Actor, comedian, poet and DJ, Craig Charles, is on the road with his funk and soul club night and heading for Swindon in the New Year.

The Red Dwarf actor has always had a passion for soul music and when he was asked to present the Saturday night show on BBC 6 Music his only condition was that it had to be a funk and soul show.

Since 2002 his live weekend show has had a whole army of singers and bands from the golden tones of superstars such as James Brown and Paul Weller to the down and dirty rock soul of Primal Scream, to soul sisters Candi Staton and the late Amy Winehouse.

Following the first hugely successful run of sci fi classic Red Dwarf, where Craig starred as Lister, the actor spent 10 years on the evergreen soap Coronation Street.

This year he again sky rocketed back on to our TV screens with Red Dwarf Series XII, rejoining spaceship mates Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn.

The actor cum DJ began his career as a performance poet, having won a national competition run by The Guardian when he was just 12-years-old. His urban poetry went down well on the cabaret circuit and one of his first big breaks was having the temerity to get up on stage at a Teardrop Explodes concert. He recited a funny but derogatory poem about lead singer Julian Cope. The band asked him to open for them at various gigs after that. Craig was into the music scene of Liverpool, where he grew up, singing with bands such as Watt4 and Craig Charles and the Beat Burglars. He made various TV appearances but he didn't reach cult status until he became Lister first time around in Red Dwarf in 1988.

The DJ is also known for his presenting skills as host of TV's Robot Wars, where teams battle it out with their home-made, radio controlled robots fighting against each other.

Wearing his DJ hat Craig will be bringing the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Club - Late Night to Swindon's Meca in Regent Circus, on Saturday, January 20, 2018. The guest DJs will be Darren Westlake and The Mighty Raj and Glynn Prince. Tickets are £18.70 and available from https://www.gigantic.com/the-craig-charles-funk-and-soul-club-meca-2018-01-20-22-30 - Flicky Harrison