Former Coronation Street actor Craig Charles has claimed the pay for appearing on the soap "isn't amazing".
The 57-year-old actor and DJ starred in Corrie for 10 years, playing the part of Lloyd Mullaney, until 2015 when he left to revive his role as Dave Lister in Red Dwarf.
The science fiction comedy, Red Dwarf, was Scouser Craig's first ever acting role and he appeared in every season of the show.
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He took a break from appearing on Coronation Street in 2011 when he re-joined the cast of Red Dwarf.
Speaking to the Metro, Craig said that he "loved" playing loveable taxi driver Lloyd Mullaney who he injected various aspects of his own personality into.
"They let me add so much of myself to the role that it didn’t feel like acting, to be honest," he said. "Me and Simon Gregson were such good pals.
"At least once a month the producer would have us up to the office, begging us not to use the script as a template because we’d just make it all up like mates chatting in a pub."
When asked whether he'd ever return to the famous cobbles, Craig said: "I suppose you never say never but when I was in the jungle my brother died and I thought, ‘If I died, would I be happy with the way my career’s gone?’ And I said to myself, ‘No, I wouldn’t’.
"They make it really difficult for you to leave Coronation Street. It was a great job. The pay isn’t amazing but it’s better than digging ditches in the cold.
"But I wanted new adventures so I left and started doing The Gadget Show which I loved. I’ve just started doing this new daytime game show on Channel 4 called Moneybags, where you can win a million quid a week!"
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