Jerry Hopkins was the husband of Martin Platt’s nursing colleague Rebecca. Their marriage was going through a bad patch because of Jerry’s refusal to start a family. Martin leant her a shoulder to cry on but this caused wife Gail to suspect that the two of them were having an affair. Persuaded that there was nothing actually going on, Gail and Martin attended the nurses’ Christmas party and they met Jerry for the first time, realising how abusive and argumentative he was towards his wife.