Corrie’s Charlie Lawson boasts of ‘keeping cash from big money panto role’ – despite facing legal action over £50k debt
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CORONATION Street legend Charlie Lawson boasted about keeping all of his panto cash despite owing £50,000 for a failed a business. The soap star, 65, and his wife Debbie faced legal action over the unpaid bill when the Prestbury Farm Shop went bust in 2018, eight years after opening.
![[Charlie Lawson and wife Debbie had to close their farm shop in 2018]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/9e3e801b-f3e0-4a1c-b498-11e2b92ed881.jpg?strip=all&w=637)
The Jim McDonald character rues letting down his suppliers but told how the liquidators were extremely fair to Debbie. Writing in his autobiography, That's Life, So It Is, Charlie revealed: "Poor Debbie was finding it increasingly difficult to make the business work as well as it had been, and it was starting to drag her down and make her ill.
![[Charlie said the couple made the decision to shut shop to protect Debbie's wellbeing]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/charles-lawson-play-rebus-440422691.jpg?strip=all&w=640)
"We had several long talks about what we should do, and couldn't help but arrive at the same solution. But Debbie couldn't give up on our little business and it was breaking her heart. "Eventually, the figures just didn't make sense at all. She was losing money every day but more importantly her health and mental well-being was suffering. In the end, myself and the accountant said she must pull the plug before something awful happened.".
![[Charlie starred in a panto performance of Aladdin in Northwich in 2017]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NINTCHDBPICT000958331872.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
It was the second time the couple had been left in dire straits financially. In 2001 Charlie filed for bankruptcy after racking up a tax debt of £200,000. Eventually, the couple admitted defeat and shut the doors on their posh deli for good. They did their best to reunite suppliers with their unsold products and were praised for not giving it straight to liquidators.
![[The actor doesn't hold back in his atuobiography]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/thats-life-is-charlie-lawson-958323485.jpg?strip=all&w=641)
Charlie said: "Apparently the normal thing to do was nick the lot prior to the business going under. The big stuff - fridges, chillers, display cabinets, etc went into the hands of the liquidators, and I did my best to stump up for the small traders we owed money to.
![[Charlie first arrived on the cobbles in 1989]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/dffe82d3-105a-4036-8256-fefcac47b9f2.jpg?strip=all&w=631)
