I'm A Celebrity's Craig Charles shares candid health confession as he reflects on family tragedy

Lauren Williams
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:03:50 +0000

Craig Charles has opened up about the heart attack he experienced and reflected on the hereditary condition responsible for his brother Dean's death in 2014.

The actor and DJ made the emotional revelation during Wednesday night's episode of I'm A Celebrity All Stars, marking his return to the franchise after his previous appearance was cut short by family tragedy.

Mr Charles, best known for portraying Lloyd Mullaney in Coronation Street and Dave Lister in Red Dwarf, had departed the Australian jungle after just four days when he received tragic news of Dean's fatal cardiac arrest.

His brother was only 52-years-old when he collapsed at the school where he worked as a teacher.

Medical professionals subsequently warned Mr Charles that the condition was genetic and urged him to seek examination.

Speaking to his campmates about medication during a conversation in camp, the 61-year-old revealed the extent of his health struggles.

"I'm on about eight tablets a day. I've got four stents in my heart," Mr Charles told fellow celebrities, including Ashley Roberts, Scarlett Moffatt and Sir Mo Farah.

He explained that the arteries leading to his heart had become dangerously narrow, restricting blood flow to a critical level.

Before the life-saving procedure, his heart was receiving merely 35 per cent of its required blood supply.

Surgeons inserted a wire with an attached balloon into his arteries, inflating it to widen the vessels before placing the stents.

Following the intervention, blood flow to his heart was restored to full capacity.

"So they saved me," Charles said.

Mr Charles recounted the terrifying sequence of events that led to his diagnosis.

His wife Jackie was visiting her parents in Galway when he telephoned her feeling unwell.

"I gave her a ring, something like that, 'I don't feel great, man. My jaws are tingling'," he recalled.

Jackie's sister-in-law, who is a nurse, advised him to summon an ambulance, but Mr Charles refused to call one for himself.

When his wife returned the following morning and saw his condition, she immediately contacted emergency services.

The operator on the line confirmed their fears, stating they believed he was experiencing a heart attack.

In a moment of dark humour, Mr Charles recalled laughing when the dispatcher asked about his colour and his wife responded: "He's brown."

"So by now I am having a heart attack and laughing my socks off," he said.

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Mr Charles previously revealed the guilt he carries over failing to respond to his brother's messages before entering the jungle in 2014.

Dean had texted him twice asking to meet up, but work commitments meant Mr Charles never replied.

"I thought, 'You know what, I'll leave it until I come out then I'll get in contact with him,'" he told the Daily Star On Sunday.

The brothers had been extremely close growing up, sharing a bedroom as children.

Before his return to the show this week, Mr Charles expressed his determination to honour Dean's memory.

He revealed that after watching the first episode in 2014, Dean had told his wife: "He is going to win that."

Tragically, Dean never woke up to see the outcome.

Campmate Scarlett Moffatt praised Mr Charles for his bravery in returning to a place where he received such devastating news.