Charlie Lawson, famed for his legendary Coronation Street role of Jim McDonald, has said that soap bosses “can’t ruin” his character anymore after killing him off
Charlie Lawson has claimed that Coronation Street bosses ‘can’t ruin Jim McDonald anymore’ by killing him off(Image: ITV)
Coronation Street legend Charlie Lawson has claimed that bosses “ruined” Jim McDonald with his final storyline. The actor, 66, starred as criminal Jim, famed for his tumultuous marriage to Rovers landlady Liz (Beverley Callard) on and off from 1989 but it was recently announced that the character will receive an off-screen death.
Over the years, the character, who is father to Steve (Simon Gregson) and Andy (Nicholas Cochrane), was involved in numerous hard-hitting storylines involving alcoholism, infidelity and domestic violence, and he had went to prison numerous times for his crimes.
Liz and Jim married twice, but split for the final time in 2005. During Jim’s last stint on the cobbles, he arrived with a woman claiming to be their daughter Katie, whom they had lost shortly after birth early in their marriage. He told Liz that there had been a mix up at the hospital, but this all turned out to be a lie. The girl who in question was actually Hannah, his new lover, and they had concocted a wicked scheme to try to scam Liz out of money.
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The pair were later arrested but could not be charged with anything due to a lack of evidence, and Jim’s current whereabouts remain unknown. Charlie, who has also appeared in The Bill, Bread and Doctors throughout his lengthy television career, has now hit out at the “weak” storyline, which was brought in when Kate Oates, who later went on to work on EastEnders, was in charge of the soap.
Charlie said: “The storyline was weak. So many people contacted me to say they hated it. I agreed to it before I even saw the script. The work was lucrative — you can’t really turn it down. Now he can’t be ruined any more. He’s out of his misery.
“I know I will watch that last scene and be able to say, ‘Well, what a load of s***** that was’. I will raise a glass to the old Jim, the one I loved and was proud of, who spoke his mind, with cracking, strong storylines in the Nineties.”
However, Charlie, whose character became known for his catchphrase “so it is”, was informed of Jim’s death by bosses towards the end of last year, insisted that he has “no regrets” with how things have turned out. Speaking to The Sun, he added: “There are some bits I will miss about Corrie and some I won’t. But I have no regrets. That’s just life, so it is.”
It all comes just days after the actor, who has also enjoyed a stellar career in theatre, was contacted to directly by fans on X who wanted to discuss the controversial storyline. Writing to Charlie on X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan wrote: “It was grotesque. Whoever thought up that storyline had a warped mind, astonished it got beyond a ridiculed idea. Felt for @charlie_lawson1 having to act that out knowing how character’s legacy was being tarnished in that vile way.”
Another fan replied: “Yes, it was terrible, not least because it showed how little the writers knew about their own character!! As an experienced actor, Charlie would have known him inside out!! It was so lazy and weak and just didn’t make any sense!!!”
Other fans had also recalled the odd storyline, with one writing: “Started thinking about Jim McDonald’s absolutely dreadful 2018 stint in Corrie. His whole thing is that he wants his family together and damned be anyone who gets in his way. But the 2018 storyline is him going for revenge against Liz in the most hurtful way he can.
“Like even when he hit her in the 90s, that was in response to her confessing to an affair. Which is him seeing her as trying to break them apart. In that moment he’s not thinking how could you do that to me, he’s thinking how could you do that to us.”
Charlie did not respond to the tweets, but did initially repost them. Another fan wrote: “Absolutely atrocious story. It was actually even worse than when he robbed the bank. As silly as that was, at least A/ it was entertaining B/ it was more in character for Jim. This was the worst one of them all and ruined the character and the fact that they are not giving him a redemption is awful.”
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