Ex-jail bird Jim McDonald may make a return to the cobbles in April but what's the story with the famously fiery Corrie character?
Jim made his first appearance back in 1989 when he moved to Coronation Street with his wife Liz and their twin teenage sons Steve and Andy.
Played by actor Charles 'Charlie' Lawson, it’s safe to say that Jim wasn’t a good man.
READ MORE: Corrie's Charles Lawson handed 'cocktail of prescription pills' by co-star Lynne Perrie
His storylines were always tied up in sex, scandal and murder.
From the outside, Jim could be seen as cool, calm and collected but he was known for being paranoid and possessive over his wife Liz, creating a rocky relationship for the pair. Here's the latest with Charlie Lawson and his famous character Jim McDonald.
Early Life
Lawson has an interesting story himself, born in 1959 in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, he was educated at Campbell College in Belfast.
He later trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where a classmate and good friend of his was fellow Enniskillen native Adrian Dunbar, who Lawson has said was the first Catholic he had ever met.
In an interview for the BBC back in 2014, Charlie who admitted that he “was almost a Nazi” in his youth was asked by Stephen Nolan if he’d hated Catholics. He replied: “I didn't know any but that's the way you were brought up. I can’t remember whether I hated them but I probably did. And I was probably hated the same way.”
Career
The Belfast native has made many TV and film appearances over the years including in the thriller miniseries Harry's Game, Four Days in July, a film based on The Troubles in Northern Ireland and various other series including Doctors, Bread and The Bill.
In 2009, Charlie appeared alongside an eight-foot Frankfurter sausage in a German television commercial, advertising hot dogs.
His catchphrase in the advert? Betrachten Sie die Größe meiner Wurst. Which translates to “Look at the size of my sausage.”
Love and loss
Much like his character, Charlie has had an interesting love life.
He has been married twice and has a daughter Laura from his relationship with his first wife Suzie. They divorced in 1994.
His second wife, makeup artist Lesley Bond passed away in 2010 sometime after they separated under tragic circumstances.
Speaking about Lesley, Charlie said: “She had a horrible end. She’d become a raging alcoholic. There was no one else involved, and we still loved each other very much, but it was becoming dangerous to be with her.”
Lesley’s body was found at her Oxford home, she passed away from hypothermia after a fall.
Charlie had to help identify her body.
His current partner Debbie helped him to heal from the tragic event, even encouraging him to spread Lesley's ashes in Scotland back in 2019 after years of holding onto them.
Speaking about how she helped Charlie said, “Debbie instigated it and told me ‘we need to do this’.
“Lesley’s sister – also called Debbie – and her husband came along and the four of us went up.
“My Debbie was brilliant because it was hard for her too. I’m proud of Debbie for doing what she did and I’ll never forget it.”
Making a comeback
Charlie is open to a return to the cobbles.
Speaking to GB News Breakfast in April this year he said he has been in talks with Coronation Street's producers about the character's return to the soap.
“With what’s happened in the last few years…Jim wouldn’t have been the most PC man in the world, so I get that, so the question is where are you going to put him, what’s going to happen?”
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