Jim McDonald: a decent human being with no moustache

ITV.com has a video interview with Charlie Lawson, who returns to Coronation Street as Jim McDonald on Friday.

He says Jim is "happy to be out [of prison]. He's done four years, so I'd say he's probably happy." He doesn't think Jim is a bad person at all: "Jim's just a normal bloke," he says. "He makes mistakes and sometimes he pays for it. He's a proper, well-rounded, honest, decent human being."

Jim returns to the Street to see his son and the granddaughter he's never met (aha! The missing Amy!). And of course, there's another draw - Liz. "Liz would be a major factor because they love each other," he says. "She might pretend she doesn't, but she does." So the news that Liz is getting married won't go down well with Jim...

Charlie says, "When he hears she's getting married, emotionally he's pretty devastated. He loves her, simple as that. I'm not sure he can quite believe it, but we'll have to wait and see what happens."

What about the reaction from other Corrie characters? "At the time of this recording I couldn't tell you how he's received by the other members of the Street because he hasn't met any of them," he laughs, "But Jim had some good friends as a character. Bill Webster was one of his closest pals, so I'm sure Bill will look out for him. I should imagine his reception will be fine - he's done his time."

Usually in these videos, cast members gush about how there's no job quite like Corrie, but Charlie Lawson doesn't seem to be a man given to gushing. "This is my 27th year in the business," he says. "The Street was ten very good years in the middle really, but it's a job, so when I left the Street I went straight back into work and I've been busy ever since, apart from literally the last two months. When I've finished this I'll start working on something else again - it's just a job."

He's noticed a lot of changes since he last trod the cobbles. "The changes are phenomenal since the last time I was here full time," he explains. "It's extremely busy. They must be doing, I think, 39 episodes a week or something, it's incredible. It's a very, very big cast. It seems to me that people don't have a lot of time to socialise, which is a shame, given my history - I do like a bit of craic. It's obviously a very big factory now and it churns out a continually good product.

And finally - what's happened to Jim's moustache? "The moustache is written out of the contract and it's not going back in!" he says. "I don't know where it went, but it ain't coming back!"

More about Corrie actors, with or without facial hair