Coronation Street's Jack P Shepherd has explained why his character connects with audiences.
The soap star is renowned for his role as David Platt in the ITV show. He first joined the cast in 2000 and has since become one of Weatherfield's most iconic figures.
Jack's legendary status was confirmed this week as his character was immortalised with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds in Blackpool. Corrie has a loyal following on Merseyside - and Jack told the ECHO at the grand unveiling why he thinks his character resonates with so many people.
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He said: "He's a proper mix and he can be be quite funny. People like to laugh I suppose and they can relate to him. He also has his struggles which I think people can relate to as well. He's a loveable rogue."
David's character has evolved on the show to become a mature father figure for Max Turner. This is a far cry from the tearaway teenager when he first joined the show - and Jack said the character's ability to adapt also means he remains interesting.
He said: "In order to keep the character in the show he couldn't be bad all the time. He was quite bad when he was in his teens and the show wanted to keep hold of the character so they had to ultimately stop that character being bad. You can always understand his behaviour and understand the reasons for his behaviour."
Jack's proud mum, Janet, was also at the unveiling and she said they could never have imagined the character would be so iconic when he first accepted the role aged just 12 years old. She said: "He'd done a few little parts before it and we'd watch Corrie on TV. But it was just another audition and we'd never thought in our wildest dreams that 22 years later he would be in Madame Tussauds."
Kyle Woodcock is the attractions manager at Madame Tussauds and he said David Platt's character connects with people because he is so "relatable". He said: "If anyone in the North has had an upbringing like mine, we grew up with Coronation Street in the household.
"Throughout his time in Coronation Street his character has developed and people have grown up with him. David's a similar age to me so we've gone through life at a similar time. The younger viewers of Coronation Street have absolutely made that connection because everyone has grown up with him.
"Coronation Street is absolutely one of those things that people are in tune with in the North West of England. It's a key mark of being northern."
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