The star has been on the ITV soap for 25 years and doesn’t see himself leaving any time soon
Coronation Street star Jack P Shepherd hopes to follow in William Roache’s footsteps and stay on the ITV soap for another “50 years” if he’s “lucky”.
Jack took on the role of David Platt in 2000, taking over the role from Thomas Ormson who portrayed the character as a child.
Over the years, David has been involved in some major storylines in Weatherfield, from his epilepsy diagnosis, finding love with Kylie before she was fatally stabbed, to being sexually abused by Josh Tucker on a night out.
Speaking to The Mirror, he said: “I’ve just celebrated 25 years on Corrie and I don’t see myself going anywhere. I think it’s not unusual for one of these flagship shows, like Big Brother, the jungle, Dancing On Ice, to have a face from Corrie.”
He continued: “They usually have one from Corrie or one from Emmerdale. Alan’s [Halsall] just done the jungle and Sam [Aston] did Dancing On Ice. So yeah, I suppose it’s just my turn I think. But I’m not going anywhere. I think as long as they’ll still write for the character and they like the Platts, yeah, I’ll stay. I like it too much.”
In recent weeks, David stole money from notorious gang leader Harvey Gaskell, and when he failed to pay back the amount he received copious threats to his own life as well as his family’s.
During a moment of desperation knowing that Harvey will have him killed anyway, he agreed to die in a hit and run “accident”, so that Shona could claim life insurance and pay off the remaining debt.
In true soap style, however, his plan failed and Daisy Midgely was also hit, losing her unborn baby in the process. Shona ended up blackmailing Daisy for the money, and the debts were finally paid.
Now, Jack is currently participating in this year’s Celebrity Big Brother alongside Love Island’s Chris Hughes, controversial star Mickey Rourke and EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer.
The actor admitted he doesn’t think he’ll do anything controversial to risk his career in Weatherfield, as he shared: “The people that I work with, they’re a laugh and we just go in and have a laugh all day, really, and take the p***. Big Brother is exactly the same. So Big Brother is the green room. It’s exactly going to be the green room, which is why I think I’ll be okay because it’s just big personalities, everyone’s having a laugh.
“This is what I assume. I don’t know. But this is what I’ve seen on TV that everyone just has a bit of banter and then goes to sleep eventually.”
When asked if he sees himself in Coronation Street in 50 years time, he replied: “Yeah. I think if it’s still going on. If ITV’s still going on. If TV exists. Do you know what I mean? If AI aren’t doing the job instead of humans, I don’t know.
“Yeah, I think as long as it’s still going, like say as long as we’re still lucky enough to get the stories and the writers like us and the public like the characters, then yeah. I look at someone like Bill Roache [Ken Barlow] and want to follow in his footsteps. It’s mad to think now that when I started, Helen Worth [Gail Platt, his on-screen mum], she’d just done 25 years. And then I’ve done 25 and she did 50 and then finished, that’s mad, isn’t it?
“But when I started and it’s like Sally Dynever, who’s Sally Webster, obviously when I started, she’d only done like 15 years. But when I started, I remember thinking Sally is massive and has been in it for years, but it’s only 15, which doesn’t seem like a lot to me now. It’s weird, isn’t it?”
Co-star Colson Smith who hosts the On the Sofa podcast with Jack and Ben Price, appeared in last year’s Big Brother. Jack shared: “I watched every episode last year as well because Colson was in it. I was able to see that it really is just about trying to have fun and just trying to make people laugh, really. That’s what I took from it anyway.
“He was just talking through the pros and cons. And the cons are you get cancelled and you say something that offends a nation and starts a war. And the pros are that you actually have a good time, you enjoy it, you have a laugh, you’re off work for three weeks, even though it’s kind of work, but you’re off work, it’s a bit of a jolly, and there’s not many people that can say they’ve done it, there’s only a few that have ever done it. So to be included in that is pretty good.
“But you can say something definitely that someone, especially in this day and age, will be offended by. And you know, if you miss someone out, if you don’t include someone then they might get upset, so yeah, you definitely can. So you will have to watch what you say because the rules with what you say and what you can’t change every day. But as long as you don’t get p*****, don’t get naked. These are the rules to live by! And then usually everything else will be fine.”