He’s been a stalwart on the cobbles for a whopping 26 years, but Jack P Shepherd says he wouldn’t be mad if he got the axe.The Corrie star, 38 - who made his soap debut as bad boy David Platt at just 12, told the Mirror, “It’s happened before. If that’s the avenue they go down with me, I could handle it.”“I can take it. I’m a big boy. If they feel like they need an audience spike or if the story is right, I’d be fine about it. I wouldn’t hold any grudges.”‌The actor, from Pudsey, West Yorkshire, who became a dad just weeks ago for the fourth time with wife Hanni Treweek, did admit that it’s a brilliant gig and he might struggle to find work if the unexpected ever happened.“I don’t want to walk away from Corrie. It is a great place to work, it really is. It’s easy. I live in Manchester, so it’s on my doorstep.“I know everybody there. You could come out and get a great drama… But then you’re looking for the next gig.”Shepherd’s two-decade stint on the Manchester-filmed soap has seen him involved in some seriously juicy storylines.‌They include the infamous Richard Hillman killer plot when he was still a teen and in 2018, winning Best Actor for a storyline involving David being raped by his friend Josh Tucker - the first depiction of male rape on the show.As Shepherd tells us, he’s going nowhere, as long those meaty storylines keep coming.“With Corrie, if you’re contracted and in good storylines, it’s great. As long as I get the work, I’ll stay. I do year-long contracts. Every December, I sign again if they ask me. Luckily for the past 26 years, they have asked me.‌“I’ve been lucky enough to be in and among the big stuff. If ever that changed, then maybe you might see me in something else. But at the minute, I’m contracted for Corrie and that’s great.”Reflecting on almost three decades on the cobbles, he says, “I suppose I’m one of the legends. People think I’ve been in the show longer than I actually have. They’ve grown up with me, it’s nice. I still feel like one of the young ones - there are about 10 or 15 people ahead of me!”And he enjoys taking new cast members under his wing. “It can be daunting when they first start. I’ve been there. You’re sitting in the green room and there’s Rita and Ken… they’re people you feel like you’ve known all your life, even though you don’t actually know them. It can be scary.”Shepherd has been involved in three dramatic live episodes of Corrie so far, and would jump at the chance to do another - but admits, you have to be made of strong stuff to stay the pace on set day-to-day.‌“You have to be able to handle the pace and speed of the filming. People come in who have done films and dramas who say, ’S***, I didn’t know how fast Corrie would be to film.’“You might rehearse once, then you film and that’s it, done. To make it look as good as it does on screen is not easy.He adds, “There’s such a fast turnaround. On a drama they do two to four pages in a day. On Corrie we do 30. Corrie is a massive machine. If you can keep to that pace, you learn a hell of a lot.‌“ At the end of a big storyline, you’re either drained or you can deal with it.”Shepherd, who recently underwent his third hair transplant, has his hands full at home, too.The star, who has three children from a previous relationship, became a dad again when he and wife Hanni welcomed daughter, Constance Ita, on June 26, in a peaceful home birth, seven months after they tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony at Manchester Cathedral.‌Looking to the future, Shepherd says if he ever found himself out of a job, there’s one person he’d love to work with - Tip Toe creator, Russell T Davies.“I’m a big fan. If there was ever an option to work with him, that would be lovely. If Russell wrote something, came to me and said, ‘You’re the guy that I want to play this’ then I’d have conversations to see if I’d be able to do it.“But that’s never happened and it probably never will!”Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .