CORRIE CHARLES: MY STROKE ON-STAGE
Thoughts are with him and his family – come on Glenn
CORONATION Street star Charles Lawson has told how he suffered a stroke on stage at the beginning of a national tour.
The actor, 59, missed three shows after falling ill on the opening night of Rebus: Long Shadows – a play based on Ian Rankin’s crime novels.
Charles, who has played Jim Mcdonald in Corrie since 1989, said: “I had a TIA, which you probably know as a mini-stroke, on stage.
“We opened to a full house in Edinburgh three weeks ago and I was halfway into the second half, the play’s climax, when I went deaf.
“I was aware my colleague John Stahl was saying his lines but I thought they were from a different play. For about two minutes I had no idea where I was then I woke up in the wings. It was a little disturbing, to say the least.”
Charles said he has fully recovered and will resume the title role of flawed detective Rebus at Manchester Opera House tomorrow.
“There’s no lasting damage so I’m back on stage and, happy to say, firing on all cylinders,”
Hoddle had just finished filming Saturday Morning Sav with Ince, Mirror Football columnist Robbie Savage and Harry Redknapp.
He was presented with a birthday cake live on the show.
Host Jake Humphrey, who works alongside Hoddle for BT, then revealed the father-of-three had been taken ill.
The exact nature of his illness was not made public.
Frantic BT taff performed life-saving treatment on Hoddle using a heart defibrillator at the TV studio.
Sources said the soccer hero was rushed to a specialist heart unit in London where he was receiving round-the-clock care.
An insider said: “He’s making good progress but it was the actions of the people in the studio that really helped.
“They used a defibrillator and the ambulance were there very quickly.”
A spokesman for the family said: “Glenn’s family would like to thank everyone that has sent their support.” he added. “When I think of what happened it’s a shock but apparently mini-strokes are very common. Sometimes people don’t even know they’ve had them till there’s a problem later on.
“But I definitely knew something was wrong with me, though I’d no idea what was going on.
“I’ve been given medication I’ll be on for the rest of my life but I’m in good nick.”
Charles returned briefly to Corrie this year in a story involving Jim being duped by his girlfriend into trying to con ex-wife Liz – and declared: “I’d certainly go back.”