Perdita
18-02-2009, 09:42
Shambolic Corrie star Craig Charles again faces the wrath of bosses after a huge booze bender.
The 44-year-old ex-crack addict stunned onlookers by careering from pub to pub.
He was eventually thrown out of one for threatening a customer.
Then he staggered into the road for a taxi, waving his hands and stopping cars.
Couples out for a romantic Valentine’s meal said he ruined their night.
And Corrie bosses who gave the actor a second chance over his drug addiction fear “alarm bells are ringing”.
Charles’s pitiful pub crawl began just before teatime after he and Street co-star Simon Gregson, 34, arrived in pretty Bowness, near Lake Windermere.
Gregson has a boat there, which locals say the pair regularly use as a weekend base when filming ends on a Friday. By the time they hit the Hole In The Wall pub at 7pm staff said they seemed “well on it already”. A regular said: “They always like a few drinks but they’d had quite a few before they even got here.”
Next stop was The Albert at 8pm, a few hundred yards away, where again they looked like they were “well on it”.
At 9pm they careered across the road to the John Peel Inn where trouble began.
One drinker said: “They shouldn’t have been served because they were in a right state. It turned ugly just before 10pm when Charles started to get abusive with a customer. He threatened him and that’s when they were chucked out.”
Onlooker Keith Mulcahy, 46, began filming the chaotic star after he stumbled up to his fianceé Ellie Godfrey, also 46, mumbling and stinking of booze.
Keith said couples enjoying the beginning of their Valentine’s weekend were shocked at Charles’s antics in the tiny Lakes village.
Keith said: “He stumbled into the street and walked into the middle of the road. He was holding up the traffic waving his arms in the air. His friends had to hold him up because he was really unsteady on his feet. He looked like he was going to fall over. They looked quite embarrassed.” Mum-of-two Ellie added: “I was shocked at the state he was in. He was falling over and had this mad grin on his face. It ruined the mood.”
Keith said the drunk actor was helped to a nearby seat where he swayed with his head in his hands.
Moments later he lost his balance and toppled over, knocking over a sandwich board. He had to be helped to his feet before he was bundled into a taxi.
Keith said: “The village was packed with couples enjoying the romantic atmosphere until he came and made a spectacle of himself. People were shocked because this isn’t a lairy kind of place.”
The sad pictures will alarm Corrie bosses, who stood by Charles when the Mirror revealed his £5,000-a-week crack cocaine habit.
A source said: “There have been a few alarm bells ringing with Craig. He’s been spotted in the pub more than he should be. To be in such a state in public is not what the bosses will want to hear. There is only so much they will put up with.”
Charles was suspended from Corrie in 2006 after the Mirror showed pictures of him smoking crack in the back of a cab.
The actor, who plays Lloyd Mullaney, checked himself into The Priory, returning to work six months later. A Street spokesman said last night: “Both Craig and Simon have been made aware of the allegations and have no comment to make.”
If he carries on like it he could end up like Bruce Jones (Les Battersby) :(
The 44-year-old ex-crack addict stunned onlookers by careering from pub to pub.
He was eventually thrown out of one for threatening a customer.
Then he staggered into the road for a taxi, waving his hands and stopping cars.
Couples out for a romantic Valentine’s meal said he ruined their night.
And Corrie bosses who gave the actor a second chance over his drug addiction fear “alarm bells are ringing”.
Charles’s pitiful pub crawl began just before teatime after he and Street co-star Simon Gregson, 34, arrived in pretty Bowness, near Lake Windermere.
Gregson has a boat there, which locals say the pair regularly use as a weekend base when filming ends on a Friday. By the time they hit the Hole In The Wall pub at 7pm staff said they seemed “well on it already”. A regular said: “They always like a few drinks but they’d had quite a few before they even got here.”
Next stop was The Albert at 8pm, a few hundred yards away, where again they looked like they were “well on it”.
At 9pm they careered across the road to the John Peel Inn where trouble began.
One drinker said: “They shouldn’t have been served because they were in a right state. It turned ugly just before 10pm when Charles started to get abusive with a customer. He threatened him and that’s when they were chucked out.”
Onlooker Keith Mulcahy, 46, began filming the chaotic star after he stumbled up to his fianceé Ellie Godfrey, also 46, mumbling and stinking of booze.
Keith said couples enjoying the beginning of their Valentine’s weekend were shocked at Charles’s antics in the tiny Lakes village.
Keith said: “He stumbled into the street and walked into the middle of the road. He was holding up the traffic waving his arms in the air. His friends had to hold him up because he was really unsteady on his feet. He looked like he was going to fall over. They looked quite embarrassed.” Mum-of-two Ellie added: “I was shocked at the state he was in. He was falling over and had this mad grin on his face. It ruined the mood.”
Keith said the drunk actor was helped to a nearby seat where he swayed with his head in his hands.
Moments later he lost his balance and toppled over, knocking over a sandwich board. He had to be helped to his feet before he was bundled into a taxi.
Keith said: “The village was packed with couples enjoying the romantic atmosphere until he came and made a spectacle of himself. People were shocked because this isn’t a lairy kind of place.”
The sad pictures will alarm Corrie bosses, who stood by Charles when the Mirror revealed his £5,000-a-week crack cocaine habit.
A source said: “There have been a few alarm bells ringing with Craig. He’s been spotted in the pub more than he should be. To be in such a state in public is not what the bosses will want to hear. There is only so much they will put up with.”
Charles was suspended from Corrie in 2006 after the Mirror showed pictures of him smoking crack in the back of a cab.
The actor, who plays Lloyd Mullaney, checked himself into The Priory, returning to work six months later. A Street spokesman said last night: “Both Craig and Simon have been made aware of the allegations and have no comment to make.”
If he carries on like it he could end up like Bruce Jones (Les Battersby) :(