Public Opinion: Craig Charles
Written by Blake Neale.
Before I start, I'd like to point out that my account (below) serves no *real* purpose, as nothing even vaguely Red Dwarf related was brought to light during Public Opinion. I've only written this article because a) someone asked me to write up an account, as they missed the programme themselves, and b) to finally add something to the Articles section. Oh, and I had some time to kill too. So there.
Earlier this week, Craig Charles was one of six celebrities participating in Public Opinion, a BBC ONE game show which asks a cross-section of the British public to describe one of the participating celebrities using just four words.
As each word is revealed, presenter Gyles Brandreth probes the celebrities in turn to see if they believe the word accurately describes them. Once the fourth and final word has been made known, the identity of the celebrity is finally revealed. Not much of a game show, I agree. But that's what the Beeb are calling it.
The celebrities:
- Danniella Westbrook
- Craig Charles
- John Altman
- Rhona Cameron
- Andy "Handy Andy" Kane
- Sir Jimmy Savile
After Handy Andy admitted to getting a buzz from petty theft at the age of seventeen, Craig asked:
Did you get so excited that you had to relieve yourself in people's houses? A lot of burglars do that, don't they? They pee on your carpet.Craig's turn to share his excitement was to follow:
GYLES BRANDRETH: Craig, what do you think is the most exciting thing to have happened to you?
CRAIG CHARLES: I've never ever been totally truly excited. But Danniella said she'd sort me out later on.
GYLES BRANDRETH: I mean, on Robot Wars you get to play with all those wonderful little gadgets. That's quite interesting for some people.
CRAIG CHARLES: Not for me it's not.
Craig then went on to talk about the Robot Wars Wembley special, where he got to live out "every performer's dream" in emerging from backstage shouting "Hello Wembley!" He then went on to complain about the screaming children among the spectators.
Word two: "difficult"
Craig wasn't asked if he considered himself to be difficult, but got to choose two people that he thought were. Agreeing with Rhona Cameron's theory of the word being tagged to women, Craig picked the two girlies.
Word three: "irresponsible"
GYLES BRANDRETH: Craig, would you say that you were irresponsible?
CRAIG CHARLES: Quite irresponsible. Well, I come from a very working class background and then all of a sudden, you're foistered into tremendous wealth and tremendous opportunity. And when you're at a very young age it just goes to your head. And to your nose.
I was irresponsible for at least ten years. In fact, there's ten years of my life I can't actually remember. I was *that* irresponsible.
Danniella Westbrook then spoke of her drug problems, and Craig commented on the ease of getting drugs in prison. He followed with his "contract killer" joke from his stand-up act.
Word four: "pretentious"
GYLES BRANDRETH: Craig, do you think you are pretentious?
CRAIG CHARLES: Not really, no. Do you think I'm pretentious?
GYLES BRANDRETH: No. I read the CV - it describes you in part as a ball-juggling performance poet.
CRAIG CHARLES: I can juggle balls and I perform poetry.
Despite what he said in Word one, Craig then spoke of how exciting Robot Wars actually is. Moving the show on, Gyles stated: "Nothing pretentious about you. Good."
That's about it. If you're interested, the celebrity behind the descriptions was Rhona Cameron. However, in an attempt to form a conclusion that is loosely Dwarf related, short film Ten Minutes (which stars Craig Charles) is now available to buy on DVD here.
That's it.
Smeg off.
Categories: Articles, Cast
