Coronation Street - why David Platt has left Weatherfield and when he'll be back

Coronation Street has acknowledged David Platt's absence in new scenes as star Jack P Shepherd has taken a short break from the soap.

Shepherd has been off on paternity leave after welcoming his first child with wife Hanni Treweek, as well as undergoing his third hair transplant.

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In tonight's Corrie, David's wife Shona was having a hard time balancing work and caring for Lily and Harper without David in her corner. "Every time I have a second for myself, someone starts screaming at me," Shona complained to her devious sister Jodie.

"Go easy on her, I think she's just struggling a bit with David being away," Jodie then told Lily, playing the 'cool aunt' card.

Later on at the café, Shona phoned David, venting about being "so tired" as she was juggling everything on her own.

As David is away visiting his mum Gail, it looks like he will be back on the cobbles very soon. He's set to return to our screens next week with a shaved head after Shepherd's cosmetic procedure.

The soap star previously opened up about undergoing a hair transplant for the third time as he took advantage of his paternity leave.

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"I could see it, I could see it further back in the middle. I could see it going in. 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," Shepherd told co-hosts Colson Smith and Ben Price on the podcast On The Sofa back in June.

"Paternity and hair transplant," said Smith, to which Shepherd replied: "Exactly that. What a month!"

Alongside the adorable latest addition to the family, Constance Ita, Shepherd also shares two kids with former girlfriend Lauren Shippey, Reuben and Nyla-Rae, and one child with former partner Sammy Milewski, Greyson.

Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

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