Quintin Charles Devenish Lawson (born 17 September 1959) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is best known for playing Jim McDonald on the long running ITV soap opera Coronation Street.
Early life and education Charlie Lawson was born in September 1959 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, the son of Quintin Lawson, a businessman from County Tyrone, and his wife, Muriel (née Glennie), from County Fermanagh. 'Mr. Quintin Lawson' (The Impartial Reporter, 4 February 2010). https://www.impartialreporter.com/news/13852178.mr-quintin-lawson/ Quintin was from Ardnafin in Strabane, West Tyrone, and was himself the son of Quintin Young Lawson, MBE, a prominent businessman in Strabane. The Belfast News Letter, Monday, 29 March 1954. The King's Birthday Honours List for Northern Ireland, The Belfast Gazette, Friday, 11 June 1948 (Number 1,407). HMSO, Belfast. The younger Quintin, Charlie's father, had served as a pilot with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Burma during the latter stages of the Burma Campaign in the Second World War, attaining the rank of flight lieutenant. 'Charlie Lawson: Fermanagh actor opens up about late father' (The Impartial Reporter, 26 March 2024). https://www.impartialreporter.com/news/24212373.fermanagh-corrie-star-tells-familys-military-history/ He moved to Enniskillen around 1948 to work at the then new Taylor-Woods factory, where he was soon promoted into management. Quintin eventually became the general manager of the factory, which was located at Derrychara in Enniskillen. Muriel Glennie, who married Quintin at Rossorry Church of Ireland Church on the outskirts of Enniskillen on 6 March 1954, was from Rossorry Terrace in Enniskillen. Upon their marriage, Quintin and Muriel settled at Derryinch, a townland on the northern edge of Enniskillen, where they raised their two children: a daughter, Mary, and a son, Charles (Charlie). Townlands.ie: Derryinch Townland, Co. Fermanagh. https://www.townlands.ie/fermanagh/tirkennedy/trory/enniskillen/derryinch/ Derryinch townland is directly opposite Devenish Island, the townland being directly south of the island. Quintin and Muriel later moved to Scotland in the mid- to late 1970s, where they spent the rest of their lives, eventually settling in Dumfries and Galloway in the south-west of Scotland.
Charlie was raised in a Protestant family, and was educated at Campbell College, a grammar school in Belfast, where he was a boarder. His father, Quintin Lawson, had also attended Campbell College. Charlie then trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where a classmate and good friend of his was fellow Enniskillen native Adrian Dunbar, who Lawson has said was the first Catholic he had ever met.
Career Lawson has appeared in three films and in at least twenty television productions. He was Jim McDonald (who is originally from Belfast) in the ITV television soap opera Coronation Street. He first appeared as Jim in 1989 and remained a regular character for the next 11 years, with sporadic appearances since then.
His other television work includes appearing as Seamus Duffryn in the 1982 Yorkshire Television thriller miniseries Harry's Game (also known as Belfast Assassin), and as one of the main characters, Billy, in Mike Leigh's television film Four Days in July, both based on The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He played Trigg in the 1989 television film The Firm. He has also appeared in various other television series including Doctors (twenty-four episodes), Bread (eleven episodes), The Bill (three episodes) and Rosemary & Thyme (one episode).
In 2000, Lawson made a programme for ITV Granada, Passion for Peace, which followed him back to Northern Ireland and reported on the creation of the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Centre in Warrington.
In 2005, Lawson appeared in the TV documentary Titanic: Birth of a Legend.
In 2009, Lawson appeared alongside an eight-foot Frankfurter sausage in a German television commercial, advertising hot dogs. His overdubbed catchphrase in the commercial is Betrachten Sie die Größe meiner Wurst! (English: "Look at the size of my sausage!").
In 2010, Lawson revealed that he would be returning to Coronation Street for its fiftieth anniversary celebrations. He speculated that bosses may be planning to kill his character off, however, this never happened.Charles Lawson (Jim McDonald) to return to Coronation Street He stayed until April 2011. Lawson then returned for a three-month stint on the soap between August and November 2014. His brief return coincided with the imprisonment of Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) after he was wrongly accused of murdering Tina McIntyre.
In 2015, Lawson made a guest appearance in an episode of the Comedy Central sitcom Brotherhood as the father of the three main characters. He also appeared as Doctor Black in the 2016 BBC drama My Mother and Other Strangers.
Lawson returned to Coronation Street in September 2018 with his supposed deceased daughter from his relationship with Liz.
Jim McDonald was killed-off, off screen, in 2026, Steve was contacted by Jim's ex and told that Jim has died of pneumonia. Lawson approved of the decision.
Filmography Television Year Title Role Note(s) 1982 Harry's Game Seamus Duffryn 3 Episodes 1982 Joyce in June Dossie Wright/Maxwell Cox Television film 1983Crown Court Sandy Watson 1 Episode 1984 Four Days in July Billy Television film 1985 Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil S.S. Man Television film 1985 Up the Elephant and Round the Castle Military Police Corporal 1 episode 1986 Boon Niall Mahoney 1 episode1986The Monocled Mutineer Featured Miniseries; 1 episode 1986-1989 Bread Yizzel 11 Episodes 1987 Up Line Tommy Burns Miniseries; 3 episodes 1989 Screen Two Cranham 1 episode1989, 2002 The Bill D.S. Picton/ Alan McCourt3 episodes; 1 as Picton and 2 as McCourt1989–2000, 2003–2005, 2007–2011, 2014, 2018Coronation Street Jim McDonald 1168 episodes 1989The Firm Trigg Television Film 1990 4 Play Joseph 1 episode 2003 In Deep Mike Marshall 2 episodes 2003 Holby City Brian Taylor 2 episodes2003–2012Doctors Gary Davies/ Bill McQueen 25 episodes 2004 Dalziel and Pascoe Charles Stubbs 2 episodes 2005Titanic: Birth of a Legend Alexander Carlisle Television film 2006 Rosemary & Thyme Bingham 1 episode 2006Casualty Stan Drinkwater 1 episode 2015 Brotherhood Aidan Barrett 1 episode 2016 My Mother and Other Strangers Doctor Black 2 episodes 2018 Dark Heart Father Connolly 2 episodes
Personal life Lawson has been married three times, and has a daughter, Laura, from his first marriage to Suzie, which ended in divorce in 1994. His second marriage was to the makeup artist Lesley Bond, who died from hypothermia following a fall in 2010 sometime after they separated. He lives in Prestbury in Cheshire with his third wife, Debbie Stanley, 'Me and my health: Charlie Lawson on his lifestyle' (The Belfast Telegraph, 29 October 2019). https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/me-and-my-health-charlie-lawson-on-his-lifestyle/38639395.html 'Charlie Lawson discusses his memoir, That's Life, So It Is, which charts his highs and lows, including abuse from his ex-wife which left him suicidal' (News Letter, 25 October 2024). https://www.newsletter.co.uk/charlie-lawson-discusses-his-memoir-thats-life-so-it-is-which-charts-his-highs-and-lows-including-abuse-from-his-ex-wife-which-left-him-suicidal-4840934 having previously lived with her in Chester for a number of years.
Lawson is an Ulster Unionist. In a 2008 programme, he admitted to supporting the actions of loyalist paramilitaries during the Ulster Workers' strike in 1974."Coronation Street hardman Lawson was fascinated by Loyalist gangs" Belfast Telegraph 26 October 2008 Retrieved 2 September 2012
On 8 October 2018, while portraying Inspector John Rebus in the play Rebus: Long Shadows in Edinburgh, Lawson suffered a minor stroke on stage, but recovered shortly afterwards. He claims the stroke left him with hearing and walking difficulties. He said, "I feel lucky to be alive, I was so scared I couldn't stop crying". He was subsequently replaced in the role by Ron Donachie.
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