In a special Soap Secrets Casualty podcast Di Botcher reveals that the future for paramedic Jan Jenning is full of twists and turns…
Casualty paramedic boss Jan Jenning is living a never-ending nightmare on the BBC1 medical drama at the moment.
When she’s not taking secret calls from her jailbird son Ross West, she’s busy stealing medications and smuggling them into prison. To say this behaviour is out of character is an understatement!
In Casualty this Saturday Jan’s drug dealing storyline reaches a dramatic conclusion.
She decides enough is enough and summons up the courage to confess everything to the police, regardless of the consequences for her professionally and personally.
Coming clean
This decision will effectively spell the end of her career and possibly her marriage to police officer Ffion Morgan!
Meanwhile Jan’s manipulative son Ross (Chris Gordon), best pal Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson) and wife Ffion (Stirling Gallacher) are massively compromised when the truth comes tumbling out.
All three must make life-changing decisions to either support or abandon Jan...
What’s On TV caught up with Di Botcher who plays Jan for an exclusive chat in our podcast series Soap Secrets.
A new side to Jan
During the interview Di reveals her first impressions of Jan’s drug smuggling storyline saying: ‘It’s so out of character. When I first read the scripts I thought there's no way Jan’s going to do it!’
The star of Casualty also explains the difficulty of filming such an emotionally intense story while in full Personal Protective Equipment, revealing: ‘We were a bit hampered by having to do everything with PPE… The director did it by focussing in on our eyes.’
Di, who also starred in The Thick of It, Little Britain, Sherlock, and Stella, then delves into how a lengthy prison sentence could affect Jan: ‘As much as she’d be absolutely out of her mind with upset. I think, once Jan settled in, she’d end up like Queen Bee!’
To hear the full interview, download Soap Secrets: Di Botcher chats about Casualty Jan’s drug storyline from iTunes, Spotify and Acast.
This episode of Casualty airs on BBC1 on Saturday 1 May 2021 at 8.20pm
