INSIDE STORY

BERNARD CURRY TELLS US WHAT CORRECTIONAL OFFICER JAKE IS UP TO…

It’s only been back on our screens for a week, and we’re already gripped by the latest series of Aussie drama Wentworth Prison.

One of the things we love is how we’re never quite sure where some characters’ moral horizons are drawn – and nobody represents that better than Jake Stewart, whose involvement with Joan ‘The Freak’ Ferguson has left us unsettled. So we got on the phone to actor Bernard Curry to find out what’s going on in Jake’s head…

Hi, Bernard! What do you make of Jake’s behaviour?

He’s such a duplicitous character, I guess that’s the correct word for it – he’s a bit Jekyll and Hyde! He has that capacity to charm someone, but he’s not afraid to make morally dubious decisions that will cross the line. It’s about self-preservation, I think.

Is he going to help Joan prove her innocence, or is he helping to set her up?

I don’t think it’s either of the two – there’s a sort of twisted symbiosis that Joan and Jake have. He really does not want to be beholden to Joan in any way. But obviously, towards the end of season four she got him out of a very sticky situation and basically saved his life. In return he had to cross the line quite dramatically and kill Nils Jesper, because he was the last remaining witness who would have been able to testify against her. You’ve been in both Home and Away, as Hugo Austin, and Neighbours, as Luke Handley – do you still get recognised from those days? Although Wentworth’s viewers are committed, it’s not that big in terms of Australian audience because it’s on cable over here. So I did get recognised quite a lot more on Home and Away as it’s on a commercial network in primetime. The same goes for Neighbours, but I did that show in 1995 – a long time ago!