After an incredible 50 years playing Gail Platt, actress Helen Worth is leaving Coronation Street. Naturally, actor Jack P Shepherd, who started playing Gail’s son David in April 2000 when he was just 12 years old, wanted to make sure that Helen – and her character – got a fitting send-off.
“Her last scene filming was with me and Julia [Goulding, who plays David’s wife Shona] at the Platts’,” Jack, 36, explains. “And I said, ‘No, the last scene she films has to be with all the Platts.’”
To his surprise, Jack was told there wasn’t a scene written where the family were all together. “I said, ‘Well, f******g write one!’” Jack says, laughing as he recalls his conversation with the producers. “I told them, ‘Just make sure we’re all together at the Platts’ when she finally goes.’ And they did!
“Luckily, they were able to schedule it so we were all together, and every unit broke,” Jack reveals. “It was very emotional for the whole building. There were 500 people in the studio who came to say goodbye. I’d never seen that before.”
Jack reveals humble Helen, 73, didn’t want a fuss, but he told her, “It’s not so much for you, it’s for the building. It’s for everyone.”
After an emotional goodbye in front of the cameras, the cast had a party in Nick’s Bistro, where Helen’s on-screen children – played by Jack, Ben Price and Tina O’Brien – delivered a speech that had the whole room in tears.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583506613/1733808037/articles/rQgzsPmRe1733836401183/7857101373.jpg]
“It made us all cry. It was lovely,” says Jack.
David and Gail haven’t had the easiest of relationships over the years. In 2008, he pushed her down the stairs after finding out she had been involved in his then girlfriend Tina McIntyre’s (played by Michelle Keegan) secret abortion.
But fans have also seen many heartwarming moments between the two, and can prepare to see another as they say one final goodbye. Jack reveals at one point he found it so emotional to film that he told the director he “couldn’t do it”.
He teases that fans should prepare to shed a few tears as Gail’s children each say goodbye to their mother.
“Even in rehearsals I couldn’t do it because I knew I only had one take at it, and then there’d be tears and there wouldn’t be anything else left,” he says.
Jack jokes that all Helen – a professional to the end – worried about was getting her lines right, and he recalls telling her at the time, “It doesn’t matter, say whatever you want!”
Jack says David would have had “more of a breakdown” about his mum leaving if he wasn’t so preoccupied himself. He’s had a tumultuous month – his stepson Max Turner ended up behind bars after falsely confessing to the murder of Joel Deering to cover up for his girlfriend Lauren Bolton, before the truth was revealed.
Then, Max saw red when it emerged that David had triggered Lauren’s downfall by handing over the incriminating letter which detailed the teens’ cover-up plan.
Sadly, it seems David has also inherited his mum Gail’s famously bad luck w...
“Her last scene filming was with me and Julia [Goulding, who plays David’s wife Shona] at the Platts’,” Jack, 36, explains. “And I said, ‘No, the last scene she films has to be with all the Platts.’”
To his surprise, Jack was told there wasn’t a scene written where the family were all together. “I said, ‘Well, f******g write one!’” Jack says, laughing as he recalls his conversation with the producers. “I told them, ‘Just make sure we’re all together at the Platts’ when she finally goes.’ And they did!
“Luckily, they were able to schedule it so we were all together, and every unit broke,” Jack reveals. “It was very emotional for the whole building. There were 500 people in the studio who came to say goodbye. I’d never seen that before.”
Jack reveals humble Helen, 73, didn’t want a fuss, but he told her, “It’s not so much for you, it’s for the building. It’s for everyone.”
After an emotional goodbye in front of the cameras, the cast had a party in Nick’s Bistro, where Helen’s on-screen children – played by Jack, Ben Price and Tina O’Brien – delivered a speech that had the whole room in tears.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583506613/1733808037/articles/rQgzsPmRe1733836401183/7857101373.jpg]
“It made us all cry. It was lovely,” says Jack.
David and Gail haven’t had the easiest of relationships over the years. In 2008, he pushed her down the stairs after finding out she had been involved in his then girlfriend Tina McIntyre’s (played by Michelle Keegan) secret abortion.
But fans have also seen many heartwarming moments between the two, and can prepare to see another as they say one final goodbye. Jack reveals at one point he found it so emotional to film that he told the director he “couldn’t do it”.
He teases that fans should prepare to shed a few tears as Gail’s children each say goodbye to their mother.
“Even in rehearsals I couldn’t do it because I knew I only had one take at it, and then there’d be tears and there wouldn’t be anything else left,” he says.
Jack jokes that all Helen – a professional to the end – worried about was getting her lines right, and he recalls telling her at the time, “It doesn’t matter, say whatever you want!”
Jack says David would have had “more of a breakdown” about his mum leaving if he wasn’t so preoccupied himself. He’s had a tumultuous month – his stepson Max Turner ended up behind bars after falsely confessing to the murder of Joel Deering to cover up for his girlfriend Lauren Bolton, before the truth was revealed.
Then, Max saw red when it emerged that David had triggered Lauren’s downfall by handing over the incriminating letter which detailed the teens’ cover-up plan.
Sadly, it seems David has also inherited his mum Gail’s famously bad luck w...
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New UK (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 16, 2024