Jacob Masters

Jacob Masters (born 29 January) is a senior staff nurse who currently works in the Emergency Department of Holby General Hospital. He joined the department in 2015, a week after bringing in his friend to the ED Department and impressing Connie Beauchamp with his medical skills. He was appointed the role of acting Clinical Nurse Manager in August 2016 following Rita's departure, and secured the permanent position following an interview in September.

Early life
Jacob grew up in South London during his childhood where he attended state school. He has Nigerian roots. He can speak Hausa and understands a little Arabic. By his teenage years, he'd met Elle Gardner and they had become close friends. During this time, they'd penned nicknames for each other. Jacob's was "Pudding" which originated from the fact he was overweight and used to take double dessert portions at school and Elle's was "Pancake" as a result of her late development. During their friendship, they took part in various activities from camping to canoeing together. At some point after this, Jacob left to train to become a nurse and him and Elle became estranged.

After qualifying, Jacob worked at St. Lawrence's Hospital where he met Louise Tyler who was a student nurse at the time. After his time at St. Lawrence's, he moved to Holby for a fresh start but as a result of being a nurse who lived on the poorer side of town, he frequently attracted the attention of some dangerous contacts in need of quick medical attention.

Time in the Emergency Department (2015-)
Jacob Masters started working at the ED on 25 July 2015, the week after he had visited the ED with an injured friend. Upon seeing his skills in the ED and having learned that he was a qualified nurse, Connie offered him a job interview. Upon arrival, Connie and Ethan seemed to get along well with him, but other members of staff including Cal Knight were less inclined to.

In August 2015, he confronted Louise about their past together as colleagues, and encouraged her to go and speak to Laila, a former patient whose issues contributed to Louise moving on from being a nurse. He also saw the perfect opportunity to prove that his new proposed policy regarding gunshot wounds in the ED would a success after a member of the public was admitted following a shooting in a nightclub. The violence soon escalated when two more patients were admitted after being stabbed by the gang's leader. It became up to Jacob to institute emergency protocol before the violence got out of hand.

In September, Jacob helped Lily deliver a baby of a mother who had wandered outside the ED. They were successful, but Jacob also asked Connie on a date and got rejected. Later in September during an extremist takeover of the ED, Jacob was accidentally shot by the police who mistook him for one of the extremists. In the following weeks, Connie spoke with the superintendent of Holby Police about the incident, and they made it clear to her that they weren't thinking of punishing the officer responsible. After she told Jacob this, he said that he wanted to know who the man was, but she said they would never reveal it, but he told her there were other ways he could find out. In November, he received an envelope containing the name of the police officer who shot him from an unknown source, but eventually threw it away without opening it.

In December, Connie and Jacob ended up sleeping together following a dramatic day of work. However, Connie inadvertently revealed it to some of the staff when she became annoyed with Jacob for not following her instructions when dealing with a patient with motor neurone disease.

In January 2016, Connie was left feeling guilty when she found out she had missed Jacob's birthday. Despite feeling bad and booking a trip for them to Paris, Jacob reminded her that she didn't know it was his birthday, and that he wasn't a fan of fancy food and hotels. In February following Grace's return to Holby, Jacob travelled with Connie to reach the plane which Grace and Sam were boarding. They got there in time, and Connie got Grace to stay with her in the UK instead of returning to New York with Sam.

In March, Jacob attempted to rescue Connie after she was kidnapped by a convicted murderer Kieran being treated in the ED. He located her in the basement after she answered her phone and relayed her situation through conversation so he would hear whilst it was in her pocket. They were soon tied up by Kieran and the prison officer with whom he was in a relationship with and was aiding his escape. However, he soon took a turn for the worse and Jacob and Connie were forced to get him back upstairs by breaking free, but he died shortly after.

In April, Connie broke up with Jacob as a result of Grace giving her the choice of her or Jacob. As a result, Jacob decided to distance himself from her and went out with the paramedics to the scene of an entrapment at an unsteady building. Connie arrived soon after to help, and they managed to get the patient out by performing an arm amputation, however just as they were about to exit the room, the floor gave way, trapping them in a small basement room quickly filling with sand. Jacob was unable to move, and the same soon happened to Connie when she was knocked unconscious by a falling rock. Just after the sand covered their faces the fire crews and paramedics were able to break the wall, releasing the sand and freeing them. Jacob returned to the ED following Connie and was distraught to see she went running straight to Grace and ignored him.

In May, new consultant Elle Gardner and Jacob recognised each other as old friends and were reunited in reception. They later took off without permission to attend the scene of an accident at a chemical factory, and upon returning to the ED Connie was left furious at both of them. Although she told Jacob that Rita would deal with him, she called Elle into her office and disciplined her. The following month when Elle's actions resulted in Charlie being fired, Jacob decided to ignore her, although she was able to gain back some of the team's trust, including Jacob when Charlie was reinstated.

Towards the start of July, Jacob took a day off work to travel to a conference where he was due to give a speech on his gun control policies. Just before he left, Connie decided to go with him for support, however a severe storm hit Holby whilst they were on their way there, and Jacob spotted a man running over the bridge whilst they'd been held up at temporary traffic lights. The man informed them that there was a man stuck in the storm drain, and Jacob ran down to help only to be swept down the drain too. He was able to reach the bank and ran along to a steep ledge and although Connie told him not to, he jumped in again to try to rescue the man. They eventually reached safety and Connie and Jacob attended the conference. Jacob gave his talk with help from Connie in the audience, and then they were forced to book adjoining rooms in the hotel for the night, which resulted in them sharing a passionate kiss when they gave in to the tempation.

After rekindling their romance, Jacob and Connie officially became a couple once again. Charlie quickly caught on, but Connie requested that he keep it quiet for Grace's sake. By mid July, Connie was preparing to tell Grace about the relationship despite being unsure of how she'd react. When Grace unexpectedly turned up at the ED after returning from summer camp, Jacob kept her entertained in the staff room by challenging her to a game of table football, something which improved their relationship. However, just as Connie was about to tell Grace about her and Jacob after their shift, Grace explained that she was having issues with school following another argument with Carmel which resulted in Connie keeping quiet about the relationship.

In August as Charlie's 30th anniversary party was being prepared, Grace found out about the relationship when she went to get Connie's help and found her and Jacob kissing after her friend Carmel had broken her leg on the trampoline. Grace was initially annoyed, but after it transpired that Carmel was having trouble at home, Grace apologised to Connie. Jacob convinced Grace to tell the truth after she'd taken the blame for Carmel's scratches when he pointed out that she bit her nails and couldn't have caused Carmel's injuries. Just before Grace and Connie left for the day, Grace gave Jacob a hug and granted approval for him to date Connie. After they'd left, Jacob attempted to calm down an angry Steph who was blaming Connie for her daughter being taken away. Jacob went to help across the road in The Hope & Anchor for Charlie's party and assured them that Connie would be back for the celebrations, unaware that she'd had a car accident and driven off a cliff on the way home.

As the party drew closer, Jacob attempted to contact Connie but was only able to leave a message twice. Shortly after, Steph was admitted as she'd been hit by a car and Jacob demanded that Iain and Jez take him out to the scene so he could see Steph's car. They showed him the damage and he made them drive along the road in search of Connie, as he presumed that the car which hit Steph's could have been her. They eventually reached the turn in the road and Jacob went running down after seeing the tyre marks on the road. He immediately helped Connie and after Grace had also been found, he accompanied her back to the ED. Back at the hospital, Jacob and Elle tried to get Connie to have a CT scan done but she refused to until she knew where Grace was. However, they were all startled when a massive crash was heard and there was a power cut in the ED. Jacob rushed outside to see the helicopter carrying Grace had crashed near the entrance of the department. He was able to lift off a heavy metal beam and get to Grace.

She was eventually admitted and Connie saw her being wheeled through. She went to see her but collapsed and Jacob and Elle took her back to her bed. Jacob followed Jac's later instructions to stay with Grace after Connie was taken up to theatre. Whilst in reception, Kai apologised to Jacob and admitted that it was his drone that caused the helicopter crash. In anger, Jacob pinned him up against the wall but Charlie persuaded him to let go. His next move was to go and get revenge on Steph but after an argument with Charlie, he was stopped in his tracks. Jacob was later joined by Elle in the staff room and cried, fearing that he'd lose everything. Towards the end of the day, Charlie showed Jacob Grace's scan results displaying a subdural haematoma and the chances of surviving were not good, and Jacob was the one who went to tell Connie. . Charlie encouraged Jacob to break the news to Connie, but when he did she pulled her hand away from his, clearly more worried about her daughter.

The following week, Jacob went to visit Grace as Connie hadn't left her bedside. He brought her food, but she was only concerned about Grace, not herself. When Jacob had arrived back downstairs, he saw Duffy and thanked her for her efforts the previous week and encouraged her to apply for the vacant band 7 position that had become available. By the end of the day, she'd decided to accept his offer.

Later in September, Jacob went for an interview for the permanent role of Clinical Nurse Manager. Elle was supportive of him, but she decided to have some fun of her own. She found out that Jacob had got the job in the morning, but witheld the information until later in the day to keep him in suspense. Throughout their shift, Jacob pestered Elle for a down low on the interviews and who had got the job. She dropped him hints, although didn't fully reveal it until the end of the day.

In October, Elle got Jacob a personalised card to congratulate him on his promotion. However, Jacob was embarassed of the picture on the front as it showed him as a teen when he was overweight. After Alicia discovered the photo, it became the gossip of the department and Jacob became angry with Elle for bringing his private life to the knowledge of the rest of the staff. She apologised, and Jacob realised that she had put a lot of effort into the card after a chat with Charlie. Towards the end of their shift, Jacob confronted Elle and joked about the card as they reflected on their positions within the department, despite the fact they'd clashed over a patient's treatment earlier in the day. The following week, Jacob became embroiled in Connie and Elle's conflict, and eventually Connie ordered them both to leave her office.

In November on the day of the ED's inspection, Connie once again arrived downstairs ready to work. Elle pleaded with Jacob to make her go home as she didn't think she was fit to work. However, Connie refused to listen and continued working through the shift, treating one of Grace's friends, Hugo. Later in the day, Jacob expressed his guilt to Elle about having slept with another woman since Connie's crash, and she told him that he should tell her. Jacob later became concerned when Connie seemed to be believing her own lies to Hugo that Grace was fit and well. Although Connie shouted at Jacob when he brought Grace downstairs, she later admitted that he was right about needing to take her home. She asked him to stay with them, to which he agreed, before the three of them left the ED for the day.

The following week, the bad inspection report came back and Jacob was intent on improving things in the department. He sent David out with the paramedics in an attempt to build his confidence, and also noted that Louise lacked a softer side when dealing with patients. Before the shift, Charlie and Duffy made a bet with Jacob that he could get through to the staff with a more encouraging approach. At the end of the day, they were right and Jacob was prepared to buy them both breakfast although David, Louise and Noel were unhappy about being lied to. Despite this, Duffy had another agreement with Charlie, that if he could get Jacob to be nicer to the staff during the shift she'd buy breakfast. Feeling equally as left out, Jacob left them to it and left.

In the lead-up to Christmas, Grace's condition was showing signs of improvement, but Connie wasn't willing to let anything get in the way of her recovery. Although some chocolates that Jacob had bought put a smile on Grace's face, Connie refused to let her have them, noting their poor nutritional value. On Christmas Eve, Jacob urged Connie to give Grace a break after he noticed her up and helping her walk again. During the shift, Connie learned something from two patients which made her reconsider Jacob's idea of getting Grace the puppy she wanted for Christmas. That evening, Jacob dressed up as Santa Claus and Connie bought the puppy in for Grace, as they all enjoyed themselves once again.

Personal life
Since his arrival, he had felt romantically about Connie, and even asked her out in September 2015, only to be declined. In December 2015, Connie and Jacob were bought closer together following a shift at the ED, and they ended up sleeping together. She inadvertently revealed this to the rest of the staff during an argument with Jacob the following week when a patient with Motor Neurone Disease was admitted. However, they made up and decided to spend Christmas together.

In March 2016, Grace gave Connie an ultimatum to choose between her and Jacob, to which Connie chose Grace. She broke up with Jacob, although in the following months it was clear that there was still something between them. When they attended the conference in July, they shared a kiss in their hotel room. They officially got back together but decided to keep the news from Grace. The following month, Grace discovered they were back together and despite being initially annoyed became accepting of them being together.

Trivia

 * Jacob can speak Hausa and understands a little Arabic.
 * Jacob was accidentally shot by the police.
 * His star sign is Aquarius.
 * He's extremely scared of spiders, and counted on Lily to get rid of them when two got loose in the ED in April 2016.
 * Jacob is originally from South London, similarly to Connie.
 * Jacob's phone number is 07700 935 483.

Behind the scenes
Charles Venn portrays Jacob Masters in Casualty, making his first appearance as the character on 18 July 2015. Some of his scenes were filmed months before this, as Amanda Mealing posted a photo with Charles Venn whilst filming on Twitter. However, generally episodes are filmed around four months before they air. In the 2015 summer trailer it revealed that his role would be a senior staff nurse. In the autumn trailer, it was revealed that he may enter a relationship with Connie, which later proved to be true.

Appearances

 * See also: Character appearances and Category:Jacob centric.

Venn made his first appearance as Jacob in the series 29 episode "If You Could Bottle It". To date, Jacob has had centric episodes.