CORONATION Street great Charlie Lawson has blasted the world’s longest-running soap for going downhill, believing some “extremely average” acting is turning off viewers.

Charlie, who has played Jim McDonald on and off on the ITV series since 1989, says he does not recognise the show any more — and claims Sarah Lancashire, who played Raquel Wolstenhulme in the Nineties, feels the same.

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Charlie Lawson has blasted Coronation Street for going downhill, believing some ‘extremely average’ acting is turning off viewersCredit: PP.

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The McDonalds in 2003 – with Steve, Liz, Jim and a young Suranne Jones, who played Steve’s wife KarenCredit: Rex

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Helen Worth has played Gail Platt since 1974Credit: Rex
He and Bafta award-winning Sarah discussed Corrie’s demise at the funeral of former writer John Stevenson, who died aged 86 in September.

In an exclusive interview, Charlie tells 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.

“We felt it was a completely different animal, so fundamentally different from our day — and the viewing figures have plummeted.”

With the impending departure of Helen Worth, 73, who has played Gail Platt for 50 years, Charlie is predicting an exodus of star names from Weatherfield.

He fears cast members such as Sue Nicholls, 80, who plays Audrey Roberts, and 90-year-old Barbara Knox, who plays Rita Tanner, could be next.

And he says “amazing” actors including Alison King, who plays Carla Connor, are exhausted with the pressure put on them.

Charlie says: “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.

“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***ing brilliant actress. But I know she gets absolutely knackered.

Coronation Street’s Charlie Lawson reveals he’s been given a secret role on I’m A Celeb as Bev Callard’s ‘famous friend’
“If you’ve got the best centre forward on the park, you use them. And they do, with Simon (Gregson, Jim’s on-screen son Steve) too. They are quality, they get flogged sometimes.”

Charlie has one of the most recurring roles and last returned to the cobbles in 2018.

He would love another stint but fears it will be for Jim to die in a blockbuster storyline for the McDonald family, which includes Beverley Callard as his ex-wife Liz and Nick Cochrane as son Andy.

He says: “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 for ever.”

Charlie, 64, has now written his autobiography That’s Life, So It Is — a nod to his Corrie catchphrase — which he says would never have been published when he was on the show because of its explosive stories.

In one story he recalls how he fell out with late actress Liz Dawn, over an advertisement offer made to her and Bill Tarmey when the two were on-screen husband and wife Jack and Vera Duckworth.

Charlie says his friend, Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey, had just done a telly campaign for Pedigree Chum dog food, so they asked how much a TV ad paid.

But he recalls: “The proposal was that Bill and Liz would be on cardboard cut-outs in every outlet in Britain that sold Cadbury’s.

“They made a stupid offer of pocket money. So I said, ‘You should be getting — I think it was £88,000 — for this campaign, and if you accept their original offer, all you’re doing is selling everybody short’.

‘Mentally, I was a mess’

“Liz didn’t hold with that idea and made that clear. I was persona non grata to Liz from then on. But the idea was scrapped.”

On another occasion Eileen Derbyshire — who played Emily Bishop for 55 years — threatened to quit the show to block another commercial venture.

Charlie says: “Management decided, because the Granada set tours had taken off, they wanted to put in a chuff-chuff train, like the wee sort of toy Blackpool trains. It would run up from the Granada tours, then Coronation Street, go up a ramp and go around Stage One behind glass overlooking where we were filming.

“This didn’t go down very well with the cast. Eileen said, ‘I can assure you that I will be buying myself out of my contract and leaving if anything to do with a chuff-chuff train ever rears its ugly head again’. It magically disappeared, thanks to Eileen, bless her.”

Charlie who lives in Prestbury, Cheshire, married long-time partner Debbie Stanley, 59, who runs a women’s refuge, in September.

The couple had been together 22 years before tying the knot.

The wedding was a star-studded affair, with Simon as best man and it was officiated by pal and TV presenter Eamonn Holmes, who is reported to be going on Celebrity Big Brother after his marriage breakdown was revealed by The Sun on Sunday in May.

On Eamonn’s split from Ruth Langsford, Charlie says: “I’ve known Eamonn for a very long time and we spoke a couple of days ago.

“He’s doing his best to get through it. Splitting up is always difficult and if you are in the public eye, and these two are both extremely famous, it’s extremely difficult. They’re finding it very difficult.

“He’s a very good friend. I love him dearly. They’ll get through it.”

It is not just Eamonn with trials going on his life.

Writing his autobiography was a rollercoaster of emotions for Charlie, including reflecting on a mini stroke he suffered in 2018 while appearing in the play Long Shadows at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh.

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Steve, played by Simon Gregson, in 1991Credit: Rex

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Cobbles veteran Sue Nicholls who plays Audrey RobertsCredit: Rex

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Soap great Barbara Knox as Rita Tanner in 1972Credit: Rex

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Alison King as Carla ConnorCredit: ITV
He says: “I was suffering from exhaustion. I hadn’t been sleeping for about a month and then, bang.

“I had no clue where I was. Poor Debbie was in the audience. And some smart-a**e in front of her said ‘Oh, f***, we’ve got another Tommy Cooper here’ (Cooper died on stage in 1984).

“I actually cried in the hospital when I found out what happened. All of a sudden, Charlie Lawson was vulnerable.

“Physically I was all right, but mentally I was a complete mess for about two months, continually crying at anything emotional. I had therapy to deal with it.”

Laughing, he adds: “I’m more careful now. I will take two nights off the booze a week, which was unheard of for me.”

The normally forthright Northern Irishman is a frequent poster on Twitter, now known as X, but has been banned from Instagram after a fiery conversation with online trolls — from whom he regularly receives death threats.

When compared to Gary Lineker’s free rein on social media, Charlie is irked by the double standards.

He says: “I’ve got 471 trolls, I’m currently banned from Instagram because I responded to one of them.

“I’m all for freedom of speech. But, shut up, Gary. Just get on with your bloody commentating and football presenting.

“Nobody else in the BBC is allowed to give opinions like that. Gary is a presenter who is duty bound to be neutral.

“I’ve never met him but I bet he’s a pussycat in real life.”

As well as on Instagram, you are unlikely to see Charlie mingling with tourists on holiday any time soon.

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.

Charlie Lawson

He says: “Last month Debbie booked this beautiful five-star, all-in holiday in a beautiful place — six pools, all that — in Crete. But a friendly travel counsellor told me, ‘You’ll be doing selfies 24 hours a day’. That would be my idea of unadulterated hell.”

It is for similar reasons that Charlie has always avoided the lucrative lure of reality television, despite multiple offers to appear on I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here!

He says: “I might be a famous personality, but I’m not a celebrity, I’m an actor.

“You’re never going to ‘get me out of there’.

“When I was approached last time, a couple of years ago, I was told the plan for me was going to yell at people who were running about behaving like big Jessies.

“I realised pretty damn quick that would do me no good at all. And, also, the money was s**t.”