Corrie star suspended after drug allegations
Coronation Street actor Craig Charles was suspended from the soap today after pictures of him apparently smoking crack cocaine were published in a newspaper.
Pictures in the Daily Mirror today allegedly showed the television star taking the drug in the back of a car during a journey from London to Manchester.
A spokeswoman for Coronation Street said Charles had met producer Steve Frost to discuss the press reports and was advised of the suspension.
The 41-year-old, who plays cabbie Lloyd Mullaney, was suspended with immediate effect pending further investigations, the spokeswoman said.
“No immediate decision has been taken on the length of the suspension as further inquiries need to be made,” she said.
“Craig has no comment to make to the press at this stage,” she added.
The Daily Mirror said the pictures it published were taken after the star finished his funk show on BBC digital radio channel 6 Music, when he was picked up by his personal driver and driven north.
At the end of the journey the 41-year-old was dropped off at his flat yards from the Coronation Street set, but had to be taken to a hotel for the night after he locked himself out, the newspaper said.
Today, the BBC said Charles would not be presenting his show on the radio channel while they were talking to him about the allegations.
Liverpool-born Charles made his name playing Dave Lister in the TV space comedy Red Dwarf.
He has hosted BBC2’s Robot Wars and taken part in Channel 4’s The Games.
The married father-of-three joined the cast of Coronation Street last year.
The latest cocaine allegations against a celebrity come after the Metropolitan Police was forced to drop its investigation into supermodel Kate Moss’s drug taking because they were unable to identify which substance she was consuming in pictures published in the Daily Mirror.
The newspaper said today it would make its “dossier of evidence” on Charles available to police.
