Craig Charles: How Corrie put up with my crack cocaine hell

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog October 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Tonight on the W Channel, Craig Charles is the guest of John Bishop in the show John Bishop: In Conversation.  And from the preview of the show (via the Manchester Evening News) it seems as if Craig is going to talk about his time on Coronation Street when he was caught taking crack cocaine.

But instead of sacking him, he reveals how Corrie helped him and sent him to rehab.

Craig says: "I was dead lucky that I had a wife, Jackie, who I adore and adores me, I had kids who know what I’m really like, and I had a reason to get better. I had a job that I loved and I had enough people who knew what I was like to say, ‘Let’s care, let’s care for him, let’s care about him, let’s get him well, rather than let’s sack him.

"When my mum died I got into drugs. When my dad died, I did again. It was just a case of... I was like stuck in this little flat in Manchester missing my family, working like 14 hours a day, then travelling vast amounts of motorways all the time. It was just a way of coping.”

Charles said he now pursued 'positive addictions... like I work a lot. I love funk and soul (music). I get obsessive about it'.

The Red Dwarf star became tearful as he talked about learning, while he was stuck in the I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! jungle, that his brother had died, aged just 52.

“We’d not been speaking... we’d fallen out. We’d had a family disagreement,” he told comedian John Bishop, on TV channel W.

“He texted me. I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone I was going in (the jungle), and he texted me a couple of times before I went in saying‘Craig, it’s Dean, just wanna chat’ - and I’ve kind of ignored him.

“I thought look, I can’t really deal with this right now. What I’ll do is, I’ll go in the jungle, come back out and we’ll all be together by Christmas. And that never happened.”

John Bishop In Conversation With Craig Charles is on W on Thursday at 9pm.

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Craig Charles interviewed on Loose Women

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog May 2016, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Craig Charles, who played Lloyd Mullaney on Coronation Street, was interviewed on ITV's Loose Women today.

He talked about leaving Corrie to take a part in Red Dwarf and the sad news that his brother died when he was taking part in the celebrity jungle. He said he'd like to go back into the jungle to finish what he started.

Craig's currently DJing on BBC 6 music and BBC Radio 2. He will be performing at Glastonbury as well as many other festivals this year. He's also doing a DJ gig at the Old Manchester Studios with Candi Staton. 

Sadly, the news that I was hoping to hear - that he might be returning to Coronation Street - wasn't touched on.  Come on new Corrie Producer, let's get Craig back on Corrie.  We need Lloyd back at Streetcars with Steve, where he surely belongs.



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Craig Charles new Funk and Soul classics CD

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog September 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Craig Charles might have left Coronation Street (temporarily, let's hope!) as cabbie Lloyd Mullaney, but he's still working hard.

He'll be filming a new series of Red Dwarf soon, he's still working as a DJ around the country and as a DJ on BBC Radio 6 and Radio 2.

And he's also released a new CD. This one sounds like a corker.

It's Craig Charles Funk and Soul Classics, a 3 CD funk of trunk.
Buy it from Amazon here - Craig Charles Funk And Soul Classics



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Craig Charles reveals why he's leaving Coronation Street

Craig Charles reveals why he's leaving Coronation Street Craig Charles, who plays Coronation Street cabbie Lloyd Mullaney, is leaving the show later this year.  Craig was interviewed on ITV's This Morning today and in a moving interview he revealed his reasons for leaving Corrie.

He said: "My brother died last year, he was 52. I'm 51 and when he died, I'm sure you know I was in Australia (filming I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here) and I just thought 'there's things I've got to do. I've got to do some things, before it's my time, you know?' And Coronation Street is such a big part of your life that there's some things you don't get the chance to do."

He also talks about bringing his love of music into Coronation Street as Lloyd and the cross-over episode of Red Dwarf which was filmed on the cobbles.

He's signed a deal with Sony records and is bringing out a record on September 18, a compilation funk and soul album.

He's also working with the 90 piece BBC Philharmonic orchestra on an epic poem called Scary Fairy and the Tales of the Dark Wood in time for Halloween.

And in November he starts filming two series of Red Dwarf which will take him up to March 2016 when he'll be free. Let's hope Corrie will have him back on the Street!

Craig has already admitted he doesn't really want to leave Coronation Street. Read that here.

You can watch the interview here.



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Craig Charles presents Manchester music history programme

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog October 2013, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Coronation Street actor and DJ Craig Charles will present a radio documentary this week about the time in 1964 when a number of Blues performers played at Chorlton Railway Station.

Didn’t It Rain: When The Blues Came to Britain will air on the network this Thursday 24th October 2013 at 10pm and is presented by Coronation Street actor and 6 Music presenter Craig Charles (Lloyd Mullaney in Corrie).

Made in Manchester Creative Director Ashley Byrne says: ‘It’s an incredible tale of a largely forgotten piece of music history – the moment in Manchester in early 1964 when some of America’s legendary Blues performers played at Chorlton Railway Station.’

Among those who performed on the night are Cousin Joe Pleasant, Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Otis Span, Willie Smith and Ransome Knowling.

Find out more here.



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Craig Charles: "I could be first black Doctor Who"

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog June 2013, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Craig Charles, who plays Coronation Street's Lloyd Mullaney, has told how he'd be thrilled to become the first black Doctor Who as the search for a new Time Lord continues.

As well as his acting role on Corrie, Craig is also a Funk and Soul DJ - and he said he'd be delighted to become the next Doctor after BBC bosses and show insiders said they're seriously considering casting a black actor.

Craig told Purple Revolver: "Yeah, having a black Doctor Who would be double cool. To be asked by the Beeb would be great, its such a classic show. But I think there would probably be too much cross-over with Red Dwarf, as we've got a new series lined up next year.

Also, I would have to grit my teeth a bit, because the thing about Dr Who that always annoyed me was the graphics are crap. But, even if I can't be the first black Doctor, I am the first black man to own a house on Corrie, which is as good a claim to fame."



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Craig Charles on bringing the first black family to Coronation Street

I'm a huge fan of Craig Charles, not just for his acting on Coronation Street as Lloyd, but for his passion for music on the Craig Charles Funk and soul show on BBC 6. Awooga! Awooga! Awooga! It's the radio highlight of the week in our house.

Anyway, more power to the fella.  In a great interview with The Voice, Craig talks about bringing a black family into Coronation Street for the first time.


He says: “I have enjoyed having a black family in Coronation Street. It is the first ever in its history and I am quite shocked at that fact. It’s great to be involved with something that is quite iconic. It will always be the first black family, and after 50 years it’s about time really.”

Craig says it was his idea to bring in Corrie's first black family. “I actually suggested (bringing a black family to Coronation Street) to the script writers, I said, ‘look, there’s never been a black family, you’ve got me as a character, why not build one around me?’ We were trying to get it together for the 50th year anniversary but I had to film Red Dwarf so I took a lot of time off. Any street like Coronation Street, in Manchester will have a lot more than one black family on it. If you’re gonna do a show which is reflective of the community to do that you have to include everyone and Manchester is such a multicultural society. It’s who we are as a nation.”

He added: “We’ve come so far from the days when I was first on television and I’m quite chuffed it’s happened on Coronation Street, because Eastenders has had black families for years and Manchester’s not different from London.”

Craig also reveals that Lloyd's new family will have some explosive story lines. “I’m working really hard on Coronation Street at the moment, I have a daughter and an ex Mrs. and it’s all set to kick of, there’s gonna be a lot of crazy things happening to test Lloyd.”


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Craig Charles interview

(This post was originally posted by me on the Coronation Street Blog in July 2012.)

There's a good Q;A in today's Independent with Craig Charles, who plays Lloyd on Corrie. Craig is going to return to our screens this week in a cloud of smoke and will hit the ground running, literally, on Friday.

In the interview we find out that Craig is good a playing the piano and rubbish at DIY. He loves ELO (Electric Light Orchestra... hey, so do I!), the Godfather trilogy, and DJing funk and soul music on BBC's 6 Music on Saturday nights.

I'm looking forward to Lloyd's return. I've missed the Dynamic Duo of Steve and Lloyd!

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Craig Charles: "Steve and Lloyd are Corrie's odd couple"

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog June 2012, reposted to this blog with permission.)

(No spoiler because we knew Craig Charles was only on a temporary break)

In this week's 20th birthday issue of Inside Soap magazine, there's an interview with Craig Charles who talks about the return of cabbie Lloyd Mullaney to Coronation Street.

Craig says that after a bumpy start between Steve and Lloyd, the paid end up being best mates again and might even move in together.

"I'd love for Lloyd and Steve to play the odd couple for a while," he says. "There's so much scope for comedy in that, and it would be in the great Corrie tradition too. We could be like the new Stan Ogden and Eddie Yeats - sat there in our boxers, string vests on, watching the telly, eating burgers and talking rubbish. It'd be great fun!".

Sounds great to this Corrie fan, Lloyd and Steve together are great to watch.

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Come in Number 169!

My mum sent me an email the other day to update me on Corrie (and her vegetable garden).  Don't worry this isn't a spoiler.

She told me about Craig Charles' break from the cobbles to go back to the mining ship.  It must be true, there is an article on the official Red Dwarf website.

Obviously they read my blogs !