Coronation Street legend Jim McDonald was killed off in scenes that aired on Monday’s episodes and a lot of fans claimed that it all felt quite ‘rushed’ given his status
Coronation Street fans have blasted the killing off of Jim McDonald as “absolutely disgusting” and “disrespectful”. It was announced some time ago that the ex army man, played by Charlie Lawson, who initially appeared on the world’s longest-running TV soap from 1989 until 2000 and then made various stints until 2018, would be written out of the programme.
During his time on the soap, Jim, who became known for his ‘so it is’ catchphrase, was famously married to Rovers landlady Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard) twice, and they had sons Steve and Andy together. Their marriage survived various infidelities on both sides, and Jim endured several stints in prison before they finally called it quits in 2005.
In scenes that aired on Monday’s instalment of the soap, Steve received a phone call, almost eight years after he last saw Jim, informing him that his father had died. The taxi driver was then seen being comforted in the pub by his girlfriend Cassie (Claire Sweeney), his daughter Amy and his ex-wife Tracy. At one point, Rovers owner Maggie was very interested to know Jim’s cause of death but Amy simply said her grandfather had been ill for a while.
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Steve quickly hit the bottle to deal with the grief, and came to blows with Ben Driscoll, Maggie’s son, in the pub, when the landlord insisted he leave as he quipped: “We can reconvene the Dead Dads Club tomorrow.”
This riled Steve up, who shot back: “Well, I’m sorry, I never knew your dad, but I’m guessing he never slept with your ex. Or robbed a building society by shotgun! Oh, ‘ere y’are, here’s one for you – scammed you out of a load of money by pretending that your dead sister was alive!” It was then that it dawned on Steve that he didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye to his father, and he broke down.
Whilst the scenes were clearly emotional in some way, viewers who had seen the episode early on ITVX, instantly took umbrage with the swift way in which the death had been handled. It all comes amid the recent news that Ben will be revealed to be Steve’s long-lost half brother, the result of an affair between Jim and new Maggie.
Taking to Reddit, one fan said: “We’ve lost another legend, so we have. Jim McDonald has finally been killed off and I for one think it was absolutely disgusting that Steve simply received a quick phone call from his ex (presumably Hannah?) and there it was done and dusted. He deserved so much better.
“They really need to be careful, they don’t have many characters left that are of that status and to discard of them so flippantly just smacks of being disrespectful.
“Don’t even get me started on this ridiculous Maggie twist that we’ve got coming. Jim was bonkers and did some crazy things, but at the heart of it, he just loved his Elizabeth and to undo that and pretend he kept a massive secret all those years just shows that they don’t understand these characters anymore. “
In response, another fan said: “It did feel quite rushed to me given Jim was quite an iconic character. I think they should have had the actor return one last time or at least have Steve visit him, even if that was off screen.”
A third wrote: “The worst thing in todays ep was that Steve wished he saw Jim, knowing Steve he didn’t need to ask anyone on seeing Jim he would of gone anyway and even if he did see him it could of just been mentioned offscreen at least Steve would of had his last chance to see his dad for the last final time!”
In the weeks leading up to the death of Jim, actor Charlie Lawson criticised his final storyline, which saw Jim uncharacteristically decide to con Liz out money by pretending that his girlfriend was the daughter they had lost several years earlier.
Charlie, who has also appeared in The Bill, Bread and Doctors throughout his lengthy television career and also worked extensively in theatre, recently hit out at the “weak” storyline, which was brought in when Kate Oates, who later went on to work on EastEnders, was in charge of the soap.
Charlie said: “The storyline was weak. So many people contacted me to say they hated it. I agreed to it before I even saw the script. The work was lucrative — you can’t really turn it down. Now he can’t be ruined any more. He’s out of his misery.
“I know I will watch that last scene and be able to say, ‘Well, what a load of s***e that was’. I will raise a glass to the old Jim, the one I loved and was proud of, who spoke his mind, with cracking, strong storylines in the Nineties.”
Speaking to The Sun, he added: “There are some bits I will miss about Corrie and some I won’t. But I have no regrets. That’s just life, so it is.”
Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X.
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