Former ITV Coronation Street star Charles Lawson has said that 2024 was his career’s ‘rockiest’ and can’t secure acting roles due to his controversial personal and political views.
Lawson, 65, played Jim McDonald regularly for 11 years from 1989, before returning intermittently for four further guest stints between 2003 and 2018.
Jim was the husband of the iconic Liz (Beverley Callard), and father to their sons Steve (Simon Gregson) and Andy (Nicholas Cochrane).
His final story saw him return with a huge shock for Liz – their daughter Katie, who died as a baby, was actually still alive.
In a horrifying twist, it later transpired that the woman was actually his much younger girlfriend, and the pair had concocted the story to scam his family out of cash.
He is currently a pundit on GB News, regularly appearing to give his opinion on the day’s events.
The actor has now said that he has troubles heating his home, which he shares with wife Debbie, due to a number of financial issues.
Last year she was forced to sell her Cheshire farm shop, whilst they also faced legal issues over unpaid debts mounting to £50,000.
Addressing his troubles on BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show, he said: ‘2024 is the most unsuccessful year I’ve had in 44 years. And there are a lot of issues to do with that.
‘I’ve got lots of white hair, I’m 64 and there are less parts around.’
‘I work for GB News at the moment, and I’ve got to renegotiate that contract next year and my wife Debbie runs a women’s refuge’ he continued.
‘I’m in the living room with my shooting gear on because I’m a field sportsman and because I can’t have the heat on all day and it’s Baltic over here.
‘You have lean times, I mean last year the heat was on all the time in the winter, this year it will not be.
‘Debbie is manager of a women’s refuge, she has a wage. I have a wage at the moment until January, so we’re all right but we haven’t been abroad this year, we don’t eat in The Ivy when we go back to Belfast. You cut your cloth.’
Amid the cost of living crisis, he added that there are others ‘far worse off’ than he is, and that he’s in a ‘better position than many’ as he can walk to his local pub, rather than take a taxi, and set up a bar tab.
Host Stephen Nolan went on to question whether there were any other factors affecting his inability to find work, with Charles stating: ‘People in my industry won’t admit this, but it is about your beliefs, your standards, and what you speak about on social media that all has an effect.’
He also claimed that he’d been ‘cancelled’ due to his anti-trans views.
Charles went onto weigh into the current claims that Coronation Street, and the soap genre as a whole, are facing a crisis.
In recent weeks, a number of cast members have announced their departure or have been axed, amongst reports of falling viewing figures.
‘I don’t think Corrie will be around in 10 years’ he said.
‘I don’t think it’s going to have a 94th birthday because television is fundamentally different. I also think EastEnders’ days are numbered, and Emmerdale Farm’s days are numbered because of the ratings.
‘It is nothing like the 15 to 21 million we were getting. People dip in and out now. If the income is falling from advertising revenue, they are not going to hang around, are they?
‘I don’t watch it.’
He continued: ‘It’s a different animal now. It’s issue driven now as opposed to when I was there in the 90s, it was character driven.
‘Its issue driven now, there’s a degree of wokery involved, there’s a degree of political correctness involved and also there are subjects that need to be touched upon, whereas in my day it was character driven.’
