WEATHERFIELD is getting set for the return of the legend that is Jim McDonald, but this time around there will be a lot less drinking for Enniskillen actor Charlie Lawson.
Mr Lawson reprises the iconic soap role this week when his Coronation Street character is released from prison, complete with a shocking twist that will leave his on-screen wife Liz stunned.
Having first appeared on screens as the rough and ready Irish man in 1989, and having last appeared on the ITV show in 2011, Mr Lawson said stepping back on the cobbles was “very much like here we go again lads” and “business as usual.”
“This is my 40th year in the business and when it came up I was looking forward to coming back because I knew it would be a decent storyline,” he told the Sunday Life at the weekend. “To be honest, it’s just a job, but it’s a very nice job.”
With a much bigger cast, and generally being a more modern show overall, Mr Lawson said “Corrie is Corrie is Corrie and it will remain what it is” but added it had “changed immensely.”
One of the biggest changes, he told the Sunday Life, is in the drink that’s served in the Rovers Return.
No longer can Mr Lawson enjoy a pint to himself while shooting a scene, with real alcohol having been phased out over the past 25 years.
“There was Guinness and I enjoyed myself immensely,” he sad. “There was never anyone shouting ‘cut, red card, you’re off.’ Nobody every abused it. It then used to be Bass shandy, and now it is even more revolting than Bass shandy. I had to drink one the other day and it wasn’t very nice. But as long as it looks like the real deal, that’s fine.”
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