy wasn't drugged on their premises, with it later being revealed that Max Turner had spiked her drink earlier that evening at the Weatherfield High Valentine Dance.

Now that their relationship was out in the open, Amy faced pressure from her family to finish with Jacob. Leanne and Simon were especially unforgiving; when Jacob received a police caution for supplying Amy and her friends with fake IDs, Simon admitted to dobbing him in. Realising that the Barlows would never accept him, Amy broke it off but within days they were back together, with Amy thinking that people just needed to see that Jacob had changed. Simon, convinced that it was all an act, provoked Jacob into punching him by making a derogatory comment about Amy. Amy stood by Jacob, and when Steve demanded that she choose between Jacob and her family, she chose Jacob, moving in with him at his bedsit.

As Jacob and Amy struggled to pay the bills, Amy talked her aunt Carla Barlow into giving Jacob a job in packing at Underworld factory. His reputation preceding him, Jacob faced opposition from his colleagues but his gift of the gab quickly won them over and earned him a promotion to the sales team.

Simon remained determined to catch Jacob out; when Jacob took the corner shop's excess stock of alcopops off Evelyn Plummer's hands after she over-ordered, Simon thought he was back selling drugs on the street and called the police. Later, Jacob and Simon came to Max's aid when the boy smashed a window at Trim Up North and tore open an artery in his leg. Impressed by how Jacob had kept a cool head and saved Max's life, Simon called a truce, acknowledging that they'd both been victims of Harvey and deserved a second chance. Later in the year, Jacob and Simon worked together at the factory without a problem and managed to foil the attempted theft of the factory van together.

In May, Jacob and Amy were evicted from the bedsit after the council received a tip-off from Jacob's neighbour that they were illegally subletting from his sister. Amy accepted her parents' invitation to move back into No.1, on the condition that Jacob was allowed as well. The couple remained in residence until November, when Ken gave their room to a homeless Daniel Osbourne and Daisy Midgeley while they were away house-sitting. When they came back, Amy and Jacob arranged a flat-share with Summer and Aaron Sandford and moved into 19a Victoria Street with them.

Life threw another curveball at Jacob in December when Damon returned to the area seeking a reconciliation with his son. Blaming his dad for leaving him at Harvey's mercy, Jacob wanted nothing to do with him, but he agreed to give him a hearing to placate Amy. Damon explained that he'd lost touch as he'd been living off grid, and had thought Harvey was taking care of him. Jacob gave Damon a chance to make amends, and accepted Nick Tilsley's offer of a job as a waiter at the Viaduct Bistro, Damon having recently loaned Nick and Leanne the money to buy out Debbie Webster and needing Jacob to act as his eyes and ears at the establishment. Jacob reluctantly left the factory, betting his future on Damon.

2023: Thrown to the wolves by Damon, Jacob leaves the street

Once Jacob had started at the bistro, Damon revealed that his real job was to intercept packages of drugs hidden in amongst the bistro's regular deliveries and send them on to the next link in the chain under Nick and Leanne's noses. Already in too deep to refuse, Jacob went along with it, taking possession of a package of cocaine from a crate of vinegar. Unfortunately, the delivery took place while a party of police officers, including Sinbad the sniffer dog, were holding their retirement do at the bistro. When Sinbad smelled the cocaine and lead PC Craig Tinker to Jacob's flat, Jacob flushed the drugs down the toilet rather than be caught with them. Appalled by his actions, Damon offered Jacob no protection from the buyers he now owed £50k and advised him to run away for his own safety. Jacob, gutted that his dad was no different from Harvey, ratted Damon out to Nick before going home and finishing with Amy. To guarantee that she didn't come after him, he broke her heart by telling that he was back dealing drugs again and didn't want to be with her anymore. Leaving the street in a taxi, Jacob set off for an uncertain future.

Personality

Amy inspires Jacob to turn over a new leaf

Jacob was trained to do Harvey Gaskell's bidding; by turns charming, cocky, and sinister, Jacob was willing to push anyone's buttons to achieve the desired results, confident that he was untouchable under Harvey's protection. His gift of the gab made him an asset to Harvey, whether it be on the streets peddling drugs, ensnaring new recruits, or frightening Harvey's enemies. Physically, He was less of a threat; early in his "career", witnessing the murder of his best friend Reuben traumatized Jacob so much that he took a first-aid course, and later when Harvey discovered that Jacob had been ripping him off, Jacob meekly accepted a beating from the drug lord.

Once Harvey went to prison, his hold on Jacob dissipated and the lad began to turn away from a life of crime. In 2022, he left the drugs gang for good and began seeing Amy Barlow, who convinced him that he could be more than just a petty criminal. Determined to live up to Amy's expectations of him, Jacob stayed away from drugs and made a big effort to win new friends. At Underworld, he handled sales calls for a newly promoted Kirk Sutherland and let Kirk take the credit, and later he helped hide Summer Spellman's pregnancy by doing her secretarial work for her when she went down with morning sickness. In the latter case, this resulted in both of them being reprimanded when Summer was unable to locate a file that Jacob had put away and they admitted the truth.

Background information

2021 stint

Publicity shot of Jack James Ryan as Jacob Hay

Jacob was introduced as part of 2021's County Lines storyline, coercing Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) into trafficking drugs for local villain Harvey Gaskell. The character served as the main antagonist in the early weeks of the storyline, terrorising Simon and Leanne Battersby, before the focus shifted to Harvey.

Jack James Ryan, an alumni of the Guildford School of Acting, was cast on the basis of one audition tape [1]. Ryan came from an acting family, having followed his older brother and sister into the profession; his sister Rebecca later appeared in Coronation Street as Lydia Chambers. He made his TV debut in an episode of Moving On in 2009 (also starring Lee Boardman). He had several guest spots on television, usually playing nefarious characters, but Jacob was his first recurring role.

Jacob debuted in Episode 10237 on 1st February and appeared in 23 episodes. In his last appearance, he was beaten up for ripping off Harvey, though the pair did not share the screen. It was always intended that Jacob would have a short shelf-life, as Ryan explained; "When Jacob was first conceived, he was there to serve a purpose. He was going to come in, be horrible, cause lots of trouble and then sort of vanish into the ether." [2] Ryan saw Jacob as a victim of Harvey and tried to show that although he was flawed, he was human: "He is definitely doing lots of bad things and he's acting out but I do think that underneath it all he is a good kid who's just like of lost his way." [3]

Return and romance with Amy

Jacob next appeared in November of 2021 when he saw off a dealer trying to sell spice to a homeless Kelly Neelan (Millie Gibson). After two more brief appearances in December and January, he became full-time in February 2022 when he was revealed as Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney)'s secret boyfriend.

Producer Iain MacLeod teased Jacob's new role in January, promising comedy as well as drama: "It's Meet the Parents done proper Corrie style, it's really rich and funny as Steve and Tracy try to put Amy off Jacob, then have to bite the bullet and try and get along with this lad." [4]. Jack James Ryan thought that the positive reception to his character contributed to the decision to bring him back: "I remember one fan tweeted me and said: ‘I love to hate Jacob, he’s a likeable Artful Dodger,’ and that’s always stayed with me. That’s a really good way to describe him.” [5] Jacob's romance with Amy continued the redemption of his character which began with him helping Kelly: "I think it was the first time we saw him thinking about someone apart from himself.” [6]

Introduction of Damon and exit

Later in 2022, Ciaran Griffiths was cast as Jacob's absentee father Damon. The storyline saw Jacob used by his dad to smuggle drugs through the Viaduct Bistro. After being caught by the police and forced to flush some cocaine down the toilet, Jacob was hounded out of Weatherfield by Damon and let Amy believe that he'd gone back to his old ways in order to protect her from Damon's associates. After his departure scenes were aired in Episode 10851 on 13th January 2023, Coronation Street posted on its social media accounts that Jack James Ryan had left the programme [7].

In interviews, Ryan explained that he had decided to leave at that point rather than commit to producers' long-term plans for Jacob: "I was coming up to that two-year mark on the show and the conversations upstairs were very much about looking at the long haul of what Jacob was going to do and who he was going to be on the Street with. Of course, that was incredibly humbling. Those types of conversation are just amazing. But I'm still young and there's so much stuff that I want to go and do. I felt, in a way, that I'd come and done what I intended to do." [8] Ryan's own hopes for the character had been met: "After initially joining for just three months, I’ve then been able to build the character, making him live and breathe and be relatable. I think what I really like about Jacob is he’s a character that’s been able to show the younger generation that you can make mistakes, and yeah Jacob’s made some pretty big ones, but he’s been able to turn his life around." [9] On Jacob's journey: "We talk about the 'Corrie bingo card', where you tick off things that you've done. I've played the villain, I've had my redemption arc, I've punched Steve McDonald, I went to prison, and I even moved into Number 1 Coronation Street with Ken Barlow. You can't get much better than that!" [10].

Ryan recorded Jacob's exit scenes with two weeks of filming left. The final scene he shot was one with Ciaran Griffiths outside Underworld, which aired nine days earlier. When departing, Ryan was asked by the costume department if there was any part of Jacob's wardrobe he'd like to take home with him: "Apart from a few keepsakes, I was like: 'No, you're fine, I don't want any of it!' You're not going to see me knocking about in double denim around Manchester!"" [11]

First and last lines

"See, they reckon it's a perk, but you wanna be careful mate. Last kid before you put on three stone an' 'ad a cardiac arrest, went down like a ton o' bricks right there where you're sitting, dead before e' even touched the ground." (First line, joking to Simon Barlow about free chips for For Your Fries Only staff)
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"We brought ourselves up, dad." (Final line, to Damon Hay)

List of addresses

Address	Duration
12 Victoria Court	8th to 12th March 2021
Bedsit	Until 23rd May 2022
1 Coronation Street	23rd May 2022 to 7th November 2022
19a Victoria Street	7th November 2022 to 13th January 2023

Employment history

Role	Institution	Duration
Delivery boy	For Your Fries Only	2021
Packer	Underworld	27th April 2022 to 11th May 2022
Telesales Agent	Underworld	11th May 2022 to 4th January 2023
Waiter	Viaduct Bistro	23rd December 2022 to 13th January 2023

See also

• Full list of appearances