David Platt is a character in Coronation Street who was born in December 1990. He is the son of Gail Rodwell and Martin Platt and half brother of Nick Tilsley and Sarah Louise Platt.
David is played by Jack P. Shepherd.
Biography
Backstory
1990-
David Tilsley was born on the 25th December 1990 to Martin Platt and Gail Tilsley. Martin and Gail soon married and David took his father's surname. David had 2 older half siblings, Nick Tilsley and Sarah Louise Tilsley. Sarah Lou took Martin's surname when he married Gail. When David was 2 years old, in 1993, he was kidnapped by the Platt's nanny Carmel Finnan who wanted to split Martin and Gail up so she could have Martin. As David was growing up, his parents began to have more issues with his brother Nicky, who left for Canada in 1996 but returned a year later.
David grew up as quite a quiet child. He was the same age as Rosie Webster, she was born just 1 day before David and they were childhood friends. In June 2000, David's relatively normal childhood was disrupted when his 13 year old sister Sarah Lou fell pregnant and gave birth to a girl, Bethany Platt. David became jealous of the attention on his niece and regularly expresses his dislike of her. Martin and Gail were also fighting, due to Martin's ongoing affair with another nurse and the combined disruption in his home life left a mark on David emotionally. He shoplifts, wets the bed and gets into fights at school. In 2001, when David was 10, his parents divorced, dashing his hopes of them reuniting.
Also in 2001, Gail met Richard Hillman who was a financial adviser. David initally disliked Richard as he was still hoping that his parents would reconcile but he was eventually won round by Richard and his expensive presents. Richard moved in with the Platts and married Gail a few months later in July 2002, taking the kids with them to Florida on Honeymoon. However Richard proved to be a serial killer and in February 2003, confessed his crimes to a horrified Gail before fleeing, causing more disruption and angst for David and the Platts. David was targeted by a school bully over his stepfather's actions, who pinned him against the wall and then spit in Gail's face. He also attempted to defend his mother against Ashley Peacock who angrily believed Gail was complicit with Richard in his wife's death. When Richard returned, he tried to kill David, Gail and Sarah in a suicide pact. He kidnapped the family one by one and tied them up in the garage in an attempt to gas them but when discovered, drove off and into the canal. Richard drowned but the others survived, after Martin and Tommy Harris pulled them from the water. This also had a huge impact on David emotionally, this didn't manifest immediately but as time goes onhe soon gains a reputation for lying and scheming. Gail becomes worried about his actions such as bunking off from school but feels guilty as it is clear he resents her for the Hillman situation.
In 2005, Martin met his new girlfriend Robyn and decided to move away from Weatherfield to Liverpool. David was upset by his father leaving and continued to misbehave by getting drunk at school, for which he was temporarily suspended. David clashes with Phil Nail, Gail's boyfriend and enjoys winding him up. One time, while alone with Phil, David pushes him too far and Phil pinned David against the wall and threatened him but Gail didn't believe David as he had already told lies in the past. David discovered Sarah was sleeping with Jason Grimshaw, after discovering them semi-naked and attempted to blackmail Jason for money in order to keep the secret, although this scheme didn't last very long as the truth came out regardless.
In 2006 David began sending cards to his family addressed from Richard as part of a sick joke, beginning on Sarah's birthday and then escalating. This sent Gail over the edge where she had to start taking medication, and suspicion fell upon several neighbours such as Gail's enemy Eileen Grimshaw and even Gail herself. After an argument between David and Phil which leads to Phil threatening David with violence, Gail throws him out and ends the relationship, now believing Phil to be the card sender and feeling guilty for not believing David earlier. However David was later unveiled as the culprit and confronted by Gail and Audrey. He showed fear at the thought of being arrested. But in the end Gail decided not to push the matter further, still blaming herself.
Even after this, David continued to lie and plot. After Tracy Barlow murdered her boyfriend Charlie Stubbs in January 2007, David made a statement to the police claiming he had seen the incident and Tracy acting in self defence through the window. After Tracy was released on bail due to David's statement, it transpired he was lying in order to blackmail her into having sex with him. Tracy was disgusted by the idea as David was a 16 year old schoolboy but went along with it in order to get what she wanted, kissing him and agreeing to sleep with him once she was found not guilty. Gail decided to give David the benefit of the doubt and support him, despite his past lies although Sarah and Jason were less believing. David attended court but his evidence came under intense scrutiny and Tracy was ultimately found guilty of murder, informing David she was never intending to sleep with him. Later, that year David lied about having slept with neighbour Mel Morton, which lead to Gail publicly humiliating him in the kebab shop. David later overheard Gail, Audrey & Sarah and gossiping about him and mocking him. Jason found David stood on top of the Underworld roof, at first he feared David was going to jump off and was then freaked out as David made a gun with his fingers and pretended to shoot his family.
David then became determined to ruin his sister's forthcoming wedding to Jason and pulled stunts such as cancelling the reception and inviting Jason's estranged brother and Sarah's ex, Todd to the wedding. These attempts failed and David was cast out from the family home after Bethany accidentally swallowed some ecstasy tablets he was hiding. David then left a card and an answerphone message suggesting he was going to commit suicide, which Sarah attempted to cover up and drove his car into the canal (at the spotwhere Richard had driven the Platts) on Sarah's wedding day. When the police arrived at the church, Sarah chose to stay and carry on with the wedding while Gail and Audrey went to the canal. When the car was pulled from the water and there was no sign of David, the Platts feared the worst, but he turned up drenched, disheveled and shaken on the doorstep. While the rest of the family, including Jason were keen to support David, believing he had been suicidal, Sarah had no sympathy for her brother and was convinced that he had pulled the stunt in an attempt to ruin her wedding, which David would later admit to.
In 2008, David began a relationship with Tina McIntyre, to whom he lost his virginity. David began to mellow while he was with Tina and was clearly devoted to her. However when Tina found out she was pregnant, she decided she couldn't go through with having a child and confided in Gail, who accompanied her to the abortion clinic, with David unaware that Tina had been pregnant with his child. Later after David overheard an argument between Gail and Jason who had got the wrong end of the stick, he realised the truth and confronted Gail. When Gail tried to prevent David from leaving, he pushed her down the stairs in anger and then left her. Gail was later discovered and taken to hospital and David convinced Tina to lie for him and give him a false alibi. Gail however, slowly remembered the truth and finally realised that David had pushed her. When Gail confronted David, he snapped and went on a rampage, smashing up cars in the garage, windows in the street with a pole and hitting Ken Barlow in the leg with it. David also assaulted a police officer who was attempting to restrain him. David was arrested and also confessed to pushing Gail down the stairs. David spent time in Youth Offenders for this.
David formed a rivalry with new neighbour Gary Windass in 2009. This culminated in a fight between the pair in the street, where David came out worse and ended up in hospital, for which he reported Gary to the police.
David was widowed in July 2016 after his wife Kylie was stabbed by Clayton Hibbs during an altercation outside the kebab shop, as they were planning to start a new life in Barbados. Kylie passed away in his arms and David was then tasked with telling the children that their mother was dead. Although Clayton was shortly caught by the police, David was not satisfied and wanted to kill him for what he had done. When Gail discovered David's dark revenge plot she locked him in the cellar at The Bistro and tried to talk him out of it but a furious David eventually escaped and drove off in his car. However, David ended up swerving to avoid his own daughter, Lily and crashed. David and Lily escaped but David's car later exploded, which left Anna Windass with serious burns. David was partly responsible for Anna's injuries as he had loaded the car as part of his plot to kill Clayton, which left him feeling guilty.
In early 2018, David became friends with Josh Tucker. Josh was a mechanic. David enlisted the help of Josh to get rid of Lee Mayhew, a local drug dealer and younger brother of vicar Billy Mayhew. Josh took David out on a night out to a pub. When David was in the toilet, Josh discreetly spiked David's drink with GHB, a date rape drug. After David drank it, he could hardly stand and Josh took him back to his flat. As David neared unconsciousness, Josh guided him to the bedroom against his will and raped David. The next morning, David woke up naked in Josh's bed and found a note from Josh telling him he had gone to the gym. David could feel intense pain where Josh had raped him which lead to his hazy memories of the vicious assault returning and the realisation of what Josh had done to him. David became despondent in the aftermath of his rape, he spends a long time sitting distraught in the shower trying to clean himself and throws his clothes in the bin. When Josh turns up at the house, David has to run into the garden to be sick and he is horrified when Josh brushes it off and claims it was consensual. He became distant from his family and Shona, who he broke up with and slept with Emma Brooker who he then moved into the Platt house. He even wanted to do a boxing match as Josh was the referee. David fought against rival Gary Windass and assaulted him despite Gary being an ex soldier, after Josh taunted David about the rape from the side of the ring and suggested David wanted to 'go another round' with him instead. David subsequently attempted to self harm and broke down in floods of tears once alone in the salon.
Gary was hospitalised after David attacked him and David was arrested and charged but later missed his court appearance as he was suffering under the mental impact of the rape. Shona found David and he admitted to her that Josh had raped him, having been encouraged to speak out for the first time by Aidan Connor's suicide. David was remanded in prison for missing his court date, until it could be rescheduled. Gary defended David in court, believing he was still suffering from the death of Kylie and David received community service as a result. David later opened up to Gail and Audrey about the rape and also Sarah and Bethany off-screen, after reporting Josh to the police. Without enough evidence, the police could not charge Josh, although he left the street quickly following David's accusation.
Memorable info
Appearances: 26 December 1990–15 March 2000 (Thomas Orson), 26 April 2000–present (Jack P. Shepherd)
Born: 25th December 1990
Full Name: David Platt
Parents: Martin Platt and Gail Rodwell (Nee Potter, formerly Tilsley, Platt, Hillman and MacIntyre)
Siblings: Nick Tilsley (half, same mother), Sarah Louise Platt (half, same mother), Charlotte (half, same father) 2 half brother (half, same father)
Grandfathers: Barry Platt, Ted Page
Grandmothers: Barbara Platt, Audrey Roberts
Spouse: Kylie Platt (2011–2016)
Children: Lily Platt (2013)