Craig Charles reveals tragic death of his brother was behind decision to leave Coronation Street

The actor said his brother's death made him re-evaluate his career
Calling quits: Craig Charles on This Morning
Ken McKay/ITV/REX
Emma Powell19 August 2015
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Actor Craig Charles has revealed the reason behind his decision to leave Coronation Street.

Charles, 51 – who has played cab driver Lloyd Mullaney in the ITV soap since 2005 – said that his brother’s death made him re-evaluate his life.

The Red Dwarf actor – who was informed of the tragic news while taking part in I’m A Celebrity – told Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes: “It’s really quite sad, actually, but my brother died last year. He was 52 – I’m 51. When he died I thought, ‘There’s things that I’ve got to do. I’ve got to do some things before it’s my time’. There’s so many things that, Coronation Street is such a big part of your life, you don’t get to do.

Corrie cabbie: Craig Charles as Lloyd Mullaney
ITV

“So I’ve just signed a deal with Sony Records and we’re bringing out an album on September 18th – a compilation of funk and soul album. It’s some of the best records ever committed to plastic – 3 CDs on that.

“Then I’m working with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for this epic poems."

He continued: “Then of course mid-November we start making Red Dwarf. We do two series of Red Dwarf back-to-back, which will take me all the way up until March. After March I’ll sit down and go, ‘I wish I was back on Coronation Street!’”

Speaking about whether or not the door has been left open, Charles confirmed that his character has not been killed off.

“I don’t think I’m leaving in a box," he said. "I’ve just found out I’ve done nearly 950 episodes. I hadn’t even made 1,000 yet – if they’d told me that…!”

The actor and DJ also took the chance to dispel rumours suggesting that he is heading back into the jungle for the upcoming series of I'm A Celebrity.

“I’m 2-1 favourite to win,” he said. “But no, I’m not going in. I’m filming Red Dwarf in November so thats the time they film the jungle.

“I’m not saying it’s something I would never do again.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in