I spent a night in cells with Line of Duty star after we hurled glass bottles at police, says Corrie’s Charlie Lawson
CORRIE’S Charlie Lawson has revealed how he and Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar were both nicked after hurling milk bottles at police officers on a raucous night out.
Now they are better known as Supt Ted Hastings and the cobbles’ Jim McDonald — but back then they were young drama students who were arrested, slammed in the cells and had to face court.
Ahead of the release of his new book, Charlie, 65, reveals how he also once nearly died after taking drugs, confronted the man who abused him as a young boy and was held at gunpoint in a pub.
Recalling the night he and Adrian, now 66, got arrested, Charlie said: “Most Sunday nights we would meet up in The Lamb and Flag, a famous little boozer in Covent Garden, to play darts in the small front bar, and there we would stay until closing time.
“One night, we were heading back towards Leicester Square Tube station, when two Metropolitan Police officers decided we were being too noisy and that they would give us a lecture.
“This didn’t sit well with Adie and I, and we told them to leave us alone! I decided to lecture them on real policing back in Northern Ireland, and Adie decided to lecture them on freedom!
“None of this was endearing us to them, and when they tried to arrest us, it kicked off.
“By the time we had started hurling milk bottles at them, they had already called for assistance and we were arrested and dragged off, thrown in the back of a police van and taken to Bow Street nick, where we were charged with drunken disorderly behaviour and obstruction. Fingerprinted and put in separate cells to cool off.
“About 2am when the Tube and public transport stopped, and there were no night buses to the Isle of Dogs, they slung us out to appear in court the following morning.
“We duly stood, unbowed, in the dock that morning, where we were fined the bizarre sum of £19 and told to pay up and go.”
Together with actor Neil Morrissey, the students at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama were lads behaving badly.
The three recently met for lunch in London’s Soho. Laughing, Charlie said: “We were terrible back then.
“At ArtsEd me, Neil and Adie chased some blokes down a turning flight of stairs. Adie went over the balcony and jumped on to some lads below.
“I will never forget the sight of the now Ted Hastings flying through the air.”
His book That’s Life, So It Is details his work in theatre productions, films and TV shows — although he is best known now for playing Jim since 1989.
At drama college the head of acting saw his talent and, desperate to keep him out of trouble, sent him to North Wales as an acting stage manager.
There he met Auf Wiedersehen, Pet actor Tim Healy. Charlie said: “We had a right laugh and became great mates.
“We toured with Romeo and Juliet. But one afternoon the matinee was cancelled so I went back to where we were staying.
‘Thought I could fly’
“I laid on the beach, took an acid tab and had a wonderful afternoon, listening to Jean-Michel Jarre and the waves. Later everyone had a party in the hotel grounds.
“I was still tripping and thought I could fly. I went to jump over a privet fence but at the other side was a 100ft fall down cliffs.
As I took off I got rugby tackled. I steered clear of drugs for a couple of years after that and never took acid again.”
But drugs did get him into trouble again.
He set up a rave club in London’s Elephant and Castle. Charlie said: “It became so popular that Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon and Sarah Ferguson came along, but she scarpered when she saw all the drugs that were being taken.
“It was so popular Ben Elton mentioned how great it was on his radio show and police raided us.”
He also nearly died at a house party during the filming of football hooligan film The Firm with Gary Oldman and Lesley Manville.
He explained: “It was the night before the last day’s filming and someone locked themselves in the bathroom on the second floor — with the stash of cocaine.
I was about 13 and woke up to find a boy about four years older with his hands down my pyjamas.
Charlie Lawson
“I decided to climb up and get in through the window rather than smash the door down.
“I’d had a few lines so thought this was sensible. But I got to the ledge outside, slipped off and landed on my feet, damaging my ankles.
“I went to hospital. Nothing was broken but my ankles were huge, swollen. The director Alan Clarke was fuming.
“You can see me walking up the street in one of the final scenes bouncing along on my toes — I couldn’t put any weight on my ankles. They were sore for months.”
In his biography, Belfast-born Charlie tells how he was abused as a young boy at boarding school, Campbell College, Belfast, and years later confronted the attacker.
He said: “I was about 13 and woke up to find a boy about four years older with his hands down my pyjamas. I fought him off.
“I didn’t dare grass, none of us did. I wish we had. I know for a fact that one individual later took his own life, perhaps as a result.”
‘I will have you shot’
Years later, Charlie found out the abuser was a director with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He said: “One night I waited for him in a pub in Stratford called The Dirty Duck, watched him go into the toilet and confronted him.
“I had my hands around his throat and said, ‘If I ever hear of you touching anyone again, I will have you shot’. He was shaken and scared — something many of his victims had experienced.”
Charlie is no stranger to guns as his father owned them, but later in life one was turned on him.
He said: “I was in Belfast filming a Mike Leigh movie called Four Days in July playing a young soldier and during a break I went to a pub with some school friends.
“The horse racing was on a big screen and a group of men were playing cards, watching it and picking winners.
“We were at another table and being gobby. I said, ‘You couldn’t pick a horse to save your f***ing life’.
The gun chipped a couple of my teeth and I wet myself.
Charlie Lawson
“I later went to the bathroom and was about to have a pee when one of them grabbed my shoulder, then my neck and shoved me into a cubicle and stuck an automatic pistol in my mouth.
“I still had my trousers down. He told me to never, speak to people like that.
“The gun chipped a couple of my teeth and I wet myself.
“After I cleaned myself up I got my mates and we left. Big life lesson.”
From That’s Life, So It Is by Charlie Lawson published by New Generation Publishing.
TOMORROW: How the soap hardman became a suicidal domestic abuse victim — but was saved by his Corrie co-star.