Coronation Street star Jack P Shepherd has recalled some interesting encounters with fans of the ITV soap.
On the latest episode of his podcast On the Sofa, the David Platt actor spoke about the first time he realised he was famous at the age of 12.
“I was in Asda,” he said. “I was recognised by an old woman in the freezer section, I was with my mum doing the big shop, and she started to hit me with a handbag before saying anything. She was so furious to see me.”
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He explained it was early in his career, before his character became “evil” and David was just a “cheeky” child.
“[She] full on, just beat me with a bag. My mum kind of like laughed it off and went, ‘It’s not real you know,’ like that,” he said.
He also reminisced about another teenage incident in which he had to get a police escort.
“I turned on Kippax Christmas Lights,” he said, referring to the town in Leeds. “…There was a sea of people turned up for young David Platt, I must have been about 13, 14, something like that.
“…There was a siege. They all started to head towards and try to climb on the stage. They tried to get on and I had to be escorted into the Co-Op.”
The actor continued: “They had to lock the doors of the Co-Op. All the Co-Op workers were in there, and we couldn’t get out because they surrounded the building. I couldn’t get out and go through the crowds because there were too many of them.
“We then had to get a police escort out of Kippax. The police were called, because I was a small child and police escorts had to arrive on motorbikes and put the blue light on. And they dressed me up as a Co-Op worker, no word of a lie. The hat and the t-shirt, and I was going out through the crowds keeping my head down.”
He continued: “I got into the car and I handed the hat back to one of the Co-Op workers, and they [the crowd] all turned, like zombies, and went ‘He’s there!’ and they all ran towards me and I dived in the car and the police had to blue light me out there.
“I remember physically watching the police on the bikes and they were kicking people back, literally kicking people back. Ask my mum, ask my mum! Siege in Tippax!”
“That is fame,” his former co-host Colson Smith said. “That is fame, that is power at a young age.”
