CORONATION Street’s Jack P. Shepherd has revealed he demanded a rewrite for co-star Helen Worth’s final scene.
Legendary soap star Helen, 73, is leaving her role as Gail Platt after 50 years on the cobbles.
Originally, Helen’s whole on-screen family were not scheduled to be part of her last day filming on set.
However Jack, who has played Gail’s son David since 2000, said he encouraged soap bosses to remedy this by writing in an additional scene.
As is the case with many productions, the soap does not film in chronological order.
Speaking to press, Jack explained how Helen’s final scene initially only also featured himself and Julia Goulding, who plays Shona.
He told the soap’s writers: “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 f*****g write it! You know, you can.’ So they went: ‘Yeah, we can’. So they did – they wrote one.”
Continuing, Jack insisted Helen’s last scene should not have “someone random” filming alongside her.
He and Helen’s other on-screen son Ben Price, who plays Nick Tilsley, recently shared how they learned of Helen’s exit.
The pair co-host the On The Sofa podcast alongside Colson Smith, who stars as Craig Tinker in the ITV soap.
Jack told listeners: “She phoned us.
“First of all I got a missed call from her and I thought, that’s a butt dial. So I blank it.
“Then, I got a text from Tina saying, ‘Helen’s trying to ring you’. So I thought, oh this is bad. So I phoned her.
“She said, ‘Oh hello hello.’ She’d told Ben, she’d told Tina.
Over the years the character of Gail Platt has been the centre of several major plots.
Here we take a look back over actress Helen Worth’s biggest storylines:
Teenage daughter’s pregnancy
One of Gail’s most controversial storylines was in 1999.
It came when her 13-year-old daughter Sarah became pregnant.
Multiple marriages
Gail holds the record for the series’ most married female character.
She has been wed a whopping six times, each one worse the last.
Married to a serial killer
One of Gail’s multiple marriages saw her wed Richard Hillman, who turned out to be a serial killer.
At the climax of the storyline, 19 million fans tuned in to watch Hillman drive his wife and her family into a canal.
Scrapping on The Street
Gail has proved over the years she can’t resist a good scrap.
Her most memorable bust-up saw her attack Eileen Grimshaw on the cobbles in 2004 while in her dressing gown.
Jail bird
In 2010, Gail found herself wrongly banged up in jail.
She was wrongfully arrested for murdering her 4th husband Joe McIntyre.
“So I instantly now know she’s off. She says, ‘I’m going. I’ve decided to leave. She feels as though she’s done her time.
“Which is fine. So I say, ‘Great, fantastic, you’ve earned it.’ I mean bl***y hell, if anybody else – 50 years in any gig is a long time.”
Ben added: “I think she was more nervous about ringing us than she was about leaving.”
Coronation Street will air Gail’s final episode on Christmas Day at 7pm on ITV1.
