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Craig Charles
in May 2009
Born	Craig Joseph Charles (1964-07-11) 11 July 1964 (age 60) Liverpool, England
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Actor, broadcaster, presenter, comedian, author, voice-over artist, DJ
Years active	1981–present
Notable work	Red Dwarf (1988-present) Funk & Soul Show (2002-present) Coronation Street (2005-present) Robot Wars (1998-2004)Takeshi's Castle (2002-2004)
Spouse(s)	Cathy Tyson ​(m. 1984⁠–⁠1989)​ (divorced) Jackie Fleming ​(m. 1997)​

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

Charles first appeared on television as a performance poet, which led on to minor presenting roles. After finding fame in Red Dwarf, he regularly featured on national television, with celebrity appearances on many popular shows of the time, while he continued to host a wide variety of programmes. After a substantial setback in 1994, Charles re-established his career with a sell-out national tour of his poignant stand-up comedy act.

Charles notably presented the gladiator-style game show Robot Wars. His acting credits include playing inmate Eugene Buffy in the powerful ITV drama The Governor, and leading roles in the British films Fated and Clubbing to Death. As well as starring in Coronation Street and occasional Red Dwarf series, Charles continues to host his Funk and Soul Show on BBC radio, with regular performances at clubs and festivals nationally.

Early life

Craig Charles was born to a mixed race family in Liverpool; his Guyana-born father was black, and his mother was white Irish. Charles has two brothers: Dean and Emile. He grew up on the deprived Cantril Farm estate and went to school with Micky Quinn, who became a professional footballer. He attended West Derby Comprehensive School followed by Childwall Hall College of Further Education. Charles won a national competition, run by The Guardian newspaper, for a poem he wrote when he was twelve years old.

Career

Early career

Charles began his career as a contemporary and urban performance poet on the British cabaret circuit, by performing as stand-up comedy, the poems he had originally written as song lyrics. His performances were considered original, with Charles described as having a natural ironic wit which appealed to talent scouts. He first appeared on television as the resident poet on Riverside on BBC2, and on the day-time chat show Pebble Mill at One. Charles was part of the Red Wedge comedy tour in 1986, which aimed to raise awareness of the social problems of the time. He performed his political poems on the late-night comedy show, Saturday Live, and appeared, weekly, as a John Cooper Clarke-style 'punk poet' on the BBC2 pop music programme The Oxford Road Show.

Red Dwarf

Charles acquired cult status in 1988, in his acting debut, as the Liverpudlian slob Dave Lister, in BBC2's new science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf. This was a role he played in all eight series, until 1999, and in the 2009 three-part special, Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, for channel Dave. Charles' younger brother, Emile Charles, guest-starred in the Series 3 episode Timeslides. In this episode, the songs "Bad News" and "Cash" are written by Charles, and performed by his band, and Charles also composed the "Om" song. Most series were recorded in front of a live studio audience. Charles reads the audiobook editions of the Red Dwarf novel Last Human, and his book The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything, and he attends sci-fi, comedy and memorabilia events in connection with the Red Dwarf franchise. During Back to Earth Charles' character visits the set of Coronation Street and meets the actor Craig Charles. Charles has resumed the role of Lister for Red Dwarf Series X, which will be broadcast on Dave from September 2012.

Coronation Street

In 2005, Charles joined the principal cast of Coronation Street, the world's longest-running TV soap opera, playing philandering taxicab driver, Lloyd Mullaney. Charles introduced certain aspects of the character himself, making Lloyd a DJ and Northern Soul music record collector. In November 2011, Charles took time off from Coronation Street to film a new series of Red Dwarf. He will be returning to The Street in March 2012.

Other television work

Charles has presented children's television programmes, including What's That Noise? on BBC1 (1989) and Go Getters (1994). He was the travelling reporter for the highly acclaimed, but controversial, mockumentary Ghostwatch, which purported to be a live investigation into ghost sightings in a suburban home on Halloween night (1992). Charles presented 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 Channel 5; and the late-night chat show Weapons of Mass Distraction (2004) on ITV.

Charles most notably presented the cult TV hit Robot Wars on BBC2 (1998–2003) and Channel 5 (2003–2004), presiding over the arena in which teams of amateur engineers battled their home-made radio-controlled robots against each other, and against the house robots. Charles provided the voice-over commentary for the UK version of the Japanese hit game show Takeshi's Castle, shown on Challenge and Ftn (2002 - 2004), in which contestants attempted to storm the castle and win cash prizes.

Charles has acted in episodes of popular dramas such as The Bill, EastEnders and Holby City and in the comedy The 10 Percenters. Charles played the title role in the Channel 4 pirate sitcom Captain Butler (1997); the warden of a women's prison in the Canadian sci-fi fantasy Lexx (2001); Detective Chief Inspector Mercer in 6 episodes of the BBC soap opera Doctors (2003); and soccer agent, Joel Brooks, in the Sky TV football soap Dream Team (2005).

Charles has appeared on celebrity editions of University Challenge, Can't Cook, Won't Cook and The Weakest Link, and comedy panel shows such as Have I Got News For You, They Think It's All Over and Just a Minute. He was a team captain on the sci-fi quiz series Space Cadets (1997) on Channel 4, which guest starred William Shatner. Charles was a contestant in the Celebrity Poker Club tournament (2004) and in the Channel 4 reality game show, The Games (2005), based on the Olympic Games, in which he came 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). Charles also appeared in the John Godber play Teechers at the Arts Theatre, London, and at the Edinburgh Festival (1989), and in the pantomime Dick Whittington at the Hull New Theatre (1997).

Radio work

In 1990, Charles could be heard on the London Radio Station Kiss 100 (Kiss FM) as the Breakfast show presenter. Since 2002, he has been a DJ on BBC Radio 6 Music, presenting The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show, a funk and soul music radio show. Charles also sits in for Janice Long, Steve Wright and Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2.

Charles takes the Funk and Soul Club to music festivals and venues across the UK, performing live DJ sets, and occassionally featuring his Fantasy Funk Band. Charles' previous bands have included Watt 4, The Sons of Gordon Gekko and The Eye. Charles plays keyboards (synthesizer) and occassionally provides voice.

Film roles

Charles starred in two feature films in 2006: the fantasy film Fated, and the gangster movie Clubbing to Death. He also played Eddie in the 1987 drama Business as Usual.

Writing

In 1993, Charles worked with Russell Bell on the Craig Charles Almanac of Total Knowledge writing about his 'streetwise' sense of humour on 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. In 1998, Charles worked with Philippa Drakeford on his next book, 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, Charles wrote his first autobiography about his experiences growing up in Liverpool, titled No Irish, No Niggers. In 2007, he announced he would release his autobiography, planned for March 2008, published by Hodder Headline and titled On the Rocks, which would cover the recent incidents in his life. The autobiography would be based on much of his journal, which he said he kept while in rehab. In 1995, Charles launched a single issue of Comedy Magazine with articles dedicated to the comedy circuit. In 2005 and 2006, Charles was a monthly columnist for the Liverpool Echo newspaper.

Personal life

Relationships

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

Afterward, Charles dated Irish singer-songwriter Suzanne Rhatigan, co-writing lyrics for her album To Hell With Love and directing a video for her. Rhatigan appeared alongside Charles in the Red Dwarf series four 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 July 1994, Charles and a friend were arrested and remanded in custody for several months on a rape charge. While in prison, Charles was attacked by a man wielding a knife. In March 1995, both men were acquitted in their trial. 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, newspaper allegations of crack cocaine use resulted in Charles being suspended from both Coronation Street and BBC Radio 6 Music. In August, Charles was arrested and released on bail pending further enquiries and, in September, he accepted a caution for possession of a Class A drug.. Charles returned to hosting his 6 Music show from November 2006 and to filming Coronation Street from January 2007.

Filmography and credits

Bibliography

• 1993 Craig Charles Almanac of Total Knowledge by Craig Charles and Russell Bell (Penguin Books Ltd)
• 1997 The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything by Craig Charles and Russell Bell (Penguin Books Ltd)
• 1998 No Other Blue by Craig Charles and Philippa Drakeford (Penguin Books Ltd)

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

References

1. "Actor Craig's tribute to much-loved father, Liverpool Echo, 22 November 2005".
2. Craig Charles bbc.co.uk
3. "Education: Passed/Failed Craig Charles, The Independent, 11 February 1999".
4. "Craig Charles returns to Birmingham for the Mostly Jazz festival, Birmingham Mail, 2 July 2011".
5. "Review: The Return of 'Red Dwarf', by Alexander Baron, 10 March 2012".
6. "Corrie's Craig Charles on being romantic, This Morning ITV interview with Charles, 6 September 2011".
7. "'Hull In Print: The show must go on', Hull County Council, 2009".
8. "A club that rocked when punk was in it's prime, Chris Brown, Daily Post Staff, 16 September 2003".
9. "Charles writing Autobiography". Official Red Dwarf Website. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
10. "The trauma of being falsely accused". London: BBC News. 31 July 2003. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
11. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950306/ai_n13969745. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
12. "Charles to make Street comeback". London: BBC News. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
13. "Actor Charles given drugs caution". London: BBC News. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
14. "Craig Charles CV, United Agents".
15. "Charles, speaking to Simon Fitzpatrick and Ema Lea, PlanetSmeg, 2010".

External links

• Craig Charles at IMDb
• Template:Worldcat id
• The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show BBC Radio 6 Music site
• Coronation Street ITV site

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