Coronation Street star admits 'every one of us would be fired'

Charlie Lawson made a candid admission about political correctness behind the scenes of Coronation Street during a recent appearance on TalkTV. The actor first appeared on the cobbles as Jim MacDonald in 1989 and held onto the role for 11 years until his departure in 2000. However, throughout the years, the 65-year-old made sporadic appearances on Corrie, with his most recent return in 2018.

The actor, who also featured on Rosemary and Thyme was a guest on Alex Philip's self-titled talk show and opened up about politics during the 1960s. "As you well know, in my business, you have to tick 16 boxes before you even get into the room for an interview, and I don't have to spell it out what boxes those are, but it is issue-driven now it's totally different." Lawson continued: "I unfortunately, out of the 16 boxes, only tick about two and all the rest have got big X's in them." The Corrie star's initial TV exit came after he felt that the character's storylines were becoming improbable and fearing a potentially negative exit if he didn't leave on his own terms.

Speaking on TalkTV, Lawson shared: "I was saying the other day that the green room in the 90s, where all the actors sit and wait for four hours to do our oversee, was so politically incorrect. Sexist, wild."

Naming his former cast members, the actor claimed: "I include Sarah Lancashire, Eva Pope and all the girls, Julie Goodyear and all the rest, it was absolutely wild.

"If you put a camera in there now, in 2025, every single one of us would have been fired instantly," which was met with roars of laughter and encouragement from Alex.

Although Lawson has said that he is open to returning for "juicy storylines", he also mentioned that his political views and specifically his stance on transgender issues have impacted his career opportunities.

On BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show earlier this year, the former Corrie star admitted he no longer watches the soap and echoed: "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.

'It's 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."

Lawson also admitted that he has faced some financial difficulties and said during the show: "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."