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Craig Charles

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Craig Charles
Occupation(s)Actor, Comedian, Author, Poet, Radio presenter and Television Presenter

Craig Charles (born 11 July, 1964 in Liverpool, England) 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 sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf.

Early life

Craig Charles was born to a multiracial family in Liverpool; his father was black and his mother was white Irish. Before turning to entertainment, Charles played professional football, most notably for Tranmere Rovers. He started out 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. He grew up on the Cantril Farm estate and went to school with Micky Quinn, who grew up to be a professional footballer. Craig Charles was the youngest of eleven children, and was born at a time when mixed race families were starting to become frequent in Britain.

Charles then began to slowly foray into the world of television. He appeared on the late-night comedy programme, Saturday Live, and later became a presenter of children's television programmes, including 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.

He later appeared on the Terry Wogan chatshow.

Roles in television

Charles acquired cult status in 1988 as the Liverpudlian slob, Dave Lister, in BBC2's long-running sci-fi comedy television series Red Dwarf. This was a role Charles played in all eight series until 1999. Within Red Dwarf, aside from playing Lister he also played a number of alter-ego characters including Sebastian Doyle (in the series five episode Back to Reality), Lister of Smeg (in the seventh series episode Stoke Me a Clipper) and Brett Riverboat (in the sixth series episode Gunmen of the Apocalypse).

Charles has appeared briefly in a number of television shows such as Eastenders, Holby City, The Bill, Lexx, The 10 Percenters, Doctors and Celebrity Weakest Link. He was also involved in the controversial mockumentary Ghostwatch in 1992.

Charles' other acting work includes briefly playing the title role in the short-lived Channel 4 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 gameshow 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 BBC Two 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-based quiz show Space Cadets (1997) on Channel 4.

Present career

In 2005, Charles joined the cast of ITV's long-running soap opera Coronation Street, playing philandering taxi driver Lloyd Mullaney. Later that year, he participated in the Channel 4 reality sports show, The Games, coming fourth overall in the men's competition.

Since 2003 Charles has been a DJ on BBC 6 Music, presenting The Craig Charles Funk 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 has returned to presenting his show from 4 November, but the programme is now renamed The Funk & Soul Show and has been reduced from two shows per week to one, airing on Saturdays from 6-9pm. He also resumed working on Coronation Street in January 2007.

Charles is set to star in two upcoming feature films in 2007, Clubbing to Death and Fated. He would also (assumedly) resume the role of Lister for Red Dwarf: The Movie, if the already scripted film ever enters production.

Charles has been shooting scenes for Gangster movie Clubbing to Death, that also stars Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin' Criminals),Philip Olivier (Brookside) & ex-gangster Dave Courtney. The film is due for worldwide release in 2007.

Personal life

In 1984, at the age of 20, Charles married English actress and fellow Liverpudlian 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 in 1998) and Nellie (born in 2003).

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 exonerated at the trial. Whilst in prison Charles was attacked by a man wielding a knife.[1]

In June 2006 a photograph was printed in the Daily Mirror newspaper that purported 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.[2]

These allegations resulted in Charles being suspended from Coronation Street until February 2007,[3] and from BBC 6 Music while an investigation is held. To date no statement has been made by Charles himself.

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.[4]

Charles' younger brother Emile Charles is also an actor. He played a younger version of Lister in "Timeslides" during the third series of Red Dwarf.

Charles drove a Rolls-Royce.

Author

In 1993, Craig had work 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 had written Craig's TV character's book entitled The Log, where 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 decided to work with Philippa Drakeford on his next book called No Other Blue, which cover a range of subjects, including poems about prison, his mother's final illness and politics at home and abroad.

In 2000, he wrote his first autobiography about his experience growing-up in Liverpool entitled No Irish, No Niggers. In 2007, Craig announced that he would release his autobiography in March 2008, published by Hodder Headline entitled On the Rocks which cover the recent incidents of his life, this autobiography would be based on much of his journal, which he said, he kept it while he was in rehab.[5]

Credits

  1. Coronation Street (2005) - Lloyd Mullaney
  2. The Games (2005) TV Series .... Himself (Series 3)
  3. Dream Team (2004-2005) Agent
  4. Sushi TV (2003) TV Series - Narrator (UK version, after replacing Julian Clary)
  5. Takeshi's Castle (2002-04) TV Series - Narrator (UK version)
  6. EastEnders: Ricky And Bianca (2002, EastEnders spin-off drama) - Vince
  7. Don't Walk (2001) (voice) - Narrator
  8. Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg (1998, one-off special edition of BBC2's Can't Cook, Won't Cook) - Dave Lister
  9. Space Cadets (1997) TV Series .... Himself - Space Captain
  10. Captain Butler (1997) TV Series - Captain Butler
  11. Cyberspace (1996) TV Series
  12. The Governor (1995) TV Series - Eugene Buffy
  13. The Bill (1995) TV Series
  14. Red Dwarf: Smeg Outs (1995, Video Release) - Dave Lister (new and archive footage)
  15. Red Dwarf: Smeg Ups (1994, Video Release) - Dave Lister (archive footage)
  16. CyberZone (1993) TV Series - presenter
  17. Prince Cinders (1993) (voice) - Cat
  18. Comic Relief (1991) (TV) - Dave Lister
  19. Super Nintendo promotional video - Commentator
  20. Red Dwarf (1988-99) TV Series - Dave Lister

Filmography

  1. Clubbing to Death (2007) - Begsley
  2. Fated (2006) .... Pedro
  3. Forty Years Of Fuck (2005) (TV) .... Himself
  4. Britain's Best Sitcom (2004) TV Series .... Himself
  5. The Sitcom Story (2003) (TV) .... Himself
  6. Ten Minutes (2003) - Mark
  7. Top Ten TV Sci-Fi (2001) (TV) .... Himself
  8. Jailbreak (2000) TV Series .... Himself - Host
  9. The Colour Of Funny (1999) .... Keith Dennis
  10. Ripley's Believe It or Not (1999/I) TV Series .... Himself - UK Presenter
  11. Robot Wars (1998-2004) TV Series .... Himself - Host (after replacing Jeremy Clarkson)
  12. Universe Challenge (1998, one-off special edition of BBC2's University Challenge) .... Himself
  13. Funky Bunker (1997) TV Series .... Himself
  14. Asterix Conquers America (1994) (voice) - Asterix (English language edition)
  15. CyberZone (1993) TV Series .... Himself - Host
  16. Cyberpunks And Technophobes (1993) TV Series .... Himself
  17. Ghostwatch (1992) (TV) .... Himself
  18. Them And Us (1992) TV Series .... Himself
  19. What's That Noise (1989) TV Series .... Himself
  20. Craig Goes Mad In Melbourne (1988) TV Series .... Himself
  21. Night Network (1987) TV Series .... Himself
  22. The Marksman (1987) TV Series .... McFadden
  23. Business As Usual (1987)

Bibliography

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

Autobiography

  1. No Irish, No Niggers (Penguin Books Ltd 2000)
  2. On the Rocks (Hodder Headline 2008)

References

  1. ^ "The trauma of being falsely accused". BBC News. 2003-07-31. Retrieved 2006-12-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Corrie star on crack". The Mirror. 2006-06-20. Retrieved 2007-02-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Charles to make Street comeback". BBC News. 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2006-12-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Actor Charles given drugs caution". BBC News. 2006-09-22. Retrieved 2006-12-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Charles writing Autobiography". Official Red Dwarf Website. 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2007-06-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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