This article contains spoilers for tonight’s (Wednesday, September 9) Coronation Street, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on YouTube and ITVX.

David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) returned to Coronation Street tonight sporting a brand new look, and the ITV soap had an hilarious way of explaining the change.

Actor Jack P Shepherd took time away from the soap for paternity leave, with wife Hanni Treweek giving birth to daughter Constance in June.

‘Our beautiful baby girl has arrived, born peacefully at home, surrounded by love,’ the couple announced on Instagram.

During his time off, Jack also underwent a hair transplant – a decision he discussed on the On The Sofa podcast.

‘I could see [the hairline] further back in the middle. I could see it going in,’ he said. ‘So it was sort of act now while I could and I had a bit of time off for the baby, so it was perfect.’

In the soap, his absence was explained by David visiting mum Gail in France, where she has been living since her exit from the soap in 2024.

Tonight’s episode saw him return to the cobbles, much to the relief of Shona Platt (Julia Goulding), who has been struggling in his absence.

As David stepped out of the taxi, Shona was quick to point out his newly shaven head and ask what had prompted the change.

‘I’ve got lice,’ David hilariously quipped.

The joke didn’t last long as Shona pointed out the level of cleanliness Gail kept up at home, and David admitted that he just fancied a change.

Later in the episode, David made up for leaving Shona in the lurch by taking her out for lunch at the Bistro, leaving Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances-Brown) to babysit Harper.

However, when they got home, they found that Jodie had left Lily Platt (Grace Ashcroft-Gardner) in charge and gave her short shrift for walking out on her duties.

Little did they know, Jodie had been up to no good after being dumped by Kit Green (Jacob Roberts), and her little excursion had led her to make a dangerous discovery…

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