Craig Charles

Craig Joseph Charles (born 11 July 1964) is an English actor, comedian, DJ, and television and radio presenter.

Craig Joseph Charles was born in Liverpool on 11 July 1964, the son of a Guyanese father and Irish mother.

In 1980, he played keyboards, bass and provided voice in the rock band Watt 4.

He performed his political rap lyrics as a 'Wordsmith'.

In 1981, Charles climbed on stage at a Teardrop Explodes concert and recited a humorous, but derogatory, poem about the band's singer, Julian Cope.

He was invited to open subsequent gigs for the group and went on to perform as a support act in pubs and clubs for the following three years, and at events such as the Larks in the Park music festival at Sefton Park (1982).

He performed poetry reading poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky, W. H. Auden and E. E. Cummings, at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre (1983), with such poets as Roger McGough and Adrian Henri.

Charles was involved in the Liverpool music scene, writing and singing lyrics for a number of local rock bands.

In 1983, Charles was invited to record a session on the John Peel BBC Radio show, performing his poems backed by a band.

This was his first professional engagement.

He recorded a further Peel Session in 1984.

Charles realised he was using poetry as a vehicle for his sense of humour and progressed into stand-up comedy.

Charles was the resident poet on the Channel 4 programme Black on Black (1985) and its entertainment-based successor Club Mix (1986), and he appeared, weekly, as a John Cooper Clarke-style 'punk poet' on the BBC2 pop music programme Oxford Road Show (ORS).

Charles performed his political poems as stand-up comedy on the late-night show Saturday Live (1985–87) and on the prime-time BBC1 chat show Wogan (1986–87), where he performed a topical poem in a weekly feature.

He was part of the Red Wedge comedy tour in 1986, which aimed to raise awareness of the social problems of the time, in support of the Labour Party.

He also performed his first one-man show in 1986, which premiered in Edinburgh, and then toured internationally.

Charles was a guest on programmes including Janice Long's Radio 1 show, and he was a regular panellist on Ned Sherrin's chat show Loose Ends (1987–88) on BBC Radio 4.

Charles first appeared on television as the resident poet on the arts programme Riverside on BBC2 and on the day-time BBC1 chat show Pebble Mill at One.

He also appeared as a guest on shows including Open Air (1988).

Charles included significant acting in his performance style, enabling him to put the emotion across.

He presented the gladiator-style game show Robot Wars from 1998 to 2004, and narrated the comedy endurance show Takeshi's Castle.

As a DJ, he appears on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Charles first appeared on television as a performance poet, which led to minor presenting roles.

After finding fame in Red Dwarf, he regularly featured on national television with celebrity appearances on many popular shows while he continued to host a wide variety of programmes.

Charles has hosted The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show on BBC radio since 2002, and performs DJ sets at numerous clubs and festivals, nationally and internationally.

He is best known for his roles as Dave Lister in the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf and Lloyd Mullaney in the soap opera Coronation Street (2005–2015).

He grew up on the Cantril Farm housing estate with his older brother, Dean (died 2014), and two other brothers, Jimmy and Emile.

He attended West Derby Comprehensive School followed by Childwall Hall College of Further Education, studying A-levels in History, Government & Politics, English Literature and General Studies.

He won a national competition run by The Guardian newspaper for a poem he wrote when he was 12 years old.

Upon leaving school, Charles spent time working in a studio at Central Hall on Renshaw Street in Liverpool.

Charles began his career as a contemporary and urban performance poet on the British cabaret circuit.

His performances were considered original, with Charles described as having a natural ironic wit which appealed to talent scouts.

In September 2015, he left Coronation Street after ten years of acting, to film new episodes of Red Dwarf and to continue his BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 2 broadcasting.

In September 2015, Charles performed his "epic" poem Scary Fairy and the Tales of the Dark Wood live with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, in a concert to be broadcast on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is Music Night at Halloween.

Charles' first television acting role was the Liverpudlian slob Dave Lister in science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf.

He was introduced to the show by Saturday Live and Red Dwarf producer Paul Jackson, who wanted his opinion on whether the black character Cat was a racist stereotype.

Charles, who like all of the eventual main cast had no acting experience, was eventually offered an audition after begging Jackson.

Charles has appeared in all twelve series as well as Red Dwarf: The Promised Land.

From 2017 to 2022, Charles hosted The Gadget Show for Channel 5.

His acting credits include playing inmate Eugene Buffy in the ITV drama The Governor, and leading roles in the British films Fated and Clubbing to Death.