Charing Cross station has a complex history. The Bakerloo line platforms were opened as Trafalgar Square by the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) in 1906. The Northern line platforms were opened as Charing Cross by the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR, now the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line) in 1907, and the station was served by the Jubilee line between 1979 and 1999. The Northern line and Bakerloo line parts of the station combined when the now defunct Jubilee line platforms were opened.

Entrances to the station are located in Trafalgar Square and The Strand.

Although now closed to the public, the Jubilee line platforms of Charing Cross station are used by film and television crews needing a modern Underground station location, including the TV series Spooks and the films Creep (2004), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and Skyfall (2012).

A 100 metre (330 ft) long mural along the Northern line platforms designed by David Gentleman shows scenes from the construction of the original Charing Cross, a memorial of Eleanor of Castile, the wife of Edward I.

Since the second half of the 18th century, Charing Cross has been seen as the exact centre of London and it is one of the points used for measuring distances from London.

Nearby attractions include Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, South Africa House, Canada House, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Nelson’s Column, the Admiralty Arch, The Mall, Whitehall and Covent Garden.