Jack P Shepherd insisted on last-minute rewrite for Helen Worth
Jack P. Shepherd insisted 'Coronation Street' bosses rewrote Helen Worth's final scene so she could be with all her onscreen family.
Jack P. Shepherd insisted 'Coronation Street' bosses rewrote Helen Worth's final scene.
The soap legend is set to bow out at Christmas after 50 years playing Gail Platt and when her on-screen son realised just he and Julia Goulding - who plays his character David's wife Shona - would be present for her final moments on camera as the programme is not filmed in chronological order, he intervened to ensure she got the send-off she deserved.
He told reporters: "Her last scene filming was a scene with me and Julia. It was in the Platts.
"That was her last scene, and I went, no, no, her last scene has to be all of us. We all have to be there. They said there wasn't one where you're all together, and so I went, 'Well f***ing write it! Write it! You know, you can.'
"So they went, yeah, we can, and they did. They wrote one. [I just wanted to] make sure we're all together in the Platts when she finally goes. Don't just have someone random with her or whatever. So they did. And luckily, they were able to do it and schedule it."
Cast and crew working on the ITV soap all made sure they were able to be there for Helen's final scene, despite her desire to bow out quietly.
Jack explained: "There were people on other units and other blocks and everything who were watching all the monitors and were saying it was really nice.
"[The studio] was full. So there was about 400 or 500 people in the studio. They all came down. And Lee, the first Assistant Director, came up to me and he went, 'What do you want to do? Because I've got every unit saying that they want to break and they all want to come in and say goodbye'.
"And he went, 'If I ask her she'll say no so what should we do?'. I said, 'Ah, just f****** do it. Just do it'. She'll cry. She'll be emotional. But you're meant to. It's 50 years...
"She wanted to do the back door. Didn't want to create a fuss for people. I said, it's not so much for you, it's for the building. It's for everyone."
Each of Helen's screen children got their own moment with her before her exit and Jack admitted he struggled to shooot his "emotional" goodye.
He said: "We all had our own emotional scenes with her, separately. I think there's this thing where she comes to each of us separately and basically gives us a goodbye. Even in the rehearsals, I couldn't really run it. I couldn't really do it.
"I've only got one go at it. I've only got one take. I knew there'd be tears and there wouldn't be anything else left. I told the director John Anderson, 'I can't do it.'
"I went, 'Are you doing the close shots first?' and he said we'd do the close shots. I said, 'I'll do the close ones. Get Helen and me, and then we can do wides and everything. But if we're gonna do it, because it's me saying goodbye to Helen, it's Helen saying goodbye to me after 25 years, I'm only probably going to have one in me'.
"Helen was worried about getting the lines right. And I said it doesn't matter, does it? Just say whatever you want. She's saying goodbye, you know. So, yeah, we did it and it's really good."
