Corrie 'crack' star suspended

TV presenter and actor Craig Charles has been suspended by Coronation Street following claims he is a crack cocaine addict.

The 41-year-old actor could also face a police investigation.

Charles, a married father-of-three who plays Lloyd Mullaney in the ITV soap, was pictured in a tabloid newspaper smoking "extraordinary" amounts of the class A drug while on a four-hour car journey from London to Manchester.

He was today suspended by the soap with immediate effect pending further investigations.

A spokeswoman for Coronation Street said Charles had met producer Steve Frost to discuss the press reports and was advised of the suspension.

"No immediate decision has been taken on the length of the suspension as further inquiries need to be made," she said.

"Craig has no comment to make to the press at this stage."

BBC digital radio station 6 Music, where he fronts a Friday night funk programme, said: "These are very serious allegations and we shall be talking to Craig Charles about them."

Scotland Yard said it is considering what action to take.

The pictures in today's Mirror allegedly show Charles, former star of the Red Dwarf TV series, smoking the drug in the back of a car. The newspaper reports that he bought the £600 stash from a dealer near the BBC's studios in Portland Place shortly after finishing his music show.

During the four-hour journey he is said to have taken 60 hits of crack cocaine, breaking off only to read pornographic magazines bought en route from two petrol stations.

The grainy images show the Liverpool-born actor making a makeshift crack pipe from empty beer cans. He becomes gradually more wild-eyed and dishevelled and eventually slumps down across the car seats.

The Mirror report says: "At one stage, his eyes rolling wildly, Charles appeared to slip into a stupor - his mouth opening and closing wordlessly as he gripped a head-rest for support."

The newspaper claims the actor calls his weekly drug sessions Naughty Friday.

According to the Mirror, audio tape also apparently records Charles becoming increasingly paranoid. When his driver stops to use a garage lavatory he becomes frantic, calling him to come back.