Episode 2 Craig Charles
First shown Monday 5th September 2016 8pm ITV1
Also shown Wednesday 15th March 2017 4.30pm ITV1
Craig at his home in Cheshire - a converted former mill
Craig
Charles 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 revisits his childhood home on Liverpool's Cantril Farm Estate
(today renamed Stockbridge Village)
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 where by now the council had renovated the old
Victorian houses.
The Liverpool house Craig's family moved to when he was 11
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.
The first flat Craig bought in Camden, London
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’.
The house Craig owned in Southampton
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 ‘think mum – look at me’.
