Coronation Street’s Jack P Shepherd thinks David Platt is "resilient."
The 30-year-old actor – who has played the former bad boy since 2000 – is pleased that he’s been given a number of different storylines over the years that have helped shape and develop his alter ego but he has admitted regardless of what is thrown at him, his character seems to come out the other side every time.
He told Coronation Street Updates: "I’ve been in the show for 18 years now and played every single storyline you could possibly play.
"Ultimately in soaps I think if it does change the character then you must see what you want from the character. Do you want David Platt to change and if so why? If he does change, does he eventually have to leave? After a while the character must come to terms with what has happened to them and move on, then you can live out other stories. David has been through a lot. He’s a resilient character. There are things that he’s got over and come out the other side."
During his time on the soap, his alter ego has been drowned by his stepfather, attempted to fake his own suicide, crashed his car due to his epilepsy, watched his wife Kylie (Paula Lane) die in his arms after she was stabbed and, most recently, was sexually assaulted by Josh Tucker (Ryan Clayton).
Although the rape storyline has pushed boundaries, bosses have recently hired a hat-rick of new writers – some comedic – to freshen up the soap a bit.
Alasdair Morrison, who penned funny scripts for ‘Hollyoaks’, is among those to join the programme, while Samantha Holdsworth has swapped the Yorkshire Dales of ‘Emmerdale’ for the ‘Corrie’ cobbles in an attempt to bring some "Dingle-style antics" to Weatherfield.
And former street favourite Julie Hesmondhalgh’s husband Ian Kershaw – who has played five minor roles on the soap over the years – has also joined the team.