Big Jim McDonald returns so he does

[lizann]

he is not still in jail?

[Perdita]

I think the scenes with him are filmed in jail ... guess Steve and Liz will go and visit him

[Perdita]

Coronation Street's Peter Barlow will come face-to-face with Jim McDonald when he is sent to prison this summer.

Life is about to get a whole lot worse for Peter as he is wrongly arrested and charged for the murder of his lover Tina McIntyre.

Peter Barlow in prison
© ITV
Peter Barlow in prison

Viewers know that Rob Donovan was the real culprit behind the crime, but future episodes will see him escape detection by framing Peter.

With everyone on the cobbles doubting his innocence, Peter finds himself in jail awaiting trial - and meets a familiar face as Jim returns to our screens.

Coronation Street's producer Stuart Blackburn told the show's official website: "Rob will do everything he can to point the finger of guilt at Peter. It looks like it might work.

"We are going to see Peter arrested [and] see him in remand. We have built a massive prison set and it will also see the return of an old friend [in] Jim McDonald, who as we know is in prison himself."

Show bosses confirmed the return of Jim back in April, but little was known about his new storyline until today (July 4).

Meanwhile, as Peter's crisis escalates, his father Ken will return to Weatherfield after more than a year away.

When Ken arrives home he finds a shaken Deirdre. She prepares to give him an ultimatum
© ITV
Corrie's Deirdre and Ken

Blackburn added: "Ken is coming back to quite a few surprises. What we will learn is that Deirdre hasn't told him the extent of Peter's problems and actually what we will see with Ken is that loyalty to his family. He will be the one person who Peter can turn to."

Ken has been off screen since April 2013 as the character was written out of the soap for the duration of Bill Roache's legal proceedings. The show's longest-serving cast member was cleared of historic sex abuse charges in February and returned to work a few weeks ago.

[LizzyBizzy]

This is like the storyline when Gail went to prison and shared a cell with Tracey.

[Perdita]

Coronation Street welcomes Charles Lawson back to screens next week as his character Jim McDonald gets involved with Peter Barlow's troubles in jail.

When a downbeat Peter (Chris Gascoyne) learns that there is an inmate known as The Landlord who supplies alcohol to the other prisoners, he seeks out the secret supplier and is shocked to find that it's Jim!

Here, Charles chats about his return to Corrie, Jim's scenes with Peter and the dynamic that fans can expect when Liz pays a visit to her ex-husband…

How did you feel about getting the call to return to Coronation Street?
"It wasn't really a surprise, as I've been asked back most years. Unless they decide they're going to kill you off, there's always going to be a time when they want you back. That's the nature of Jim, I think - he's a very good character and a well-established one.

"I'd spoken to [Coronation Street producer] Stuart Blackburn before and I think he was probably aware that if you're going to have a character, you might as well use him. I wouldn't have been that interested in coming back just for one episode for a prison visit, so it was nice to get the call for this but not altogether a surprise."

Were you already up to date with the recent goings-on in the Street?
"My wife Debbie was, but I wasn't in the slightest! Debbie watches all the time and if there's anything I should know, then she'll tell me. She always tells me whenever Jim gets a mention! I do watch Simon [Gregson, who plays Steve] when I can because he's a very old dear friend, but I was very unfamiliar with what was going on. I'm trying now to get back into it."

Did you have to do much preparation to step back into Jim's shoes?
"No, he's always there. I created the character with the writers, so there's not a lot that passes you by. People also do their homework with a big character, so they know what to do and what not to do. It's very rare that you'd be confronted by a mistake or something that doesn't ring true, so stepping back into the role was easy."

When Jim received his current jail sentence, did you fear that you'd be away from Corrie for a long while?
"You think about not having the cheque, but I've always been busy. Corrie is a job to me. It's a very nice and good job, and it's very rare that you get a job where people write for you consistently well, but I knew that I was going in and going out. Then it was just back to the grindstone - you go to the interviews and do the next job.

"I'd had 15 years in the business before I joined Corrie, which is a really good thing because it means casting people know you. It also means you know it is just a job and it can finish quickly. But I'm delighted to come back because the writers write well for me. There's nothing worse than doing a job with crap writing. You look at the script and think, 'My God, I've got three months of this rubbish!'"

Jim robs the building society
© ITV
Jim committed armed robbery in 2011

What did you think of Jim's last exit with the armed robbery plot?
"I thought it was stupid. It was daft, but there was a crisis going on and the writers had to write something pretty damn quick. I'm sure people were under that pressure of, 'You've got to write this and you've got to write it now'. Beverley was ill, as we all know, and things happened. We played it to the hilt and people enjoyed it, but it was a bit silly."

Has prison changed Jim at all?
"I don't think he's changed that much at all. He still loves his wife - well he calls Liz his wife! He misses his son too. Jim is one of the daddies in the prison and he's been in the army for 16 years, so this is a piece of cake for him."

How much does Jim know about Peter and his problems?
"We spoke about this when I first started. Myself and Chris have been in the programme at the same time before, but our paths have never crossed and we've never had a scene together. To Jim, he's Ken Barlow's son - that's about it.

"Peter's alcohol problems have been going on for a long time, but Jim would be totally unfamiliar with that. He's not stupid, though, and he finds out pretty damn quick!"

Peter is shocked to discover the Landlord is none other than Jim McDonald
© ITV
Peter is shocked to discover the Landlord is Jim

Why is Jim selling alcohol to the other prisoners?
"Jim is making his life as bearable as possible by being the landlord. Any prisoner will tell you that if you can find an edge in there, then that makes your life more bearable. Jim is also respected in there because he's an ex-soldier."

Where does Jim get his booze from?
"We don't really go into that, but these things normally happen through the kitchen, the caterers and even some prison officers. It's a case of, 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'."

How does the story progress?
"Steve hasn't kept in touch with Jim, so you can imagine that they must have fallen out at some point. Jim wants to see his family, so he asks Peter to get the message across when he next receives a visit from the Barlows. Steve gets the message and comes along.

"We've shot Liz coming along too and those were great scenes. I'm glad to say we haven't lost it! Jim has got some great lines coming up, because Liz tells him that her new man Tony is twice the man that Jim will ever be. Jim just says, 'Who are you trying to convince now?' It seems like she's protesting too much!

"Jim knows which buttons to press because underneath it all, Elizabeth McDonald will always be in love with Jim and vice versa. That is a constant and I hope the writers keep it a constant because as long as it is, then I'll be back!"

What was it like to work with Beverley Callard again?
"It was easy to work with Beverley again. We've been very lucky over the years, as it's very rare to get such intense and well-written drama. That's why people have wised up to what people do at Coronation Street and down the road in EastEnders. We make a big product out of nothing and there's very little time to produce things.

"Actors now say they'll come and do Coronation Street, but they used to be very po-faced about it - like I was myself! I was in The National and they asked me to join in '86. I turned them down, but actors were like that. That was to kidnap Deirdre and in those days you just turned your nose up, simple as that. Now we get actors like Sir Ian McKellen coming in. When I do watch the programme and you know how it all works, I take my hat off to these people."

For this stint Jim is in jail, but would you like to come back onto the actual cobbles at some point?
"Very much so. If the writing's there and the characters of Steven and Elizabeth are there, then absolutely. The only time it doesn't work is when the writers are fed up with you. I had eight months when the writers were fed up with me and they invented this Gwen woman, bless her. Beverley had gone and in the end it was a question of having a sit-down chat with the then-producer to say, 'If you emasculate this man anymore, you're just going to ruin him because he's not about that'.

"But that was the writers bored with me and struggling because they didn't know what to do with him. I fully understood that, so that's why Jim didn't hang himself or throw himself over a cliff. That's why he went off into the sunset and lived another day.

"There's two ways of handling that situation - you can either shout, be an idiot or complain, in which case they'll kill you anyway, or you go up and say, 'Look, I think I've got so much to offer this, but at the moment I think you're going to get so bored with the character you're going to kill him. So why in the name of Jesus don't we just say cheerio?' That was fine and however many years later he's still here."

How do you look back on your earliest years on the Street?
"We were very lucky because I had an input into choosing Beverley and then we both chose the boys. You're starting from the right premise when you do that, because it's first-hand casting and you know that it's going to work. Sometimes casting is very difficult and if they make the wrong choice then it doesn't work.

"We were the first people to be brought in on a year's contract and right from the word go, it was clear that they were writing well for us and people got used to it pretty quick that there were new kids on the block."

How long are you back for this time?
"I started at the beginning of June and I finish in the middle of September. I'll be appearing in 30 episodes and be on screen for just under three months."

How has the show changed since you started out?
"When we first started, it was a lot slower. There were far less people in it and we only did two episodes a week. There were only four channels then, so 20 million people watched the Street. The last time I was permanent, there were 35 people who were on permanent contracts. The list now is 60, which is unbelievable.

"The atmosphere was also different because there was a lot of fun back in the day. There was a drinking culture which I fully embraced - you worked hard and you played hard. That's changed now because there's no time. We even had a Coronation Street cricket team, but there's no time for that now.

"People on the show are doing 16 or 17 scenes a day, so they just go home afterwards. There's such an intense workload, with four filming units, so the green room is empty. Before there was a common ground, whether it was the cricket pitch or the green room, but there's no time for that now. I think that's very sad - the craic has disappeared but that's the nature of the beast. The whole acting industry's like that now."

You also have your own farm shop, don't you?
"Yeah, I stopped touring about three and a half years ago. I was being offered all this work but I really wanted to be with Debbie. Having always been a country boy, I'm game shooting all the time between September and January. We've now set up a farm shop and we specialise in game throughout the season.

"I get to indulge my passion, while Debbie's really good at it and she's made a super wee shop. It's nice to have another income, because all theatres have now gone down to Equity minimum which is £375 a week. I can't afford to set my alarm for that. This now enables me to choose what I can do. I've been in the game for a long time now and I don't like doing rubbish for the sake of the cheque!"

[Perdita]

Coronation Street star Charles Lawson has spoken about Peter Barlow's upcoming health scare, revealing that his character Jim McDonald doesn't hesitate before coming to the rescue of his fellow prison inmate.

Next week's episodes see Peter (Chris Gascoyne) consume a huge volume of Jim's secret booze supply in a moment of despair and desperation.

Jim later finds Peter on the floor barely conscious and is left with the tough decision of whether to risk revealing himself as the jail's 'landlord' by calling for help.

Speaking of the upcoming scenes, Lawson explained: "Peter follows Jim to the 'drop zone' which is in the prison kitchens, so then he knows where the drop is for the alcohol.

"Peter ends up having about two and a half pints of the stuff, which for an alcoholic will really set him back. Jim comes in with another con and when he finds that Peter has collapsed, he has no hesitation in trying to revive him.

"Jim also has no hesitation in calling for help, even though he could be in trouble now. He says, 'Right, get one of the screws here now'.

Peter's life is in Jim's hands
© ITV
Peter's life is in Jim's hands

He added: "Jim potentially puts himself in the position of getting two more years behind bars, so if there is an act of redemption, then it's that moment."

Jailed Jim is soon being praised for saving Peter's life, but viewers will have to wait and see whether the truth comes out about how he was supplying the booze in the first place.

Coronation Street airs these scenes on Friday, August 29 at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on ITV.

[lizann]

i am liking his return so i am

[swmc66]

I have never liked Jim but do now.

[Perdita]

Coronation Street legend Jim McDonald could be making a returning to Weatherfield - and sooner than you may think.

Charles Lawson, who has played Steve's dad on and off since 1989, has revealed that his alter ego could be getting out of prison ahead of his 2018 release date. And it could even be as soon as this winter.

We already know that Steve's big baby secret will spark big drama at Christmas and into winter next year, so Jim's return could come at a crucial time for the family.

Speaking to The Sun, Lawson said: "I speak to Simon [Gregson] every fortnight or every week in fact, and he always lets me know what's going on and I believe there's the possibility of something happening sort of over the winter time.

"I had 11 years' full time on there, 10 of which were brilliant and all the storylines since I've gone back have been good. You don't bring Jim back just to have a pint in the Rovers. There's always something big."

Jim is currently behind bars for holding up a bank with a gun to try to secure funds for ex-wife Liz to buy The Rovers back in 2011.

However, he made a brief return to the show in 2014, when he tried to blackmail Peter Barlow in prison after the pair wound up in neighbouring cells.

Coronation Street recently confirmed that it is bringing back Peter Barlow and two other members of the family - Adam Barlow and Daniel Osborne.

Digital Spy


Would love him to come back for good

[parkerman]

Peter Barlow and Big Jim back....Uh oh!