Eamonn Holmes to conduct former Coronation Street star Charlie 'Big Jim' Lawson's wedding

Northern Irish broadcaster Eamonn Holmes has revealed he is to preside over the wedding of former Coronation Street actor Charlie Lawson.

The 63-year-old GB News presenter joked that he should become “some sort of preacher” after he was asked to conduct the forthcoming marriage ceremony for Co Fermanagh-born Lawson, who played Jim McDonald in the ITV soap for 11 years.

The actor, also 63, who has featured in occasional episodes of Coronation Street since his exit in 2000, is marrying businesswoman Debbie Stanley after being engaged to her for more than a decade.

On GB News on Tuesday, Holmes revealed that he will be officiating at the ceremony, while he was discussing global pop star Ed Sheeran gate-crashing a wedding in Las Vegas.

He said: “This is a window into my life.

“I can’t go to a hotel where someone doesn’t come up and tap me on the shoulder and say ‘My daughter’s getting married in the next room, you wouldn’t go in and see them?’.

“I got a phone call from a dear friend two weeks ago whose wedding I was going to and he said to me ‘We don’t just want you to go to the wedding, we want you to conduct the ceremony’.

“So, I’ve buried George Best, right? So his family phoned me and said ‘We don’t want a priest or anything but we want you to do George’s funeral ceremony’.

“And now I’m going to marry Charlie Lawson – Jim McDonald from Coronation Street.

“So there you are. I should maybe become some sort of preacher.”

While the date and location of the wedding is not yet known, Lawson shared a picture of his bride-to-be on Instagram, captioning it: “The girl I’m gonna marry very soon.”

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