Ever since he furiously hit pause a couple of months back on his engagement to a distraught Jasmine (Sam Frost), skipping town without so much as a wave goodbye, Robbo’s been conspicuously absent. Until this week, that is!
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Just when we thought we’d seen the last of him, Robbo makes a dramatic reappearance.
While Robbo’s return to the Bay comes completely out of the blue, it’s a case of perfect timing for his popular portrayer, Jake Ryan.
As the 35-year-old actor reveals, he was anything but idle in his weeks away from the show. In fact, Jake wasted no time heading across the Tasman to film the lead role of Danny in the gritty new film Savage, directed by Sam Kelly and inspired by the true story of Kiwi street gangs.
“I came across [the film script] earlier in the year and it sounded amazing, so I put my hand up for it,” says Jake, who has also appeared in the movie The Great Gatsby and the Wolf Creek TV series.
“There were a lot of people up for it, so I wasn’t expecting to get it. But every now and again, you come across a character brief or a script that you can really see yourself doing. It was definitely one of those – and I don’t know if I would have taken no for an answer,” laughs the star.
“Filming the movie was very intense, but hugely rewarding. Everyone knew we were working on something pretty special. It’s an important story to tell.”
And Jake couldn’t be more thankful to the Home and Away producers for giving him a leave pass to make the movie, which also features Power Rangers TV series star and Solo: A Star Wars Story actor John Tui.
“I went into it not expecting it, but really hoping,” he says. “When the powers that be gave me the time off, I was really grateful for it.”
Certainly, Jake spent as much time as he could preparing for the challenging role.
“There was a good six months or so leading up to the film shoot where I was planning and organising it,” he says. “I kept it pretty quiet, but there was a lot of research to do, as well. It’s based on true events, so I pretty much read every book and every article and watched every clip that was available relating to street gangs in New Zealand.”
Engrossing as the experience was, that’s not to say that Jake didn’t miss his Summer Bay family. With production wrapped on the film, the actor was more than happy to get back to the world of TV.
“While I was doing [the movie], I was pretty solid in that world and kept my head down, but it was a welcome relief to come back,” he says. “We’re all family on the show, so if someone goes away even for a week, you miss them.
“It was nice to come back to some light material – although it’s never really that light for Robbo – and to have a laugh. Everyone works really hard on Home and Away, but we have a lot of fun, too.
“It was also great see Sam and Penny [McNamee, who plays Tori]. We always have a laugh, no matter what’s going on. They’re great – I have a lot of time and respect for them. I have a ball working with them both.”
And Jake promises there’s much more to come in the Bay’s truly modern love triangle – between Jasmine and platonic parents-to-be Robbo and Tori.
“IVF is something a lot of people go through, and we were conscious of giving that as much respect as we possibly could,” says Jake. “I think the show has done it so well. It’s definitely not your typical TV love triangle.
“There’s a lot of unfinished business for Robbo to come back to now, but I don’t think he realises the mess he left behind.”
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