Coronation Street Blog: Jack P Shepherd interview: Shona's shooting and David's rape trial

Shona and David have been through a lot this year, did David think their wedding was the end of that and the start of their happy ever future?

Yes as soon as he got out of prison all he wanted to do was get married then they could start the rest of their lives together and just be happy. They’ve been on honeymoon, they’re all loved up looking forward to Christmas and everything is on the up. So it’s Christmas Day, David’s birthday, and while doing a treasure hunt in the Winter Wonderland Shona ends up getting shot. At first she’s conscious, they operate and it seems like it’s been a success, but then there’s a problem with internal bleeding and Shona falls into a coma. She’s on a life support machine, her brain having been starved of oxygen and David’s terrified. They don’t know what condition she’ll be in when she wakes up, if she wakes up, because she was out for that long.

What are the chances that Shona will make a full recovery?

David’s being told it’s not likely she’ll make a full recovery, they don’t even know when or if she’ll wake up and if she does, she'll probably be in a very bad way.

Is David willing to accept what the doctors are saying?

No he’s not accepting that, he’s saying ‘she’ll be fine, I know she will, she’s strong, I know she’ll get better.’ Everyone else is trying to be a bit more realistic and get David to think about the possibility that she may not make a full recovery but David won’t go there.

Will he keep fighting for Shona no matter what the doctors say?

Yes I think he will, he’s just married her and he reminds everyone that was for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, and he’ll stick by that no matter what. She’s his wife and if she never wakes up again he’ll still be by her side.

What emotions has he been through since Shona’s shooting?

He’s been through so much, there’s a lot of anger and frustration, then there are moments when he does lose it and breakdown.

Is he angry with Gary or the situation?

At first he’s angry with Gary, if he hadn’t had a spat with this Derek he wouldn’t have brought him to the street in the first place and Shona wouldn’t have got shot. But then he has bigger things to focus on than Gary, he just needs to be there every day for Shona not wasting time going after Gary Windass. Because if he misses something, if she wakes up and he’s not there, he’ll feel like he’s let her down.

In the midst of all this David gets a letter revealing it’s Josh’s rape trial and he’s being called as a witness, how does David deal with that?

Josh is standing trial accused of raping two other men and David is called as a witness. They want him to give evidence but he feels he can’t, he needs to with Shona, he doesn’t want to leave her side even for a minute. It’s Gail and Nick in the end who manage to convince him that if Shona was awake she would want him to give evidence. But David’s view is that she's not awake so he needs to be here. They end up putting to him what if you stay here, she wakes up, you didn’t go and Josh ends up getting off because of the lack of evidence, how annoyed would she be that you could have done something and you chose not to. So it’s more about Shona and what she would want him to do than David. It’s the strength she’s given him over the year to face this.

How is David’s experience on the stand?

He tells his story and he feels like the jury beleive him but then Josh’s defence try to make out that David had sexual feelings for Josh and the fact he wanted to kill himself afterwards was due to the fact that he’s gay and was in love with him. David ends up lahing out and shouting in the courtroom then he decides he’s wasting his time and he needs to get back to Shona.

Have you enjoyed playing David’s rollercoaster year and what’s been your favourite storyline?

I liked all the stuff with David and Nick stealing Audrey’s money, both Ben and I really enjoyed playing the feud between the brothers. The barbers shop has been mint, I proper love working in there. And I enjoyed filming the prison riots, I thought it was really interesting bringing Josh back and working with Ryan again was cool, we had some good scenes together. The wedding was fun to film as well and then the Christmas Day episode was great.

Do you like that you get to play the high drama with David, but also the romance and the comedy?

I love all of it, the high drama is great but all the scenes in between in the Platts when the family are all together can be really funny and that’s when it's great to come into work. It can be stressful when you’re in a heavy story trying to find the light and the shade but being with the Platts you can always find a way.

Do you still enjoy playing David because he is so multi faceted?

There is always the potential that David is going to go off the rails but there's also the flip side where he can be funny, loving to Shona, a good dad, not every scene is the same and that’s the great thing about playing him.

Would you like to see David go off the rails again?

In a different way, yes, I don’t think it should just be him being angry and lashing out, I think it should be something that’s a reaction to his grief. More David on the edge and you’re just not quite sure what he’s going to do. You’ll see in the New Year, David on the edge is capable of anything, I’m really looking forward to it and I get to do my own stunts!

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Glenda Young

Author of historical novels with Headline