Coronation Street spoilers to follow.
"I remember the cast welcoming me and thinking I was an 85-year-old man trapped in a 12-year-old's body!" recalls actor Jack P Shepherd, on joining Corrie. "And I agreed with them; I really was an old soul before my time."
Inside Soap spoke to Jack days before he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house. After surviving the first live eviction, it seems the public are supporting him, much as they have done for the past 25 years during his time playing Corrie's David Platt.
The star reflects on reaching a special Street milestone, and teases what's to come…
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Did you ever imagine playing David for a quarter of a century?
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It's a long time when you think about it – 25 years to the day, actually! It's mad that I've been in it as long as Helen Worth [who played David's mum Gail] had been when I started.
You're definitely not thinking about that when you're 12, are you? You just sort of wake up, someone does your hair and then you're on the telly!
Did the writers make David a bit cheeky based on your personality?
It developed, yeah. With the scenes of me bickering with Tina [O'Brien, who plays David's sister, Sarah Platt], we would add little fight scenes, brother and sister-type stuff, like pushing and shoving, and the writers would see it and write more.
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Do you struggle to keep a straight face when you're doing the funny scenes?
Yeah, all the time! We've just filmed a barbecue scene in the Platts' back garden – I ate burgers and everything as it was really sunny. Anyway, David starts having a go at Sarah for going out with Kit, calling him a lanky lad.
She tells me to shut my face and then picks up a burger bap and throws it at my head! I tried to carry on, Tina's wetting herself, Ben's [Price, who plays Nick Tilsley] head is gone and we're all just splitting our sides laughing.
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Do you think you could do another 25 years on the Street?
Easily. If the Platts are still thereabouts and we're getting storylines, I don't see why not if the show still likes the character and the audience do, too. I think an episode is coming up in May with a really dark storyline, and David's just making gags throughout the scene. It's not meant to be that funny but I was like, 'Look, everyone's crying,' and the director went, 'Yeah I see your point, fair enough, carry on!'.
For more chat from Jack, pick up Inside Soap magazine – on sale Tuesday 15 April.
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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