In a frank admission, actor Charlie Lawson has opened up about the financial pressures gripping his life, including troubles heating his property amid soaring costs.
Best known for playing Jim McDonald on Coronation Street, Charlie has denoted 2024 as his career's rockiest year in over forty years. He blames his outspoken political views, which have affected his acting roles.
Last year, his wife Debbie was forced to shutter her farm shop venture in Cheshire due to money woes, resulting in the couple facing legal challenges over unpaid debts that hovered around the £50,000 mark.
Speaking on The Nolan Show, the Irish thespian disclosed: "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."
When probed about handling his financial outgoings, Charlie revealed: "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," the Mirror reports.
Furthermore, he confessed in the interview that they've been forced to curb their heating to save money on bills.
"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," Charlie shared on the show.
Reflecting on how things have changed since last year, he noted, "You have lean times, I mean last year the heat was on all the time in the winter, this year it will not be."
He went on to say: "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.
"Living just 50ft from my local, The Rodney, means I don't need a taxi; I can just walk over and run a tab. There are many out there far worse off than me. We've got two incomes coming into our home they're not massive, but it puts us in a better position than many."
During the interview, Stephen probed his guest about the potential reasons behind the slump in his career opportunities, leading Charlie to speculate that his outspoken political views, including his anti-trans stance, might be influencing the scarcity of job offers. "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 claimed.
Charlie's chances of being asked back to Coronation Street seem slim at the moment. Earlier this month, the actor who portrayed Jim McDonald openly criticised the ITV soap, claiming it "won't be around in 10 years" and suggesting that the younger cast members are underpaid.
He questioned the soap's longevity, which airs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8pm, and explained why he no longer watches the show.
Speaking on The Nolan Show, he said: "I don't watch it. It's a different animal now. It's issue driven now as opposed to when I was there in the 90's, 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."
Charlie went on to make a bold prediction about the show's longevity: "I don't think Corrie will be around in 10 years. 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."
He expressed nostalgia for the past viewership figures and said: "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?"
He wrapped up his thoughts with reflections on the pay disparities in acting across the globe: "If you go to do theatre or TV anywhere else in Europe or America or Canada as I have - we are on half the money that we work over here."
Bemoaning the state of British actors' pay in comparison to their international counterparts, he added: "Whether that be British actor's Equity or whatever, traditionally we are on less than any of our acting fellows and ladies and gentlemen around the world," he noted. "I remember working in Canada, and the starting negotiations over there for Equity minimum was about £300 a week more than ours."
He continued, "That's the same in Europe. Actors in this country have been treated poorly for years. If you were doing a show like Coronation Street in America, then you would be buying your own vineyard. You'd be shocked how little some of the young people and newcomers are on."
Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV.
English (United States) ·