Former Walton schoolboy Jake Ritzema will be seen by millions of television viewers when he appears in two big prime time programmes

Eighteen-year-old Jake, whose family home is in Princes Esplanade, Walton, is in two top cult programmes this summer.

Jake will be seen in the police series The Bill, playing a disturbed character called Lance when it is screened on June 19.

He is currently in Liverpool filming for the teen soap Hollyoaks.

Jake is playing a new character called Henry Williams and will be seen for the first time on July 17.

He now lives in North London but he used to go to Walton Primary School and then Manningtree High School.

He trained for the stage with the Tiffany Stage Academy in Clacton and took drama lessons with Melissa Wenn before winning a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, where he stayed for four years.

His stage career started at the Mercury in Colchester nine years ago at the age of nine and in 1996 he stepped into the West End to play a workhouse boy in Oliver.

Published Thursday, June 5, 2003

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