Coronation Street star slams 'woke' plots and fumes fans don't like it

07 January 2024 , 20:09

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Charlie Lawson has shared his thoughts on Coronation Street (Image: ITV)

Charlie Lawson has slammed Coronation Street, complaining that the storylines are "woke" and suggesting that viewers aren't interested.

The actor, 64, played Jim McDonald on the ITV soap opera for more than a decade. He joined the cast in 1989 and remained on the show until 2000, though he has returned for brief stints over the years since, most recently in 2018.

Corrie, which aires on ITV has attracted criticism over some of its storylines in recent years. It's been described by some critics as "woke," including over references to climate change, though not everyone has been critical of the long-running show.

Charlie Lawson is best known for having played Jim McDonald on Coronation Street (ITV)

It was recently revealed that Corrie didn't make it into the ten most-watched TV shows on Christmas Day last year. It's understood to have marked the first time that the ITV soap opera hasn't made the list in more than a decade. The episode on December 25 reportedly had around 2.6 million viewers, compared to around 3.6 million for the BBC's EastEnders, which made the list. Corrie reportedly had 8.3 million viewers back in 2013, for example, though.

Charlie has speculated that viewers are "getting turned off by too many young storylines". He shared his thoughts about Corrie in an interview with the Sun, saying that the show "didn't have any woke issues" when he was in the cast. He suggested that the cast may feel as though there are "too many episodes" and that the production team don't have the time to give the "attention to detail they did before." He went on to discuss "political correctness" in the interview.

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The actor commented: "We didn't have any woke issues, we didn't have any political correctness, we had none of that s***e [in my day]." He added that the cast were able to "tell stories and tell them properly" years ago on the ITV soap.

He's appeared in the role over the years, having most recently featured on the ITV show in 2018 (ITV)

He said: "I suspect now half the meetings that they have [...] are about what is politically acceptable, all this stuff that they feel they have to address. And the silent majority of TV viewers are not interested in the slightest by all this crap." Charlie suggested it's lacking "comedy" and "great scenes" now. He said that the cast's opinions "mattered" when he was on it, adding that he suspects people are "very scared nowadays" to speak out. Charlie said that he's aware of at least two cast members who "aren't happy" at the moment.

He said the cast "never worried about ratings" when he was on the show, citing that they would typically get up to 12 million viewers. He acknowledged that viewing habits have "changed" though, making for a "difficult uphill struggle".

During the interview, Charlie speculated that those behind Corrie will be trying to "address these issues". He expressed support and told the outlet that he wants them to get higher ratings again, rather than the figures for last year.

Joel Leaver