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

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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The poetry of Coronation Street

It’s National Poetry Day in the UK today, so I am celebrating the art of Street Poetry. Get it?

I find it pretty cool that Craig Charles began his career as a contemporary performance poet, regularly sharing a stage with Merseyside greats such as Roger McGough and Adrian Henri. Apparently, Craig has taken up poetry again since leaving Coronation Street.

The character of Ken Barlow also wrote some poetry after departing Weatherfield for Canada a few years ago. Another resident to have enjoyed the written word was John Stape, who - after being struck off as a teacher - went on to teach romantic verse at an adult education centre. 

Poetry has been used to devastating effect recently by Daniel Barlow. Not in his seduction of Sinead or in his exams, but in the attempted murder of his old man with the Howatch Book of Classic Poetry and Poets. It was the first time ever that Ken did not enjoy getting his head around a book of poems!

I have long thought of Corrie as a work of art and at its best, the dialogue is poetic. It is no wonder, then, that several poets have been fans of the Street. Sir John Betjeman may have hated Slough but he loved Weatherfield. He said: “Manchester produces what to me is the Pickwick Papers. That is to say, Coronation Street, I live for it. Thank God. Half past seven tonight and I shall be in paradise.”

Sir John Betjeman, Tony Warren and Lady Elizabeth Cavendish

The current Poet Laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy, is also a Corrie enthusiast with strong links to the show. In this 1999 interview, Duffy talked about watching Coronation Street and revealed that her close friend Tony Warren was her daughter’s Godfather. 

When Tony passed away last year, Carol spoke for us all when she said: “Manchester has lost its dearest son and so many of us a beloved friend. And the millions who have loved Coronation Street for over half a century have lost their Dickens.” Lovely words.

I studied Carol Ann Duffy in my English A-Level and I have enjoyed her work ever since. I was delighted when she wrote a special poem to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Coronation Street in 2010. She said: “I was so proud to be asked and so proud to know my poem would be on the show.”

Ken Barlow (who else?) read the poem in an episode broadcast on Christmas Eve 2010. It was during a memorial carol service on Coronation Street to commemorate the victims of the tram crash: 

The poem in full reads:

If someone could direct me to a street where I could stand

Cobbles beneath my feet tearful with rain; 

The shadows of my hopes behind the stained-glass windows of a pub, ghosts – 

I would turn up the collar of my coat, and walk, and number each small, terraced house by heart: 

Birthplace; neighbours – hard man, hussy, harridan, hustler, hero, heroine – 

Threshold, bride and groom, as clueless of next year as Christmas Eve; 

Or exit-place, a hearse, a raw and local grief... 

Then I'd retrace my steps, perhaps a baby's cry, sharp as a sudden star nailed to the sky, 

To stand now in this backstreet bar, nursing a beer
All my griefs, my gifts, and glad I live here.

Carol Ann Duffy was on set during filming, an experience she described as “magical”. She told how they “were stood in the fake snow and it felt like a real street”.

That's made me feel all Christmassy! Talking of Christmas on the cobbles, the sad news of Liz Dawn's death has reminded me of Christmas 2004 when Vera chastised Jack for giving her the same Christmas card as the year before... “But the poem made you cry”, protested Jack. “Yes”, said Vera... “but I didn't expect to get it again this year, you bone-idled, tight-fisted pig!”

Now, that is poetic. Rest In Peace, Liz - your poetry endures.

Blog by Martin Leay, on Twitter @mpleay

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Craig Charles returns to TV

Craig Charles is returning to television, but sadly not to Coronation Street.  Craig, who played the fab and much-missed Lloyd Mullaney in Coronation Street, has been appointed host of the Channel 5's The Gadget Show.

Craig admitted to being “more of an enthusiast than an expert” when it comes to technology but hopes he will be able to make the programme accessible for viewers.

He said: “I’ve always been into my gadgets and have been involved with tech on other shows I’ve done like Robot Wars and Red Dwarf, so I’m really delighted to be joining such a legendary programme. Hopefully, it will impress my kids and they’ll think of me as a ‘cool dad’ for once!”

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Coronation Street stars expose their home secrets

There's a great new telly proramme on ITV which started this week. it's called Calebrity Home Secrets. The  idea is that they get a telly celeb who gives us a glimpse into their life by revisiting their former homes. They share secrets and memories from when they lived in each of their homes.

The first episode, which I was glued to, was ex-Corrie actor Nigel Havers, who played con-man Lewis Archer in Coronation Street. You can watch that episode on the ITV player, I highly recommend it.

 

Next week, it's ex-Corrie actor Craig Charles, who played cabbie Lloyd Mullaney, and it'll be another must-see, for me. The programme airs on Monday night, in between the two Coronation Street episodes, at 8pm.

Craig returns to his childhood home in Liverpool to reveal how his TV career began and shows off his collection of memorabilia at his Cheshire home. He was born in Liverpool in 1964. Four years later his family – a white Irish mother and black Ghanaian father, brothers Jimmy and Dean moved in to a house on the brand new Cantril Farm Estate.

Craig begins his journey back through his property ladder by returning to this childhood home. The vast council housing estate on the outskirts of Liverpool was designed to offer a better way of life to 15,000 people relocated from the decaying Victorian terraced housing in the city centre – houses with no inside toilets or bathrooms.

Craig remembers for the residents their dream homes quickly turned into a nightmare. Unemployment soared as factories closed and the docks laid off workers. The estate was heavily vandalised, Craig describes ‘graffiti everywhere’ and says he was in ‘fights every day of my life, defending myself, defending my mum’. As one of the few mixed race families on the estate life was tough in 1960’s Liverpool. By 1975 Craig’s mum decided enough was enough and moved the family back to the city centre where by now the council had renovated the old Victorian houses.

Craig’s next stop on his journey is to revisit this Liverpool home – which he remembers his parents managed to buy when his long-distance lorry driver dad won £1800 on the horses. He describes how they had a ‘slot TV’ that you had to feed with 10p coins to keep it playing. While he lived here one of his teachers submitted a poem Craig had written into a national poetry competition run by the Guardian newspaper. The poem won. It was a transformational moment in his life. By the time he was 15 Craig was regularly performing on stage with the famous Liverpool beat poets Roger McGough and Brian Patten.

Craig left Liverpool to find national fame – and his next visit is to a flat in Camden – the first property he ever bought. As he remembers he ‘did what Thatcher wanted and got on the property ladder’. The flat cost £41,000 ‘which was quite a bit of money in them days’. Craig had married actress Cathy Tyson when he was just 19, and she was 18. They came to London together when she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford and the play transferred to The Barbican. By the time they bought this flat both their careers were taking off. Craig was a regular on TV and radio – appearing on Channel 4’s ground breaking Saturday Live and then Red Dwarf. Cathy won a starring role in the movie Mona Lisa alongside Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins.

After Craig and Cathy had their son Jack, they separated and then divorced. Craig bought a house in Vauxhall that he renovated with the help of local craftsmen, using recycled materials. He’s excited to revisit this property ‘I hope it hasn’t changed too much’. He isn’t disappointed the unusual period property retains many of the features he installed – a kitchen with industrial wire mesh doors, stained glass windows and reclaimed wooden floors and work tops. While he lived here he secured the role as host of BBC Two’s smash hit series Robot Wars – making him a national name. Craig also met Jackie, a journalist on the Irish Independent, who would later become his wife. He describes how she moved into this house with him just three weeks after they met. In time they had a daughter Ajay and later decided that Vauxhall was no place to raise a young child. Craig reluctantly sold the house and moved to the country but says now ‘I wish I’d kept it’.

Craig’s next visit is to the house he owned just outside Southampton, a former railwayman’s house built in 1762 with beautiful wood panelling throughout. Craig and Jackie moved here in 2004 with their daughters Ajay and Nellie to be near Jackie’s sister. Craig remembers that he ‘spent a fortune’ on the house, carrying out renovations and adding a conservatory. Craig had a grand piano here and a music room. It was while he lived here he got the biggest call of his career from Tony Wood, producer of Coronation Street. The role Craig landed - Lloyd Mullaney – kept him on screen for 10 years from 2005 – 2015.

It was his success in Coronation Street, and the travelling he was doing as a club DJ and BBC Radio presenter that led to Craig’s move to his current home in Cheshire in 2012. The weekly commute from Southampton to Manchester became too much. Today Craig and his family live in a converted former mill. Craig has his own ‘man cave’ filled with memorabilia, a pool table, and of course his records and decks. He’s writing poetry again and likes to sit in the garden, listening to the birds and thinks,'mum – look at me.'

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Craig Charles interviewed on Loose Women

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 teams up with BBC Philharmonic for Halloween poem

This sounds amazing!  Craig Charles, who played Lloyd Mullaney on Coronation Street, has teamed up with the BBC Philharmonic to perform one of his poems, set to music, which will be broadcast during a special Friday Night is Music Night this week.

Craig's poem is a revamp of Little Red Riding Hood - with added blood and guts - and set to music.

Recorded at the BBC Philharmonic studio at MediaCityUK in Salford, Craig takes centre stage as he recites his poem to an orchestral score played by the BBC Philharmonic. The result is a 40 minute musical story which will be broadcast during the BBC Radio 2 show from 8pm on Friday.

Craig, whose career began at the age of 12 when he won the Guardian Poetry Award, said: “It was nerve-racking for me. But for them it’s like shelling peas. The orchestra was so loud and they were really giving it some. It was like standing in front of a heavy metal band.”

You can hear a preview of it below:



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Craig Charles new Funk and Soul classics CD

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, 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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Lloyd's Northern Soul record gets nicked - by Andrea

Lloyd's a man who likes his music and his vinyl collection means the world to him.  Next week on Coronation Street, one of his favourite Northern Soul records goes missing - and it's been stolen by Andrea to pay off her daughter Jess' debt.

Inside Soap magazine reveal that there's a twist in the tale to come in this story after the couple split up. 

We already know that Craig Charles and Hayley Tamaddon (Lloyd and Andrea) have filmed their final scenes.  

However, they will also both be featuring in the live episode to be shown in September, so I'm not quite sure what's going on there and how that will work out.

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Craig Charles has filmed his final Corrie scenes

Craig Charles, who plays Lloyd Mullaney on Coronation Street, has filmed his final scenes.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Lloyd has left the building - and the show.

However, I wonder if he will be returning for the live episode in September.  Hayley Tamaddon, who plays Lloyd's girlfriend Andrea, revealed in an interview with Radio Times earlier this year that  Andrea will leave the show with Lloyd during September’s live episode. 

I'll miss Craig Charles a lot on the show as I rate him highly as an actor and Lloyd's a great character too. 

Craig is leaving to record a new series of Red Dwarf as well as taking his trunk of funk on the road with the Funk and Soul Roadshow, and continuing his Radio 6 funk and soul show, which I love.

You might want to see also: Craig Charles: "I don't really want to leave Coronation Street"

Last time Craig left the show for a break in December 2011, Streetcars gave Lloyd a 10-horn salute as the cabs beeped their horns on his exit, as it were.

Let's hope we'll see Craig again on Coronation Street.

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Craig Charles: "I don't really want to leave Coronation Street"

There's an excellent interview in the Daily Mail's Event magazine today.  Craig Charles, who is leaving Coronation Street as Lloyd Mullaney, is interviewed in the magazine and it's a very good read. 

Talking about leaving the soap after 10 years of playing Lloyd, Craig says: ‘I don’t really want to leave. I have had a fantastic time on Corrie but I can’t keep asking for time off. Coronation Street will go on but they wouldn’t make another Red Dwarf without me. I can’t let the other lads down.’

He says he'll miss his on-screen cabbie partner Steve McDonald, played by Simon Gregson. 'I’m going to miss Simon so much," he says.  And he says that he doesn't yet know how Lloyd will leave the show.  ‘I don’t think they are going to kill me off. I don’t know. I hope not.’

Craig also talks about the death of his brother while he was in the Celebrity Jungle last year; the false accusation of rape and his past cocaine addiction. 

It's a hard-hitting interview, well worth a read, and it's here.

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Craig Charles leaving Coronation Street as Lloyd Mullaney

In the same day as the announcement about Alison King leaving Coronation Street as Carla Connor, comes another shock too.

An ITV spokeswoman has confirmed to us here at the Coronation Street Blog that Craig Charles, who plays Streetcars cabbie Lloyd Mullaney, is leaving the show in September.

Simon Gregson, who plays Steve McDonald, posted this on twitter after the news broke:

@SoapQueen86 @CCfunkandsoul I'm 😔

— simon gregson (@simongregson123) May 2, 2015

Craig will be leaving the show to return to filming Red Dwarf and hopes to return to Coronation Street one day.

Craig Charles said: “I have had an absolutely fantastic ten years on Coronation Street and I will be very sad to leave. Lloyd has become a huge part of my life and I have made some amazing friends with whom I will always keep in touch.

“But I feel I owe it to my colleagues on Red Dwarf to join them in filming the new series and finding out what is in store for Lister and the others. I would love to return to Coronation Street at some point in the future.”

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EXCLUSIVE Coronation Street Blog interview with David Neilson

I’ve had to pinch myself a few times since I started writing for the Coronation Street Blog but never more so than last Friday when I met up with David Neilson in Westminster, London to talk about his life and career and 20 years spent on Britain’s most famous cobbled street.

I was 12 when Roy Cropper first arrived in Weatherfield, mithering Deirdre in that block of flats on Crimea Street. I’ve grown up with Roy and seen him become one of the most loved characters in Coronation Street history – a national treasure!

David Neilson with Corrie Blogger, Martin Leay
(Photo by David Doig)

David Neilson doesn’t do many interviews and so, it was an absolute pleasure and privilege to speak to him exclusively for the Coronation Street Blog. He was great company and only too happy to chat to the many people who recognised him during the hour and three quarters we spent together. I am very grateful to David for being so generous with his time – and on his birthday, no less!

There was so much to talk about that I have split the interview into three parts, the first of which you can read below. This part focuses on David Neilson - his background, his passion for acting and how he came to play Roy Cropper in Coronation Street. 

The second part, in which David talks about playing Roy over the past 20 years, will be on the website tomorrow (Thursday 19th March).

And the final part of the interview, in which David talks about Roy’s relationship with Hayley, working with Julie Hesmondhalgh, and what the future may bring for Roy Cropper, will be up on the website on Friday 20th March.

So, here is part one of our exclusive interview with David Neilson…

 

Martin Leay (ML): What made you want to become an actor? 

David Neilson (DN): I didn’t want the life that was offered me. I was a gas fitter when I left school - when I was 15.  My brother had tried for drama school. I remember him telling me he’d done this audition and you didn’t need O-Levels - you could just go along. And I thought I’d like to go into the movies. I really like those old movies like ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’,  ‘A Taste of Honey’, ‘Billy Liar’ – those movies were about escape – ‘get out, you don’t have to be in this thing’.

ML: How did you break into acting?

DN: I was dead lucky. I used to go to Technical College in Leicester – a day release thing opposite the Phoenix Theatre and I went to see ‘The Caretaker’. I didn’t know what it was but I went to see it and Anthony Hopkins was in it. It blew me away, the whole thing – I thought, wow, I understand that world. So I did a bit of that for my (drama school) audition and I did a bit of Shakespeare. I did one audition and they offered me a place and it changed my life in one afternoon. I came to London and I did a lot of theatre work but I had unemployment as well and picked my tools up again.

"How's that old boyfriend then, Nat?"
(David Neilson in Life Is Sweet)

ML: You were in two Mike Leigh films. How did that come about?

DN: I did a bit of plumbing for Mike! I’m in ‘Life Is Sweet’ and I’ve got one line. I’m the plumber - I’m working with Claire Skinner and I carry a radiator. Mike rang me up and said there’s this part. So I did it and the next one was ‘Secrets & Lies’. We filmed it on a Saturday in June 1995 and one of the actors in it was saying ‘it’s one of my ambitions to be in a Mike Leigh film’ and he said ‘my other ambition is to be in Coronation Street’. I said ‘that’s really weird because I’m doing both of your ambitions this weekend’. On the Saturday I was in the Mike Leigh film and Sunday was my first day on Coronation Street.

ML: How did you land the part of Roy Cropper?

DN: My friend Stephen Mallatratt was writing for the show… we were at drama school together. He’d written one of the 6 episodes. He got a call from the producers saying ‘this character’s got this facility with language – you’ve written him a bit more downmarket than the others - can you just adjust it?’ He was thinking about this guy and how completely inept he was and he thought of me! He rang casting and it was 5o’clock… and he said ‘have you cast this character?’ and they said ‘no, but we will tomorrow morning’. Now if he’d have been half an hour later it wouldn’t have happened because they’d all have gone home – if I’d have been doing a training film somewhere – or if he’d have written it right in the first place, this chance would never have come up. When I got there for this audition, or just an interview – there were all sorts of shapes and sizes – there were older people, fat ones, little ones and the one thing I realised was they didn’t know what they were looking for. So I got it and that was it.

ML: Were you a fan of Coronation Street before you joined the show?

DN: I liked the humour. There have been some great talents and there still are hugely talented people and I know the care that goes into it.

ML: Are there any characters you would like to do more scenes with?

DN: It depends what the scene is. There are some people you never get to speak to apart from serving them in the café. I enjoy watching other characters. I don’t do anything really with Steve McDonald and for me, he’s the centre of The Street – I think he’s got the spirit of Jack Duckworth. He’s got that humour. I love him – Simon and Craig Charles together – I think they’re great.

ML: So you watch Corrie?

DN: Yeah, you have to.  I go through binges. When you’re not in the episode you can sit back and say ‘this is remarkable really’. Some of the things in it are fantastic. I can watch it and feel very proud to be part of it. And there are some really good people in it and some really good people have gone through it. I think it’s a good show.

ML: What is it that you like about it?

DN: The show is entertainment for people who graft all day. It is something they can switch on and go ‘I know where I am here, I’ll watch them have the problems’. And people are very sophisticated about it. Our viewers know what’s right and wrong. They have an instinct for it.

ML: Can you see yourself doing another 20 years at Corrie or are there other things you would like to try?

DN: I’m very fortunate – it’s been very good to me and I feel very valued by the company.  I’m quite happy – there are things I might want to do, it depends what I’m offered. I’ll always be grateful to it, whatever happens. It’s a great show to be part of. I went in for 6 episodes and I’ve been in for 20 years so that’s quite immense really when I think about it. But I don’t normally think about it!

ML: Is it difficult to keep your day job and your private life separate?

DN: Yes… but you learn what to do. I was a plumber but when I finished work I didn’t go home and sit in the bathroom all night. It’s a job.

ML: Can it be difficult to switch off from certain storylines?

DN: I’ve lost more sleep about being a plumber than I have about being an actor because it really matters to people if there is water pouring through their ceiling. But because you are tapping into emotions and experiences that you’ve had, it must open up certain things within you so that if it’s a depressing storyline you can get depressed. You have to look after yourself.

ML: Do you think Roy could fit a boiler?

DN: I think he could, intellectually… but I wouldn’t let him!

Be sure to log on to the Coronation Street Blog tomorrow (Thursday 19th March) for the second part of our exclusive interview with David Neilson, which will focus on David’s role as Corrie’s Roy Cropper.  You can read it here.

Interview by Martin Leay
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