Helen will leave the ITV soap after decades on our screens
Helen will leave the ITV soap after decades on our screens
Jack P Shepherd has opened up on Helen Worth’s final scenes and the input he had on how her departure from Coronation Street will unfold. Jack who has played the role of Gail Platt’s son since 2000 has spoken about the drama coming to the cobbles this Christmas.
Speaking to the ECHO and other press, the actor said “there is a lot going on and it all seems to be falling apart”. He spoke about his character David Platt being worried about his Gran, Audrey, as she begins making up stories about her health so Gail doesn’t leave and his brother Nick being in a troublesome situation.
Nick, played by Ben Price, is involved in an a relationship with Leanne’s sister Toyah and the secret is close to being revealed after Leanne found out. David’s relationship is also on the rocks after his partner Shona sleeps with Kit.
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Giving an insight into Helen Worth’s final scenes and what it was like to film them, Jack said: “We all had emotional scenes with her separately. She comes to each of us separate in separate scenes and gives us all a farewell”
He admitted he struggled to act it out even in rehearsals because he knew there would be tears. Jack told the director “I can’t do it” as he was only going to have “one in him” with the two saying a final goodbye to each other.
In an emotional admission Jack shared how he encouraged show bosses to write in an extra scene featuring the full Platt family for Helen Worth’s final day of filming. He persuaded producers that Helen’s closest co-stars could be part of the final scene she filmed.
The actor said: “We had a little do on her last scene. Originally, her last scene filming was a scene with me and Julia [Shona] in the Platts’. I went: ‘No, no, her last scene has to be just all of us. Like, we all just have to be in the Platt house’. They said: ‘There isn’t one. There isn’t one where you’re all together.”
“I went: ‘Well write it! You know, you can’. So they went: ‘Yeah, we can’. So they did – they wrote one. I said: ‘We don’t have to be doing anything. We can all be non-speaking. Just make sure we’re all together in the Platt house. For God’s sake, please. For when she finally goes, don’t just have someone random with her or whatever’.
He continued: “Helen wanted to go quietly – she wanted to go out the back door. She didn’t want to create a fuss for people. But I said: ‘It’s not so much for you. It’s not you doing the fanfare and the big farewell. It’s for the building. It’s for everyone’.
Back in June, Gail Platt star Helen Worth, 73, announced she will be leaving her role after a huge five decades and some iconic scenes on the cobbles. Details of what the storyline will be that leads to Gail leaving the soap after decades on screen have not been confirmed, but bosses have teased that it will be “emotional” and will no doubt be a fitting departure for a soap legend.
