Coronation Street icon Charlie Lawson has dished out a stark warning as he claims the much-loved soap might be waving goodbye within the next decade.
The 64-year-old veteran, famed for his role as Jim McDonald since ’89, reckons a slew of “extremely average” acting and drained older actors are driving loyal fans away, fearing the end is nigh for Weatherfield’s finest.
At the service for the late Corrie scriptwriter John Stevenson, Charlie and Sarah Lancashire hashed out their concerns. He told The Sun on Sunday: “I fear that ‘Corrie’ might not be here in ten years’ time. Sarah and I were talking. We both agreed John wouldn’t recognise the show.”
He continued to lament the changes, saying: “We felt it was a completely different animal, so fundamentally different from our day – and the viewing figures have plummeted.”
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He pointed the finger at the gruelling schedules endured by the show’s more senior stars like Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts) and nonagenarian Barbara Knox (Rita Tanner), suggesting they might call it quits like Helen Worth (Gail Platt) who’s bowing out after a whopping half-century as Gail.
Charlie added a gloomy note about the present atmosphere: “The workload is huge. The cast is huge, there’s less time for enjoyment, for fun, to get to know the vast quantity of people there.”
Charlie
“It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the stable of elderly actors leave too. I know they are not happy, it’s not the happy ship it used to be.”
“They are the foundation of ‘Corrie’, and the young ones have to try and live up to that. But I’m afraid most of them never will. Some are great but many performances from some of the younger cast are extremely average, sometimes disappointing.”
“They use Alison King all the time because she’s a f****** brilliant actress. But I know she gets absolutely knackered.”
Corrie legend Charlie Lawson
“If you’ve got the best centre forward on the park, you use them. And they do, with Simon (Gregson) too. They are quality, they get flogged sometimes.”
“The only way I can see him going back is to die.”
“How could Jim fit in now? Television has become dipped in a large bucket of PC woke s***e. You’d have to change him completely, cut his nuts off. I couldn’t play that.”
“It would be a disservice to every ‘Corrie’ writer past and present and to the character, who became a legend. It’s sad. I want the character to stay alive forever.”
