Legendary Coronation Street star Charlie Lawson has confirmed reports his character will be killed off-screen.
Charlie, 66, played the iconic Jim McDonald on the Weatherfield cobbles on and off between 1989 and 2018.
However, Radio Times report ITV bosses would be axing the character for good – with Jim having a death off-screen.
His on-screen son Steve, played by Simon Gregson, will apparently receive news of the death in an upcoming scene.
Charlie has now appeared to confirm the news, in a social media post on Tuesday evening.
The actor wrote in reply to one fan: ‘I’ve known since early September, but I’ve always respected the confidentiality of the programme.
Legendary Coronation Street star Charlie Lawson has confirmed reports his character will be killed off-screen (pictured in 2019)
Charlie, 66, played the iconic Jim McDonald on the Weatherfield cobbles on and off between 1989 and 2018 (pictured in 1990)
‘It wasn’t a surprise, when I was informed last year.’
Fans flooded Charlie with supportive messages as they expressed their at the news, writing: ‘Jim McDonald is the greatest Corrie character ever! So he is.’
‘I’m glad you got to find out and they didn’t spring it onto you. That’s a good thing about it but I’m still annoyed they are getting rid of jim.’
‘Seconded. Lousy, tacky decision and deserve more after 37 years!’
‘Sadly Woke street nowadays Charlie. I read that the guy who played the vicar Billy recently got killed off due to the actors views on here.(he was talking sense as well).’
The Daily Mail has approached Coronation Street for comment.
Charlie previously admitted how he would not be surprised if his fan-favourite character was killed-off.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper in 2024: ‘It wouldn’t shock me if he dies in Australia. I think it would be a terrible waste of a character, and I would stand up and have a pint and salute to him.
‘But I wouldn’t be broken-hearted because I’ve been back seven or eight times, for Christ’s sake, since 2001 that’s pretty damn good as it’s 2024.
After Charlie confirmed the news to a fan, he was flooded by supportive messages from his followers on X
The actor wrote in reply to one fan: ‘I’ve known since early September, but I’ve always respected the confidentiality of the programme’
His on-screen son Steve, played by Simon Gregson, will apparently receive news of the death in an upcoming scene
Read More
Charlie Lawson reveals something has ‘gone seriously wrong’ after he was rushed to hospital
‘Now I haven’t been back since 2018 but the whole world has changed since then into a crazy woke sort of… it’s all changed.
‘I’m not quite sure how Jim would react to 24 genders in Weatherfield. I suspect he would probably – if the writers had the courage – I suspect he would probably say that that was nonsense.’
Jim was famously married to former Rovers Return landlady Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard), but their relationship was tested by alcoholism and infidelity.
They divorced in 1997 after Liz had been unfaithful to him, and they remarried in 2000, but Jim was later imprisoned for the manslaughter of drug dealer Jez Quigley (Lee Boardman), who had previously beaten his son Steve (Simon Gregson) up over a job.
Liz divorced Jim for a second time during his prison sentence, and in 2011 he tried to win her back by robbing a bank. But he was put behind bars again.
In 2018, Jim returned to the series with a young woman called Hannah Gilmore (Hannah Ellis Ryan), whom he falsely claimed was his and Liz’s long-lost daughter Katie.
However, Hannah was actually Jim’s girlfriend, and the pair were later arrested for a money-making scam when the truth emerged.
