In Sex Education, Dan is a recurring character who is revealed to be Joy’s father. Daniel Ings plays Dan.
Dan is one of Jean’s flings in Sex Education with whom she sleeps. He first appears in the opening minutes of the show. While searching for the bathroom, he walks into Otis’ room, and they are introduced to each other.
Dan is into bikes and finds himself attracted to more mature women. Otis makes fun of Dan by asking whether he has an Oedipal complex. Dan also doesn’t hesitate to say what’s on his mind, and often times he makes people around him uncomfortable by doing so.
Dan crosses paths with Jean and Jakob in the third season’s episode 5 outside Moordale Community Hospital. He is in disbelief that Jean is pregnant, and he even asks if the baby is his before being told that it’s Jakob’s.
Dan becomes important for Jean
In the fourth season, Dan is working at Smithdale Bank. Jean’s sister, Joanna, visits him for a loan. Although she is not able to get any, they share their love for Lord of the Rings, and Dan asks for her number.
On their date, Dan reveals that he is the eldest of the six siblings in his family. Dan has matured since the last time he met Jean and is upfront about settling down and having a family with someone.
When Jean and Joanna see Dan in the market with a broken leg because of a motorbike accident, Jean tells Joanna to hide and reveals that Dan is the baby of her child and that Joanna should stop dating him right away. She is 95% sure that Dan is Joy’s father.
Joanna does agree to stop dating Dan, even though she thinks Dan could be the one. During the finale, she tells Jean that she is not into him anymore.
After acknowledging that she is suffering from postnatal depression and that she is going to talk about it more, Jean also prepares to tell Dan about their child. In the finale, Dan is invited to Jean’s house.
He isn’t aware that the baby is his and that Jean is about to tell him this news. The show never reveals Dan’s reaction.
