Craig Charles (born July 11, 1964) is a British actor, poet and radio and television presenter. He is best known for playing Dave Lister in Red Dwarf. Before turning to entertainment, Charles played professional football, most notably for Tranmere Rovers. He started his career as a performance poet on the British cabaret circuit, appearing on the late-night comedy programme, Saturday Live, and later became a presenter of children's television programmes including What's That Noise on BBC 1. He also appeared weekly as a John Cooper Clarke-style 'punk poet' on the BBC pop music television programme The Oxford Road Show, calling himself 'Susan Williams'.
Charles acquired cult status as the Liverpudlian slob, Dave Lister, in the series Red Dwarf. Charles joined the cast of long-running serial Coronation Street in 2005, his first appearance airing on June 20; he plays Lloyd, a philandering taxi driver.
Charles has presented the following programmes: the virtual reality gameshow CyberZone (1993) on BBC2, the late-night entertainment show Funky Bunker (1997) on ITV, the sci-fi-based quiz show Space Cadets on Channel 4, the reality television show Jailbreak (2000) on five, and the late-night chat show Weapons Of Mass Distraction (2004) on ITV1. In 1997 Charles played the title role in the short-lived Channel 4 sitcom Captain Butler. His most high profile presenting job has been on Robot Wars, which he presented for BBC2 from 1998-2003, and then for five from 2003-2004. He also provided the voice-over for the UK version of the Japanese hit TV show Takeshi's Castle, shown on Challenge. In 2005 he participated in the Channel 4 reality sports show, The Games, coming 4th overall in the men's competition, despite missing two events due to injury.
He is a DJ on the radio station BBC 6 Music, presenting The Craig Charles Funk Show, the best known UK radio show in its genre. Every Friday and Saturday, it features a blend of funk and soul.
