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Craig Charles
in May 2009
Born	Craig Joseph Charles (1964-07-11) 11 July 1964 (age 60) Liverpool, England
Occupation(s)	Actor, broadcaster, author, voice-over artist, comedian, DJ
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Cathy Tyson ​(m. 1984⁠–⁠1989)​ (divorced) Jackie Fleming ​(m. 1997)​

Craig Joseph Charles (born 11 July 1964) is an English actor, stand-up comedian, author, poet, and radio and television presenter, best known for playing Dave Lister in the British cult-favourite science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. Since 2005, he has appeared as Lloyd Mullaney in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street.

Early life

Craig Charles was born to a mixed race family in Liverpool; his father was black, born in Guyana, and his mother was white Irish. He grew up on the Cantril Farm estate and went to school with Micky Quinn, who became a professional footballer. Charles has two brothers, Dean and Emile. He attended West Derby Comprehensive School followed by Childwall Hall College of Further Education.

Career

Early career

He started his career as a contemporary and urban performance poet on the British cabaret circuit, and his performances were considered original and Charles was described as having a natural ironic wit which appealed to talent scouts. Charles began to appear on television, including the late-night comedy programme, Saturday Live, and later became a presenter of children's television programmes, such as What's That Noise on BBC1. He also appeared, weekly, as a John Cooper Clarke-style 'punk poet' on the BBC1 pop music television programme The Oxford Road Show. In 1990, Charles was heard on London Radio Station Kiss 100 as the Breakfast show presenter.

Red Dwarf fame

Charles acquired cult status in 1988 (aged 23) in his acting debut as the Liverpudlian slob, Dave Lister, in BBC2's long-running science fiction comedy television series Red Dwarf. This was a role Charles played in all eight series until 1999 and in the three part special for television channel Dave in 2009. Charles' younger brother Emile Charles guest-starred in one episode. Charles reads the audiobook edition of the Red Dwarf novel Last Human. Charles has resumed his role for Red Dwarf Series X, which is due to air on Dave from September 2012.

Coronation Street

In 2005, Charles joined the cast of ITV's long-running soap opera Coronation Street, playing philandering taxicab driver Lloyd Mullaney. He left Coronation Street temporarily in November 2011 to film a new series of Red Dwarf, but is due to return early in 2012.

Other television work

Charles has appeared briefly in a number of television shows such as EastEnders, Holby City, The Bill, Lexx, The 10 Percenters and Doctors. He was also involved in the controversial mockumentary Ghostwatch in 1992. He has appeared on celebrity editions of University Challenge, Can't Cook, Won't Cook and The Weakest Link, and quiz shows such as Have I Got News For You and They Think It's All Over. Charles' other acting work includes playing the title role in the short-lived Channel 4 pirate sitcom Captain Butler (1997).

He has also presented a number of television programmes, most notably at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s. Among his credits as a presenter are the virtual reality game show Cyberzone (1993) on BBC2; the late-night entertainment show Funky Bunker (1997) on ITV; the reality television show Jailbreak (2000) on Five; the late-night chat show Weapons of Mass Distraction (2004) on ITV; and most notably Robot Wars on BBC2 from 1998–2003, and on Five from 2003–2004.

He also provided the voice-over for the UK version of the Japanese hit TV show Takeshi's Castle, shown on Challenge and Ftn, and was a team captain on the sci-fi quiz show Space Cadets (1997) on Channel 4.

In 2005, he participated in the Channel 4 reality sports game show, The Games, coming fourth overall in the men's competition.

Stand-up comedy

Charles returned to stand-up comedy between 1995 and 2002, touring his one-man adult-rated shows nationally, and releasing the videos Craig Charles: Live on Earth (1995) and Sickbag (2000).

Radio work

Since 2002 Charles has been a DJ on BBC 6 Music, presenting The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show, a funk and soul radio show. He was briefly suspended from Coronation Street and BBC 6 Music in June 2006 whilst the production companies investigated allegations of crack cocaine usage. Charles returned to presenting his show from 4 November 2006. Craig also sits in for Janice Long, Steve Wright and Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2.

Film roles

Charles starred in two feature films in 2007: gangster movie Clubbing to Death and fantasy film Fated.

Writing

In 1993, Craig worked with Russell Bell to write about his 'streetwise' sense of humour on to a range of topics from the world's most embarrassing stories to how to explain the mysteries of the universe. In 1997, he and Russell wrote Charles' Red Dwarf character's book The Log, in which Lister decides to leave a log detailing mankind's greatest achievements, just in case there is a posterity to find it which didn't appear on Red Dwarf. In 1998, Craig worked with Philippa Drakeford on his next book called No Other Blue, an illustrated collection of Charles' poetry on the subjects of prison, his mother's final illness, love and politics at home and abroad.

In 2000, he wrote his first autobiography about his experience growing up in Liverpool, No Irish, No Niggers. In 2007, Craig announced that he would release his autobiography in March 2008, published by Hodder Headline as On the Rocks, which would cover the recent incidents of his life. The autobiography would be based on much of his journal, which he said he kept while in rehab.

Charles has been a monthly columnist for the Liverpool Echo newspaper.

Personal life

Relationships

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. Find sources: "Craig Charles" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In 1984, at the age of 20, Charles married English actress Cathy Tyson. Their son Jack Charles was born in 1988. The couple divorced in 1989.

Afterward, Charles dated Irish singer-songwriter Suzanne Rhatigan, co-writing some lyrics for her album To Hell with Love and directing a video for her. Rhatigan also appeared alongside Charles in the fourth series of Red Dwarf for the episode "Camille".

In August 1997, Charles married his second wife, Jackie, with whom he has two daughters Anna-Jo (born 1998) and Nellie (born 2003).

Rape allegation

In 1994, Charles and a friend were arrested and remanded in custody for several months on a rape charge. In February 1995, both Charles and his friend were acquitted in their trial. Whilst in prison Charles was attacked by a man wielding a knife. During this time, BBC Two were showing repeats of every Red Dwarf episode, and most episodes were edited as the BBC weren't keen to show Charles engaged in any sexual activity. After being cleared, Charles spoke of the need to restore anonymity for those accused of rape. He stated that "the fact that my name and address along with my picture can appear on the front of the papers before the so-called victim has even signed a statement proves that anonymity for rape defendants is a must and that the law must be changed."

Drug use

In June 2006, a photograph was printed in the Daily Mirror newspaper purporting to show Charles smoking crack cocaine in the back seat of a taxi. According to the story by writer Stephen Moyes, Charles spent four hours in the taxi smoking crack cocaine from an old drinks can, while instructing the driver to buy him pornography. These allegations resulted in Charles being suspended from Coronation Street until February 2007, and from BBC 6 Music while an investigation was held.

Charles was arrested in August 2006 on suspicion of possession of a Class A drug, and later released on bail pending further enquiries. On 22 September 2006 he accepted a caution for possession of a Class A drug. In an interview, Charles blamed his relapse into drug use on the death of his father, combined with the bitterness stemming from being falsely accused of rape.

Filmography

Bibliography

• 1993 Craig Charles Almanac of Total Knowledge by Craig Charles and Russell Bell (Penguin Books Ltd)
• 1997 The Log by Craig Charles and Russell Bell (Penguin Books Ltd)
• 1998 No Other Blue by Craig Charles and Philippa Drakeford (Penguin Books Ltd)

Autobiographies

• 2000 No Irish, No Niggers (Penguin Books Ltd) (Unpublished)
• 2008 On the Rocks (Hodder Headline) (Unpublished)

References

1. http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=923007&c=uk&c=uk
2. "'Actor Craig's tribute to much-loved father', Liverpool Echo, 22 November 2005".
3. Craig Charles bbc.co.uk
4. "'Education: Passed/Failed Craig Charles', The Independent, 11 February 1999".
5. "Charles writing Autobiography". Official Red Dwarf Website. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
6. "The trauma of being falsely accused". London: BBC News. 31 July 2003. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
7. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950306/ai_n13969745. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. "Corrie star on crack". Daily Mirror. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
9. "Charles to make Street comeback". London: BBC News. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
10. "Actor Charles given drugs caution". London: BBC News. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
11. "Craig Charles: 'I spent £250,000 on crack'". Daily Mail. London. 16 March 2009.
12. "Charles, speaking to Simon Fitzpatrick and Ema Lea, PlanetSmeg, 2010".

External links

• Craig Charles at IMDb
• Template:Worldcat id
• The Craig Charles Funk Show BBC 6Music

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from February 2012
• 1964 births
• Living people
• Actors from Liverpool
• Comedians from Liverpool
• Black British actors
• English actors
• English comedians
• English people of Irish descent
• English poets
• British radio DJs
• English soap opera actors
• English television actors
• English television presenters
• English writers
• People acquitted of rape