Why did Coronation Street star Jack P. Shepherd have to disguise himself as a supermarket worker?
Coronation Street star Jack P. Shepherd dressed as a Co-Op worker and received a police escort out of West Yorkshire town Kippax after fans rushed towards the then-teenage actor when he turned on the town's Christmas lights.
Coronation Street star Jack P. Shepherd once faked being a Co-Op worker so police could prevent the then teenage actor from being mobbed by fans.
Jack - who plays David Platt on the ITV soap - had been hired to turn on the Christmas Lights in West Yorkshire town Kippax and thousands of people turned up to see him get the festive celebrations underway.
Once the lights had been switched on, Jack can remember a "siege" of people rushing towards him and he had to seek refuge in a nearby Co-Op supermarket.
Jack, 37, recalled to his fellow Coronation Street cast member Ben Price, 54, and his former soap colleague Colson Smith, 27, on the recent episode of their On the Sofa podcast: "There was a sea of people [that] turned up to see a young David Platt. I must have been about 13, 14, something like that. Really young.
"And I turned on their Christmas lights, and there was a siege.
"They all started to head towards [me] and tried to climb on the stage.
"They tried to get on, and I had to be escorted into the Co-Op.
"[The Co-Op staff] 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 [fans]."
Concerned that Jack's safety was at risk, police decided to provide him with an escort out of Kippax.
But to avoid another rush of fans, Jack dressed up as a Co-Op worker and hid his face, but his disguise didn't work.
He revealed: "Honestly, [there were] too many [fans]. We had to then 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 they had to put blue lights on, blue light me out.
"I had the hat and I had the t-shirt.
"I was going out, I was going out through the crowds, keeping my head down [as a] Co-Op worker. And I got into the car.
"And I handed the hat back to one of the Co-Op workers.
"And then [all the fans] turned like zombies. And they all 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 [of Kippax].
"And I remember physically watching the police on the bikes, and they were kicking people back. They were literally kicking people back."
