Stephanie Jacobs (Eva Pope) 1998

First Regular Appearance: 1.30 (#30)  Wednesday 21st January 1998

Last Regular Appearance: 1.64 (#64)  Wednesday 20th May 1998

Duration: EP: 30 - 64  |  SE: 1.30 – 1.64

Position: Harchester United Chairwoman (1998)

Last Seen: Being told daughter Georgina was likely to die from her overdose. Leaves after selling the club to Jerry Block.

Michael Jacobs began seeing Stephanie in early 1981, and to their surprise she became pregnant very quickly while the two were still young and unprepared for parenthood. By the time of their only daughter Georgina's birth, the two had married, seemingly tied only by the arrival of their child. It proved to be a loveless marriage and by the time Georgina was three, her parents had separated, and Stephanie set off to reclaim what she saw as her "lost youth", which involved lots of partying and a lot of rich boyfriends. Georgina lived with her mother for several periods during her childhood before staying in Michael's care in her teenage years. A former footballer in his youth, Michael had bought Harchester United in 1992, so Stephanie knew Georgina would have a far more affluent lifestyle with her father.

In January 1998, Stephanie rushes back to Harchester when Michael suffers a heart attack, and she arrives to a distraught Georgina who tells her mother he is dead. Stephanie believes she only has Georgina to stick around for, especially when her daughter lets slip she is pregnant with Dean Hocknell's baby, but receives another surprise when Michael's will sees her put in charge of the club's affairs as Georgina is not yet eighteen. Stephanie knows how a business works, but no experience of football clubs, leading to her relying on sneaky Chief Exec Biloo Kapur for advice. Stephanie's desire to run the club as if it is a business venture is a headache for manager Ian Coates, and their working relationship is terribly strained. When Karl Fletcher is out due to cocaine addiction, Stephanie launches the "Harchester Says No" drugs campaign which Coates sees as an embarrassment.

Eventually Stephanie tires of all the negative stress the club is bringing her and decides to sell and start elsewhere. Georgina meanwhile, in an attempt to move on from her broken heart over Dean, attempts to start a new relationship with Fletch. Unknown to her, Fletch finds a real thrill in bedding both Georgina and mother Stephanie! When Biloo brings in businessman Clive Elliot as a possible new buyer for the club, it isn't long before he too has wined and dined his way into Stephanie's bed. After the two fall out, Fletch taunts Stephanie about what he has been doing with both she and Georgina, and they have no idea Georgina is listening from inside a locked toilet. Georgina, who has been deeply scarred by guilt from her father's death, losing her baby and now the betrayal of her mother and Fletch, gives Stephanie one last chance to put things right with her. Stephanie lets her down again though with another business romp with Clive, and only remembers Georgina when it is too late. Clive takes Stephanie home where she finds Georgina unconscious having taken an overdose.

At the hospital, a guilt-ridden Stephanie sits by her daughter's bedside and pleads with her to forgive her when Georgina says she does not believe Stephanie loves her. At this point, Stephanie realises Biloo has been scheming with Clive, and in the mood to blame him for keeping her away from Georgina when she needed her most, says she will never sell the club to Clive before firing Biloo. Georgina's doctor tells a tortured Stephanie that her chances are not good, and that even if a liver donor was found, Georgina's body may not accept it. Stephanie has to face the truth that she may well lose Georgina, and the final outcome is never revealed. A few days later, Stephanie sells the club to Jerry Block and leaves.