Jack P Shepherd reveals ‘most challenging’ moment in 26 years on Coronation Street
Jack P Shepherd has revealed the "most challenging" moment during his whole time on Coronation Street, more than 25 years after he made his debut on the soap as David Platt
Jack P Shepherd has revealed the “most challenging” moment during his whole time on Coronation Street. The TV star, 38, has played the part of David Platt on the world’s longest-running TV soap since 2000, having taken over from original actor Thomas Ormson.
As the on-screen son of Gail Platt (Helen Worth) and Martin Platt (Sean Wilson), the character has never been short of drama, having made his first appearance shortly after his sister Sarah (Tina O’Brien) discovered she was pregnant at the age of 13.
Following that, David’s stepfather Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) became a serial killer and tried to kill the whole family by driving them all into a canal, the trauma of which led David to become a teenage tearaway.
David found his first girlfriend in Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) and in the years that followed endured a spell in prison and various other incidents, but finally found happiness when he married Kylie Turner (Paula Lane) and they went on to have baby Lily together in 2013. However, the couple’s marriage was cut short in July 2016 when Kylie was stabbed to death in broad daylight by teenage drug dealer Clayton Hibbs as she tried to defend her friend Gemma in an attack.
On the 10th anniversary of the broadcast of the harrowing scenes, which saw David screaming out as Kylie bled to death in his arms, the soap star took to Instagram to explain to his followers what it was like to film it all at the time.
He wrote on Instagram: “10 yrs ago, we said goodbye to Kylie Platt, here’s some behind the scenes pictures and vids. It was a great story and the most challenging story I’ve played [heartbreak emoji] forever missed. As part of the post, Jack gave a glimpse of what it was like on set that day as well as some black-and-white photos of himself and his former co-star.
Paula, who made her debut on the ITV soap in 2010 and was introduced as the half-sister of Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly), took to the comments section of Jack’s post to say: “Our song was on the radio the other day end every time it reminds me…Lana Del Rey – video games. Yep we were great!”
Prior to landing the part of Kylie, Paula had made guest appearances in dramas such as The Royal and Heartbeat. Since her departure, she has appeared on Call The Midwife, and in 2018, she played the female lead of factory worker Lauren in a UK tour of the musical Kinky Boots.
In one snap, the former co-stars were seen smiling together as they prepared to film Kylie’s exit scenes (Image: jackpshepherd88/paula_laney/Instagram)A decade later, David is now married to Clayton’s mother, Shona Platt ( Julia Goulding ), but more recently, Paula joined the cast of Emmerdale, where she played the villainous Ella Forster from 2025 until 2025. Away from the screen, Paula has Arthur, 11, as well as nine-year-old Penny with husband Tom Shaw and she gave birth to their third child in January 2026.
But she previously admitted that the decision for Kylie to be killed off came as a ‘shock’ to her because she had initially hoped to go off to give birth and then return like she had done with her first baby.
During an appearance on the Soap from the Box podcast, she said: “I felt very strongly that I wanted to go but I was kind of up for maybe having Penny and then coming back for a bit but I think they felt that muddied the water a little bit. They came to the conclusion that they wanted a clean exit.
“I don’t think it was across the board – the writers were very torn by all accounts with what they wanted to do. It was Stuart Blackburn, the producer at the time, who made the call and said ‘We’re gonna kill her off’. I was so shocked. I was heartbroken.
“I was really shocked but at the same time, I understand that it wasn’t a decision I had taken lightly. I remember thinking ‘I didn’t see that coming!’ and I guess the audience would have been equally shocked.”
