Huge Coronation Street star signs up to appear in this year’s Celebrity Big Brother...

A CORONATION Street veteran will star in this year's Celebrity Big Brother.

The Sun can exclusively reveal that the actor, best known for playing Gail Platt's wayward son David Platt, is expected to be one of the biggest names to sign up for the show.

Jack P Shepherd, 37, is following in the footsteps of his Corrie pal Colson Smith who played copper Craig Tinker, after he went on CBB last year.

A TV insider said: “The two lads are great mates, and Colson no doubt told Jack he'd have the time of his life on the show.

"Jack will be making the most of a gap in appearing on Corrie, which comes as he's about to be at the centre of a huge storyline on the ITV soap.

"His character David will be seen getting left for dead after being hit by a car on the cobbles - but it will transpire it's actually a bizarre attempt to end his own life.”

The new series of CBB - the second since it was rebooted on ITV - is expected to air this spring though ITV have yet to confirm a launch date.

Jack has been a member of the Corrie cast for 24 years and first appeared as the son of Gail and Martin Platt when he was 13 years old.

Since then he's been at the heart of some of the soap's biggest storylines, the most recent of which has seen him getting targeted by gangster Harvey Gaskell, to whom he owes massive debts.

But he rarely appears on reality TV shows, having previously only been on a handful of gameshows and Ghosthunting with Coronation Street in 2008.

So far other names linked to the show include former Love Islander Chris Hughes and Towie's Ella Rae Wise are among the other names rumoured to be going into the house.

A spokesman for ITV said: “Any names linked to the Celebrity Big Brother line up are purely speculative.”

Last week, The Sun reported how EastEnders star James Bye had also been lined up.

His name is in the frame after CBB bosses made a major change to the house ahead of the new series.

We previously told how bosses were moving the TV house after two years at Garden Studios in Harlesden, West London.

The Sun then exclusively revealed how a fan-favourite feature of the Celebrity Big Brother has been ditched for the new series.

The Mezzanine floor - which was introduced by ITV when it rebooted Big Bro in 2023 - has been scrapped.