Corrie Jim: Rovers will not return!
STREAMING TO KILL SOAP
CORRIE legend Charlie Lawson believes the soap could be axed withing 10 years because of the rise in streaming services.
Charlie, who has played Jim McDonald on five separate occasions, says a combination of the desire for apps like Netflix, coupled with falling viewing figures, may sound the death knell for the world’s longest-running soap – and last orders for the Rovers Return. The 63-year-old said: “I was there in the 90s for 11 years and we were getting between 16 and 20million – and 5million (viewers now) is not a lot.
“In 10 years who knows if we will have a Coronation Street. We’re all changing our viewing habits as it is already.”
Charlie also thinks the show will lose viewers even faster if it keeps forcing politically correct storylines on its loyal audience, such as Max Turner (actor Paddy Bever) being groomed by far-right extremists.
“People are getting a little bit gobsmacked and fed up with all this,” he added.
Charlie’s last return as Jim came in 2018, but he doesn’t expect to get a call from producers any time soon because he believes Jim wouldn’t fit in with a woke agenda.
He said: “Jim wasn’t exactly politically correct, never mind woke!”