Jim McDonald

Evil-doer
Full Name	Jim McDonald
Alias	The Landlord Big Jim
Origin	Coronation Street
Occupation	Builder Mechanic Soldier Barman Landlord Career criminal Prison top dog
Powers / Skills	Deception Manipulation Great physical strength Military training Skills in combat
Hobby	Drinking. Being with his family.
Goals	Try to win ex-wife Liz back (succeeded several times; although ultimately split up again). Get revenge on his family and con Liz (failed).
Crimes	Manslaughter Theft Arson Assault Con artistry Fraud Jailbreak Armed robbery
Type of Villain	Sociopathic Anti-Villain

Jim McDonald is a major protagonist-turned-major antagonist of the British soap opera Coronation Street.

Jim is the former patriarch of the McDonald family. Despite his developing alcohol issues, abusive behaviour and short temper in the 1990s, Jim still proved protective towards his family, with an instance being in 2000 when he ended up killing drug dealer Jez Quigley for having his son Steve beaten up. After being released from prison in 2007, Jim became more antagonistic over the years, such as robbing a building society in 2011, and running an alcohol smuggling ring in prison in 2014. His most unforgivable deed came in 2018 when he got his girlfriend Hannah to pose as his dead daughter Katie in an attempt to con his family, which led to Jim being banished from the street for good.

Jim is widely considered to be one of the toughest soap characters of all time, and by far the toughest Coronation Street character, due to his great physical strength and fighting ability.

He was played by Charles Lawson.

Biography

The hard edged family man

Jim and his wife Liz first arrived in Coronation Street in October 1989 in interest of buying a house from Alf and Audrey Roberts. They moved in with their two twin sons Steve and Andy and the McDonalds settled into Coronation Street.

Sometime in the mid-90s when Jim discovered Liz had an affair with his best friend whilst he was in the army, he hit her and chucked her out the car and left Liz at an abandoned petrol station. When she arrived home she locked him out of the house and Jim tried to break in and was arrested and Liz put a court order out against Jim. She left the street eventually in 1998 and the pair were divorced.

Murder of Jez Quigley and Imprisonment

In 2000 when Steve was beaten up by a gang led by drug dealer Jez Quigley, Jim beat the thug up and hospitalised him. Jez died from a ruptured spleen and Jim was arrested for manslaughter. Liz returned and reunited with Jim and they remarried a second time. Jim was sentenced to 8 years for manslaughter and was imprisoned.

In 2003 Jim believed Liz was having an affair and broke out of prison and headed to Blackpool. This was a misunderstanding and the pair planned to flee the country but Jim gave himself up when the police caught up and decided not to take the risk. In 2005 Liz divorced Jim a second time after he was denied parole for beating up a fellow cellmate.

First release

In November 2007 Jim was released early for good behaviour and reunited with Steve and also met his granddaughter Amy. Jim wasn't pleased that Liz was marrying a man named Vernon and attempted to win her back on her wedding day to him. When Vernon intervened in Jim's attempts, Jim beat Vernon up badly. Steve banished Jim from his pub the Rovers Return and Jim left again shortly after Liz married Vernon after all.

Jim returned in August 2009 for Steve's wedding to Becky McDonald. By this point Liz was divorced from Vernon and it was clear there was still strong feelings between them, but Jim departed along with his son Andy. A year later Jim resurfaced to celebrate his birthday. He took an interest in Liz again much to the annoyance of her builder boyfriend Owen Armstrong, who then hired a gang of builders to beat Jim up as a warning. Jim warned Steve about Owen before leaving.

Return to prison

Three-months later Jim and Liz reunited. When Steve and Becky planned to flee for Spain with Amy and Becky's nephew Max from Tracy Barlow Jim and Liz offered to buy the pub from them. Jim however didn't have the money, so out of desperation and not wanting to let down Liz attempted to rob a building society. It turned into a hostage situation and Jim planned to commit suicide by shooting himself. Liz however talked him out of killing himself, and Jim surrendered himself to the police. He was sentenced to seven-years in prison, and he cut off contact with his family.

Three-years later resident Peter Barlow was falsely imprisoned for the murder of Tina McIntyre. Craving for booze, he was told about a smuggler nicknamed "The Landlord" who turned out to be Jim. Jim complied with giving Peter booze to ease his addiction, although was expecting payment for the offer. Their relationship began to grow bitter, especially as Jim took to lightly teasing Peter over his intense need to drink. When Peter couldn't make payments in anyway towards Jim for the booze, Jim wanted Peter to talk to Steve about coming to visit him. Steve wasn't really up for seeing his dad again, as the last time he interacted with him, Jim told Steve not to communicate again.

Growing angry over not getting to see his family, Jim refused to supply Peter with anymore booze. A desperate Peter found Jim's supply and drank most of the contents, which caused him to suffer from alcohol poisoning and collapse. Jim found Peter and got help, and Peter was sent to hospital, where he made a full recovery. Peter returned to prison, where Jim informed him that many of his customers were not happy at Peter for drinking most of the stock, and warned him to watch his back.

Jim saving Peter gained him admiration in Steve's eyes, who wanted to reconcile with his dad. But when he discovered Jim was involved in the smuggling ring and getting Peter back on the booze, Steve ratted Jim out to the prison authorities, resulting in an enraged Jim being dragged back to his cell. Jim planned to make Peter's life a misery when he was about to be sent down for Tina's murder, but fortunately for Peter he was released when Rob Donovan was exposed as the true killer.

Isolating his family

Jim was released from prison in 2018 after serving seven years, and returned to Weatherfield to reveal that he discovered him and Liz's dead daughter Katie was actually still alive due to a mix up of records at the hospital. He claimed to have tracked down the supposedly older Katie (now known as Hannah), and introduced her to the family. But it was revealed this was a scam and that Hannah was actually Jim's girlfriend and that he wanted revenge on his family. Jim eventually grew regretful at the deceit but all was too later when he was exposed, leading to his family to banish him from their lives once again. With nothing left for him in Weatherfield, he left town with Hannah for pastures new, never to be seen again.

Trivia

• Jim, along with wife Liz and their twin sons Steve and Andy were brought into the show near the end of 1989 as a new family unit on the street. In his early years Jim was portrayed far more reasonable and normal despite his rough edges owing to being in the war. He was portrayed more as an antihero as the 1990s progressed, especially when he became reliant on alcohol which resulted in violent mood swings. But he became an anti-villain in 2000 when he beat up Jez Quigley in revenge for Jez and his gang nearly killed Steve in a violent fight. Charles Lawson quit the show after eleven years, so Jim ended up committing manslaughter when Jez died and was sent to prison for eight years. Lawson reprised the role for guest stints from 2003 to 2005, and again from 2007 to 2010.
• Lawson returned again briefly for a month in 2011 to facilitate the departure of Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard). Due to Callard having to previously take a break from the show the original story had to be rewritten. Whilst Jim and Liz reunited, it was decided to send Jim to prison for a second time when he failed to rob a building society in order to by the Rovers Return for Liz. This led to Liz leaving behind Weatherfield for Spain, deciding she couldn't wait any longer for Jim. Lawson was against sending Jim down again, although understood the writers reasons due to having to do quick rewrites.
• Lawson reprised the role again for a brief period in late 2014, in which his scenes were taking place in prison. This time Jim was depicted as a major antagonist as he started a feud with inmate Peter Barlow, who was being held on remand for allegedly killing Tina McIntyre. Lawson returned four years later as a freed Jim in 2018, in which he was again depicted as a villain looking to get revenge on his family, a contrast to the family man figure seen previously. The story was intended to go on further with an idea for Jim to redeem himself in some capacity, although Lawson had to cut it short to appear in a stage play adaptation of Inspector John Rebus by Ian Rankin, meaning Jim left the show on a bitter note. Lawson's time as John Rebus had to be also cut short due to him suffering a mini stroke, and although he recovered he never returned to Coronation Street.
• Fans had called for Jim to be brought back as an enemy to antagonist and serial killer Pat Phelan, who appeared on and off from 2013 to 2018. Phelan was killed off prior to Jim's return in 2018.