Career hit by claims over drugs.

Byline: By BRIAN ROBERTS 

CRAIG Charles has been hit by a series of drugs allegations over the years and once admitted an out of control cocaine fuelled lifestyle.

The actor claimed he had beaten his addiction but a few years later was exposed as a drug pusher.

His past raised eyebrows when he landed his Corrie role as lippy cabbie Lloyd Mullaney last year.

A source on the show said: "It was felt what had happened was in the past and he got the role purely on his acting merits. But there were still some who questioned if we had done the right thing."

In 1994 Charles and a friend were accused by a Soho stripper of gang rape and indecent assault. He spent more than three months in custody awaiting trial before both were cleared in March 1995.

After the case he opened his heart about his drug taking. He said it began after his mother Jo died of cancer in 1987 and his marriage to Cathy Tyson - mum of his son Jack, now 17 - broke up in 1998.

He said: "It was too much. I just tried to escape through drugs. I didn't want to be me any more.

"At first it was fun. You feel part of the scene, one of the boys. You're young, successful ... but gradually cocaine eats away your self respect."

He added: "I plunged to a real low after smoking crack in a drugs den in Brooklyn. I was going down big in America and went into this place for a party. A guy said, 'Have a puff' - it was really scary stuff."

Three years after speaking out and claiming he was off drugs he was caught on tape by a Sunday paper pushing cocaine and ecstasy.

Since the rape trial he had slowly rebuilt his TV career. He played Scouse slob Dave Lister in cult sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf and hosted BBC's Robot Wars.

Then Charles - now married to Jackie, 42, mum of Anna-Jo, eight, and Nellie, three - joined Corrie on a six month contract. Within weeks bosses gave him an early contract extension well into this year.

But soon he was in trouble with then producer Tony Wood, who warned he could be axed after the Mirror exclusively revealed that five times the tight filming schedules were thrown into chaos when Charles suddenly took time off.

A Corrie source said last night: "He hasn't made many friends here. He's a real loner who likes his own company. He is reguarly spotted drinking alone in a pub near the studios."

CAPTION(S):

FAMILY MAN: With first wife Cathy and Jack' SPACED MAN: As Lister, left, in Red Dwarf