In 1986 Charles Lagus was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Panda" for his services to wildlife film-making by the Wildscreen International Film Festival in Bristol, UK.

The first cameraman engaged by the BBC to shoot natural history footage, Charles Lagus' filmmaking career began when he switched from studying medicine to photography in 1946 and joined Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) making medical and scientific research films.

Beginning a long and successful relationship with the BBC, Charles filmed the very first Zoo Quest (1954), joining David Attenborough in Sierra Leone. Charles' talent was quickly recognised and he went on to film all but one of the long-running series. One of the few BBC cameramen with expedition experience he was selected to accompany Peter Scott on his tour of Australasia, shown in the 1957 series, Faraway Look.

In 1959 Charles directed and photographed Kariba, detailing the animal rescue efforts being implemented before the flooding of the dam, and also wrote an accompanying book, Operation Noah.

During a long and successful career Charles worked on a variety of productions filming on Anglia Television's Lure of the Dolphin (1976), the BBC's Animal Magic and ITV's Nature Watch.  He has been involved in making a wide variety of other films not involving wildlife including photography work on dramas such as Z Cars (1964) and Jane Eyre (1963), and he even accepted an offer for his services as an aerial and underwater photographer on The Great Muppet Caper (1981).

Between 1982 and 1989 he was a lecturer at the National Film and Television School.

In 1984 Charles was elected as a Member of the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC.).

Charles is now enjoying his retirement in Mauritius.