Jack P. Shepherd 'to sign new six-figure Coronation Street contract'

Jack P. Shepherd is set to sign a bumper six-figure Coronation Street contract.

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The 28-year-old actor - who plays bad boy David Platt in the ITV soap - is expected to put pen to paper on a new deal worth more than £200,000, making him the first of the “new breed” stars to be paid such a sum on the show.

A source told The Sun Online: “Everything is being looked at to steady the ship and try and keep people happy after a rather large number of people decided to leave – but Jack was a priority and that’s why we are being told he has been told he will be a mainstay character and rewarded with this deal.

"He is only in his late 20s and after being in the show for some 16 considerable years he has been recognised as a real integral part of Corrie – with the dysfunctional Platt family set to be projected as Weatherfield’s number one clan.”

Jack was left devastated when his co-star Paul Lane quit the soap and her character, Kylie Platt, was killed off in emotional scenes which aired in July.

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But show bosses have tempted him to stay with the huge deal, a figure which is usually reserved for the soap’s stalwarts such as Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, Barbara Knox (Rita Sullivan) and Helen Worth (Gail Platt).

The source added: “The younger less experienced cast will have been assured they will be looked after as well when it comes to extending their contracts – if they put the work in and their characters are liked by the viewers then they will be fine.”

Jack admitted he felt so sad about Kylie’s death storyline he broke down in tears when he read the script for the first time.

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Speaking on This Morning recently, he said: “They [the bosses] did tell me actually when the scripts were coming out, ‘They’re very harrowing and very emotional’.

"I read them and I’ve never read any scenes before and cried unless I was reading them and I was meant to be crying.

"She will be missed, not because she’s Paula, because David and Kylie have this strong relationship and filming the scenes when she does die, me and Paula were crying all the way through and we physically couldn’t stop. They’re so harrowing.”