Actor and radio presenter Craig Charles says he was rushed to hospital after becoming unwell during his BBC radio show.

Charles, known for acting roles on Red Dwarf and Coronation Street, told listeners on BBC Radio 6 Music that he had missed a show after spending 24 hours in hospital after coming down with a mysterious condition while on air.

“When we were doing the show on Wednesday… my hand couldn’t grip the pen properly, and my fingers were tingling, and I had a pain in the right side of my shoulder, going up my neck and into the back of my head,” he said.

Members of his production team told him to stop and go to hospital but Charles “was like ‘No, no, no, we’ll get through the show, we’ll get through the show'”.

As soon as his slot finished at 4pm, the 58-year-old was met by his wife Jackie who drove from the BBC headquarters in Salford to Wythenshawe Hospital.

Charles said: “Now they gave me an instant ECG to make sure that my heart was fine and all that, and [said] ‘go and wait in the waiting room and we’ll call your name’.

“So I go and wait in the waiting room, this was at half past four, and they called my name at around a quarter to 10 at night.

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“Now this is no disrespect or no criticism of Wythenshawe Hospital, they were brilliant, they were professional, they were caring, they were dedicated.”

He was then told that he needed to have a CT scan – “it is fine, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with the brain” – and also an MRI scan, which would mean an overnight stay, but the hospital did not have any spare beds.

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“So we spent the night in the A&E in the triage department, with the blue curtain pulled around us – me and Jackie on this little single hospital trolley,” said Charles.

“We got about an hour’s kip until some guy came in screaming because he’d dislocated his shoulder.

“And we woke up like that and were up ever since. We got out the hospital just as Chris [Hawkins] was wrapping up my show yesterday, so nearly 24 hours in hospital and they still don’t know what’s wrong with me.

“But at least I know I’m not dying yet!”

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