Craig Watch News Posted by Seb Patrick on 20th June 2005, 19:41 Showing his amazing dramatic range, there. First impressions, based on his couple of minutes of screen time? Well, he’s basically just playing Lister again, but he was quite funny and looked quite at home. Unfortunately, he came close to ruining it all by performing some of the patented Crap Craig Charles Gurning at one point.
You know, he’s actually quite a good actor. (Red Dwarf 8 kind of lets his r?sum? down though.) Anyway, I’ve never watched Coronation Street and tonight’s first episode hasn’t made me want to continue with the second.
I think Craig’s very good in 8. Nobody could have made the “I’m appealing” joke as good as him and Norm. And the “wrong number” gag is superbly timed as well. Nobody could have done Lister better. He doesn’t get enough credit for that. Even if he does act like a twat at times.
He is actually quite a good actor; but he’s quite a good actor at playing ONE PART, and that one part really isn’t that much of a stretch away from his real-life personality (although it’s usually a bit nicer).
I JUST REALISED THE IRONY OF CRAIG CHARLES PLAYING A TAXI DRIVER OVER TEN YEARS AFTER A BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN WHICH HIS CHARACTER WAS A TAXI DRIVER. Get me.
Well noticed, Seb Patrick. Let’s hope there’s a scene in Coronation Street where he sets his hair on fire.
“Nobody could have done Lister better. He doesn’t get enough credit for that. Even if he does act like a twat at times.” Agree. It’s only in a couple of episodes in series 1 where I’ve ever thought that he was anything other than great as Lister. But because he’s a complete cunt (and because he does shows like Weapons of Mass Distraction) he isn’t appreciated for it. His fame is going to rise considerably through being in Corrie. Hope he doesn’t turn more into a dick because of it.
I’m amazed by how much the tabloids actually picked up on his Corrie involvement. There were quite a few pictures and reports from his first day of filming, and again just before the episode aired. It wasn’t at McKellen-esque levels, but still – it shows just how known a name Craig is, certainly far more so than any of his fellow Dwarfers (Chris Barrie’s profile has dipped of late, despite the Tomb Raider films, he’s nothing like as popular as he was when he had Brittas and Dwarf running concurrently). It was just nice to see Dwarf mentioned again in the papers – at least they did actually tend to call him “Red Dwarf star Craig Charles”, and not “Robot Wars presenter Craig Charles”! :-)
Oh, and incidentally, I’d put money on him being in the series for quite a bit longer than his initial contract. Especially if the Dwarf movie isn’t getting anywhere. He can forge a whole new career out of this, if he does well.
I can just imagine Craig Charles searching the internet for reviews of his first few performances in Coronation Street and coming across this page. “Oh, they think I’m a cunt. But nevermind, they’re only FUCKING RED DWARF FANS BUNCH OF FUCKING SOCIAL REJECTS (PROBABLY FACIALLY DISFIGURED) WHO THE FUCK CARES WHAT THEY THINK ANYWAY?”
I don’t know if this is rascist or not… but was I the only one who never saw Craig Charles as black until the Series IV Documentary?
As a youth, I wasn’t aware that Craig Charles was mixed-race. His skin is fairly light, but he does make a big deal about being black. Mind you, I never realised Paul McGrath was mixed-race either.
