Jim McDonald is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by Charles Lawson.

Early storylines for the character saw Jim and Liz's newborn daughter Katie die shortly after birth, followed by an alcohol addiction which led to domestic violence and the collapse of his marriage, as well as a near fatal fight with his son Steve, which resulted in temporary paralysis, as well as a one-night stand with Steve's ex-girlfriend Fiona Middleton (Angela Griffin).

Jim had a brief relationship with Gwen Davies (Annie Hulley), before remarrying Liz and then being imprisoned for the manslaughter of Jez Quigley (Lee Boardman), in retaliation for a near fatal attack on Steve.

Jim first arrives in Coronation Street in October 1989 with his wife Liz (Beverley Callard) and two teenage sons Steve (Simon Gregson) and Andy (Nicholas Cochrane), buying 11 Coronation Street from Alf (Bryan Mosley) and Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls).

He begins a bike repair shop and later becomes a mechanic for Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) at MVB Motors.

Jim is arrested soon afterwards for trying to break into their house and after further breaching the conditions of a restraining order, he spends several weeks in prison for burglary and criminal damage.

Jim is badly injured after falling from scaffolding after a fight with Steve on a building site, and needs physiotherapy to regain his ability to walk.

Steve gives him a job valeting cars at the cab firm and lets him see his granddaughter, Amy Barlow (Amber Chadwick).

Steve breaks up the fight, and in no uncertain terms tells his father he is no longer welcome, forcing Jim to leave the Street.

When Becky is arrested and accused of dealing drugs, Jim finds out about Slug (Marshall Lancaster), the person who planted the drugs, and suggests to Steve that he give copies of Slug's photos to taxi businesses around Weatherfield, in the hope someone will recognise him and leaves again with Andy.

In April, Jim agrees to buy the Rovers, which costs £120,000 in total and would allow Becky and Steve to flee the country.

Jim agrees to give him booze, but then proceeds to cruelly blackmail Peter in a bid to get in contact with his son Steve in order to repair their relationship.

Jim also wants to reconcile with Liz and be a part of his granddaughter Amy's (now played by Elle Mulvaney) life.

A short while later, Jim finds Peter passed out from the booze he gave him, and saves his life by calling the medical services.

Liz complies, although when her boyfriend Tony Stewart (Terence Maynard) breaks off with her, she tells Jim that it is over, and leaves the prison.

Jim attempts to convince him that he was only trying to get his family back, and that his heart was in the right place, but Steve furiously retorts that he has harmed numerous people along the way, including beating Peter up and blackmailing Liz.

He grasses Jim up, revealing to officers that he had been using a mobile phone to harass Liz, which ruins his chances of being moved to an open prison.

Jim is apoplectic with rage, and has to be restrained by the prison guards, whilst threatening Steve with revenge as they take him away.

However, Jim shocks him by revealing that he has a potentially serious hereditary condition called myotonic dystrophy and suggests that Steve get himself and Amy tested, as it passes down to offspring.

However, unknown to Liz and everyone else, Hannah is in fact impersonating Katie, and Jim is in on the scheme in order to get revenge on his family for abandoning him in prison.

Later on, in the pub, Hannah plants the seed in Liz's head that her and Jim need treatment for the myotonic dystrophy disease, and need the money fast.

Jim and Hannah realise this is not enough, and when Steve reveals that he is spending an enormous amount of money on his wedding to Tracy, they decide to target Johnny Connor (Richard Hawley).

Jim, however, wanting to stay with his family, attempts to fool Hannah by telling her to leave now, and that he will follow her on in a few days, in order to avoid suspicion.

However, due to a lack of evidence, and the fact that Liz handed her money over willingly, they could not be charged, and so were allowed to walk free.

The following year, producers planned to introduce the McDonald family; the casting department approached Lawson again, and he accepted the part of Jim.

[2] In July 2007, it was reported that Lawson had agreed to return to filming in October that year for a special Christmas storyline.

[2] Lawson again reprised the role so Jim could attend Steve's wedding to Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly).

Halina Watts from the Daily Mirror reported that despite Jim still being in prison, serving out his sentence for committing armed robbery, he would still "cause havoc" upon his screen return.

[9] Claire Hodgson of the Daily Mirror said that setting fire to Gwen's furniture, threatening Liz, hangovers, fights in the Rovers Return and robbing the bank were some of Jim's "most outrageous" moments on the show.

[10] Lorna Cooper, writing for MSN, said that she wanted Jim back in Coronation Street full-time and branded him and Liz a "knock-off version of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.