'Coronation Street's' Charles Lawson: 'On-stage stroke was a wake-up call'

Coronation Street legend Charles Lawson has teared up on TV talking about how having a mini stroke on stage has made him question the way he lives his life.

Lawson, who is famous for playing Jim McDonald in the ITV soap, is currently starring as Ian Rankin’s detective Rebus in a stage adaptation of the books, but suffered an a mini stroke during a performance.

The actor told Good Morning Britain how he had been forced to leave the stage midway through play Rebus: Long Shadows in Edinburgh in October when his co-stars noticed that something was wrong.

He said: “First thing I remember is I went deaf and then everything went blue.”

Charles was taken to hospital and said: “I asked the doctor, ‘Why am I upset about this?’

“He said, ‘You break your leg, you break your leg. If something goes wrong with the computer [taps head], it can really affect you.”

During the interview, Charles became choked up with emotion at one point and had to be comforted by Susanna Reid.

He said: “After the play I’m going to have to take some time off and reassess the way I live my life.

“I was diagnosed with exhaustion three weeks before by a doctor and he suggested dropping out and I said, ‘I can’t do that – I’m Rebus’. Maybe if I hadn’t done that, it might not have happened.”

Lawson added about his lifestyle: “I’ve done some things in my life and got away with things I shouldn’t have. I need to reassess things.

“This is a wake-up call – listen to your alarm bells, folks.”

Rebus: Long Shadows is now continuing with Charles in the lead role after getting the ok from his doctor to go back on stage.

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