British comedy science fiction TV series
This article is about the British comedy series. For the type of star, see
Red dwarf
.
Red Dwarf
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/Red_Dwarf_logo.png/220px-Red_Dwarf_logo.png) Logo (1992?99)
|
Genre
| |
---|
Created by
| |
---|
Based on
| |
---|
Directed by
| |
---|
Starring
| |
---|
Composers
| |
---|
Country of origin
| United Kingdom
|
---|
Original language
| English
|
---|
No.
of series
| 12, and 1 TV film
|
---|
No.
of episodes
| 74
(
list of episodes
)
|
---|
|
Executive producers
| |
---|
Producers
|
- Ed Bye (1988?91, 1997?99)
- Rob Grant (1989?91)
- Doug Naylor (1989?91)
- Hilary Bevan-Jones (1992)
- Justin Judd (1993)
- Jo Howard and Helen Norman (2009)
- Richard Naylor (2012?20)
- Kerry Waddell (2016?17)
|
---|
Camera setup
| |
---|
Running time
|
- 28?30 minutes (Series 1?8, 10?12)
- 25 minutes (per part) (
Back to Earth
)
- 90 minutes (
The Promised Land
)
|
---|
Production companies
| |
---|
Budget
| £250,000 per episode
|
---|
|
Network
| BBC Two
|
---|
Release
| 15 February 1988
(
1988-02-15
)
?
5 April 1999
(
1999-04-05
)
|
---|
Network
| Dave
|
---|
Release
| 10 April 2009
(
2009-04-10
)
?
9 April 2020
(
2020-04-09
)
|
---|
Red Dwarf
is a British
science fiction comedy
series created by
Rob Grant
and
Doug Naylor
, consisting of a
sitcom
that aired on
BBC Two
between 1988 and 1999, and on
Dave
since 2009, gaining a
cult following
.
[1]
The series follows low-ranking
technician
Dave Lister
, who awakens after being in
suspended animation
for three million years to find that he is the last living
human
, and that he is alone on the
mining
spacecraft
Red Dwarf
?save for a hologram of his deceased bunkmate
Arnold Rimmer
and "
Cat
", a life form which evolved from Lister's pregnant
cat
.
As of 2020, the cast includes
Chris Barrie
as Rimmer,
Craig Charles
as Lister,
Danny John-Jules
as
Cat
,
Robert Llewellyn
as the sanitation droid
Kryten
, and
Norman Lovett
as the ship's computer,
Holly
.
To date, twelve series of the show have aired (including one
miniseries
), in addition to a
feature-length
special
The Promised Land
. Four
novels
were published from 1989 to 1996. Two
pilot episodes
of an American version of the show were produced but never aired. The magazine
The Red Dwarf Smegazine
was published from 1992 to 1994.
One of the series' highest accolades came in 1994 when an episode from the sixth series, "
Gunmen of the Apocalypse
", won an International
Emmy Award
in the Popular Arts category. In the same year, the series was also awarded "Best BBC Comedy Series" at the
British Comedy Awards
.
[2]
The series attracted its highest ratings, of more than eight million viewers, during the eighth series in 1999.
[3]
The revived series on Dave has consistently delivered some of the highest ratings for non?
Public Service Broadcasting
commissions in the UK.
[4]
[5]
[6]
Series XI
was voted "Best Returning TV Sitcom" and "Comedy of the Year" for 2016 by readers for the
British Comedy Guide
.
[7]
In a 2019 ranking by
Empire
,
Red Dwarf
came 80th on a list of the 100 best TV shows of all time.
[8]
Setting and plot
[
edit
]
Red Dwarf
'
s design from Series X (2012) and onwards
The main setting of the series is the eponymous mining spaceship
Red Dwarf
.
[9]
In the first episode, set sometime in the late 21st century,
[a]
an on-board
radiation
leak kills everyone except lowest-ranking technician Dave Lister, who is in suspended animation at the time, as punishment for
smuggling
a cat aboard the ship. The cat, Frankenstein, who is revealed to be pregnant, is safe in the cargo hold.
[10]
Following the accident, the ship's computer
Holly
keeps Lister in stasis until the radiation levels return to normal?a process that takes three million years.
[10]
Lister therefore emerges as the last human being in the
universe
?but not alone on board the ship.
[11]
His former bunkmate and immediate superior Arnold Judas Rimmer (a character plagued by failure) is
resurrected
by Holly as a
hologram
to keep Lister sane. They are joined by a creature known only as
Cat
, who was initially thought to be the last member of a race of humanoid
felines
that
evolved
in the ship's hold from Lister's pregnant cat during the three million years that Lister was in stasis.
[11]
In season 1 episode 3 '
Waiting for God
', it was revealed that the cat priest had also survived, and was living in the hold of the ship.
The series revolves around Lister being the last human alive, after three million years of travel from
Earth
, with his companions. The crew encounter phenomena such as
time distortions
,
faster-than-light
travel,
mutant
diseases
and strange
lifeforms
(all evolved from Earth, because the series has no aliens) that had developed in the intervening millions of years.
[12]
Though it has a science fiction setting, much of the humour comes from the interactions of the characters, particularly the laid-back Lister and the stuck-up Rimmer.
Despite the
pastiche
of science fiction used as a backdrop,
Red Dwarf
is primarily a character-driven comedy, with science fiction elements used as complementary
plot devices
.
[13]
Especially in the early episodes, a recurring source of comedy was the
Odd Couple
-style relationship between the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other yet are trapped together deep in space.
In Series III, the computer Holly changes from male (
Norman Lovett
) to female (
Hattie Hayridge
), and the
mechanoid
Kryten (who had appeared in
one episode
in Series II)
[14]
joins the crew and becomes a regular character.
[15]
In Series VI, a
story arc
is introduced where
Red Dwarf
has been stolen, and the crew pursue it in the smaller
Starbug
craft, with the side effect that the character Holly disappears.
[16]
Series VII is also set in
Starbug
. Early in series VII, Rimmer departs (due to actor
Chris Barrie
's commitments) and is replaced by
Kristine Kochanski
, Lister's long-term love interest, from an
alternate universe
.
[17]
Kochanski becomes a regular character for Series VII and VIII.
At the end of Series VII, we learn that Kryten's service
nanobots
, which had abandoned him years earlier, were behind the theft of the
Red Dwarf
at the end of series five. At the beginning of the eighth series, Kryten's nanobots reconstruct the
Red Dwarf
, which they had broken down into its constituent atoms.
[18]
As a consequence, Series VIII features the entire original crew of
Red Dwarf
resurrected (except for the already-alive Lister and Kochanski), including a pre-accident Rimmer and the original male Holly. The series ends with a metal-eating
virus
loose on
Red Dwarf
. The entire crew evacuate save the main cast (Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten, and Kochanski), whose fates are unresolved in a
cliffhanger ending
.
[19]
Series IX onwards revert to the same four main characters of Series 3?6 (Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Kryten), on
Red Dwarf
and without Kochanski or Holly; Rimmer reappears as a hologram once again. While it was left unmentioned whether the Rimmer on board ship is the one who originally left, the revived version, or a third
incarnation
entirely (episodes have alluded to him remembering events from both previous incarnations' lives); with the release of
The Promised Land
, series-creator
Doug Naylor
confirmed in 2020 that the Rimmer from
Back To Earth
onwards is the original Rimmer, having returned from his time being Ace Rimmer.
Characters and actors
[
edit
]
From left to right:
Cat
,
Rimmer
,
Kryten
, and
Lister
as they appeared in Series 10 (2012)
- Craig Charles
as
David "Dave" Lister
:
A third-class technician on the
Red Dwarf
, who was the lowest-ranking of the 169 original crew members,
[b]
and alone survived the accident due to being in stasis as punishment for smuggling an unquarantined cat on board. A
Scouser
and self-described "bum" who has a good heart but is also very lazy, he has a long-standing desire to return to Earth and start a farm and/or diner on
Fiji
(which is under three feet of water following a
volcanic eruption
), but is left impossibly far away by the accident, which renders him the last known surviving member of the human race.
[20]
- Chris Barrie
as
Arnold Judas Rimmer
:
A second-class technician on the
Red Dwarf
who is Lister's bunkmate and direct superior. The second-lowest-ranking member of the original crew, he is responsible for the accident that killed the entire crew except for Lister; although Rimmer himself did not survive, Holly, considering him to be the person most likely to keep Lister sane, selects him to be the ship's one available hologram, recreating Rimmer's appearance and personality as he was before his death.
[21]
Now the
de facto
leader of the
Red Dwarf
, he is despised by the rest of the crew due to his fussy,
bureaucratic
,
neurotic
, insecure, and cowardly personality, and has a particularly conflictual relationship with Lister. During Series VII, Rimmer leaves the dimension shared by his crewmates to become his swashbuckling dimensional counterpart, Ace Rimmer. However, pre-hologram Rimmer, along with the rest of the original crew, is resurrected by nanobots at the start of Series VIII; after coming face to face with
Death
at the end of the series, whom he kicks in the groin, he is once again a hologram from Series IX onwards, although the circumstances that led to this are never fully explained.
- Danny John-Jules
as
the Cat
:
A humanoid creature with cat-like teeth who evolved from the offspring of Lister's smuggled pet cat Frankenstein. The Cat or simply "Cat" (who is never given an actual name) is self-centered and concerned with little other than sleeping, eating, and fawning over his appearance, and tends not to socialise with other members of the crew in early episodes. Over time, he grows closer to his crewmates and becomes a useful part of the crew. Unlike his human companions, he has a "cool" sounding pulse, six nipples, and colour-coordinated internal organs.
[22]
- Norman Lovett
(regular series I-II, VIII,
The Promised Land
; guest series VII, XII) and
Hattie Hayridge
(guest series II; regular series III-V) as
Holly
:
The ship's computer who appears on screens as a floating head and originally has a functional
IQ
of 6000 but, as a result of remaining alone without any maintenance during the three million years Lister is in stasis, develops "computer senility". Although Holly is male during the first two series, they become female between series 2 and 3, taking the voice and appearance of Hilly, an alternative version of themselves encountered in the
Series II finale
and with whom they had fallen in love.
[23]
Following an unexplained absence in Series VI, male Holly returns in the
Series VII finale
. Between Series VIII and IX, Lister's bath overflows and the water gets into Holly's circuitry, causing them to malfunction and go offline. In
The Promised Land
, the discovery of a backup drive allows the return of male Holly, originally with their memory and IQ rebooted, but eventually back to their usual dysfunctional self.
- David Ross
(guest series II) and
Robert Llewellyn
(regular series III?present) as
Kryten 2X4B-523P
:
A
sanitation
android
rescued by the crew from the crashed spaceship
Nova 5
in the
first episode of series 2
, after having spent countless years continuing to serve the ship's crew without realising they had been long dead; bound by his "behavioural protocols", he is taught independent thinking by Lister and leaves the
Red Dwarf
on a space bike to enjoy his newfound freedom. Between series II and III, he is rescued by the crew after his space bike crashed on an asteroid and has become part of the
Red Dwarf
crew; however, the accident led to his face appearing permanently different.
[24]
Categorised as a "series 4000 service mechanoid",
[25]
he keeps on maintaining the
Red Dwarf
, while also showing himself very resourceful due to his proficiency with technology and encyclopedic knowledge of the universe; he maintains a strong friendship with Lister throughout the series.
- Clare Grogan
(recurring series I; guest series II, VI) and
Chloe Annett
(regular series VII-VIII; guest series IX) as
Kristine Kochanski
:
A navigation officer in the original
Red Dwarf
crew whom Lister had a crush on (later
retconned
to be his ex-girlfriend) and whose memory he had cherished ever since.
[20]
After appearing in several episodes following her death, once directly due to Lister time travelling and later as various individuals impersonating her, an alternate version of Kochanski from a universe in which she, not Lister, is the last living human, joins the series' main universe and the
Red Dwarf
crew in the series VII episode "
Ouroboros
". As part of the crew, she progressively gets closer to Lister, while struggling to overcome her past romantic relationship with her original universe's Lister, and has a conflictual relationship with Kryten, who is jealous of the interest Lister has for her.
[17]
Between series VIII and IX, she is no longer part of the crew, and is believed by Lister to be dead; it is later revealed that she had actually fled the ship when it became clear Lister's complete lack of self-respect and indulgence on excesses was slowly killing him, which greatly depressed her; Kryten, the only one aware of her departure, pretended to have witnessed her death to avoid hurting Lister's feelings even more. After learning the truth, Lister hopes to reunite with her one day.
[26]
In addition to Grogan and Annett,
Suzanne Rhatigan
and
Anastasia Hille
portray false versions of Kochanski in episodes of
series 4
and
series 5
respectively, while
Holly Earl
portrays a younger version of her in
an episode of series 8
.
Production
[
edit
]
The first series aired on
BBC2
in 1988.
Twelve full series and one miniseries have so far been produced
, and a feature length special was released in 2020.
[27]
Concept and commission
[
edit
]
The concept for the show was originally developed from the sketch series
Dave Hollins: Space Cadet
on the
BBC Radio 4
show
Son of Cliche
in the mid-1980s, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.
[28]
Their influences came from films and television programmes including
Star Trek
(1966),
Silent Running
(1972),
Dark Star
(1974),
Alien
(1979) and
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
(1981),
[15]
but also had a large element of British-style comedy and satire thrown into the mix, ultimately moulded into the form of a sitcom. Having written the pilot script in 1983, the former
Spitting Image
writers pitched their unique concept to the BBC, but it was rejected on fears that a science fiction sitcom would not be popular.
[28]
It was finally accepted by
BBC North
in 1986, a result of a spare budget being assigned for a second series of
Happy Families
that would never arise, and producer
Paul Jackson
's insistence that
Red Dwarf
should be filmed instead.
[29]
The show was fortunate to be remounted after an
electricians
'
strike
partway through rehearsals in early 1987 shut the entire production down (the title sequence was filmed in January 1987).
[30]
The filming was rescheduled for September, and the
pilot episode
finally made it onto television screens on 15 February 1988.
[15]
Despite the commission of further series, the cast felt like "outsiders" at the BBC. Co-creator
Doug Naylor
attributed this to the show being commissioned by
BBC Manchester
, but its being filmed at
Shepperton Studios
near where the cast lived in London. When the show won an
International Emmy Award
in
1994
, Naylor's attempts to have the cast invited to a party thrown by the BBC proved futile when they objected to Craig Charles' and Danny John-Jules' inclusion, claiming they were "fire risks".
[31]
Casting
[
edit
]
Alan Rickman
and
Alfred Molina
auditioned for roles in the series, with Molina being cast as Rimmer.
[32]
[33]
However, after Molina had difficulties with the concept of the series, and of his role in particular, the role was recast and filled by Chris Barrie, a professional voice actor and impressionist who had previously worked with both the writers on
Spitting Image
and with the producers on
Happy Families
and
Jasper Carrott
productions.
[33]
Craig Charles, a Liverpudlian "punk poet", was given the role of Dave Lister. He was approached by the production team for his opinion about the "Cat" character, as they were concerned it may be considered by people as racist.
[34]
Charles described "Cat" as "pretty cool" and after reading the script he decided he wanted to audition for the part of Dave Lister.
[30]
Laconic
stand-up comedian
Norman Lovett
, who had originally tried out for the role of Rimmer, was kept in the show as Holly, the senile computer of the titular ship.
[34]
A professional dancer and singer, Danny John-Jules, arriving half an hour late for his appointment, stood out as the Cat immediately. This was partly due to his "cool" exterior, dedicated research (reading
Desmond Morris
's book
Catwatching
), and his showing up in character, wearing his father's 1950s-style
zoot suit
.
[34]
Writing, producing and directing
[
edit
]
Grant and Naylor wrote the first six series together (using the pseudonym Grant Naylor on the first two novels and later as the name of their production company, although never on the episodes themselves).
[35]
Grant left in 1995,
[15]
to pursue other projects,
[36]
leaving Naylor to write series VII and VIII with a group of new writers, including
Paul Alexander
and actor Robert Llewellyn (who portrayed the character Kryten).
[37]
For the most part,
Ed Bye
produced and directed the series. He left before series V due to a scheduling clash (he ended up directing a show starring his wife,
Ruby Wax
) so
Juliet May
took over as director.
[38]
May parted ways with the show halfway through the series for personal and professional reasons and Grant and Naylor took over direction of the series, in addition to writing and producing.
[39]
Series VI was directed by
Andy de Emmony
, and Ed Bye returned to direct series VII and VIII. Series I, II and III were made by Paul Jackson Productions, with subsequent series produced by the writers' own company Grant Naylor Productions for
BBC North
. All eight series were broadcast on BBC Two. At the beginning of series IV, production moved from BBC North's
New Broadcasting House
in
Manchester
to
Shepperton
.
[40]
Theme song and music
[
edit
]
The opening theme tune, closing theme tune, and incidental music were written and performed by
Howard Goodall
, with the vocals on the closing theme tune by
Jenna Russell
.
[41]
The first two series used a relatively sombre instrumental version of the closing theme for the opening titles; from series III onwards this switched to a more upbeat version, with Goodall singing on
vocoder
, the line "Red Dwarf" four times in the second half of the song.
[42]
[43]
[44]
[45]
[46]
[47]
[48]
[49]
Goodall also wrote music for the show's various songs, including "
Tongue Tied
", with lyrics written by Grant and Naylor.
[50]
Danny John-Jules (credited as 'The Cat') re-orchestrated and released "Tongue Tied" on 11 October 1993; it reached number 17 on the
UK charts
.
[51]
Goodall himself sang "The Rimmer Song" heard during the series VII episode "Blue", to which Chris Barrie mimed.
[52]
Remastered
[
edit
]
In 1998, on the tenth anniversary of the show's first airing (and between the broadcast of series VII and VIII), the first three series of
Red Dwarf
were
remastered
and released on
VHS
. The remastering included replacing model shots with computer graphics, cutting certain dialogue and scenes,
[53]
re-filming Norman Lovett's Holly footage, creating a consistent set of opening titles, replacing music and creating ambient sound effects with a digital master.
[54]
The remastered series were released in a 4-disc
DVD
box set "The Bodysnatcher Collection" in 2007.
[55]
Hiatus
[
edit
]
Release timeline
1988
| Series I and II
|
---|
1989
| Series III
|
---|
1990
|
---|
1991
| Series IV
|
---|
1992
| Series V
|
---|
1993
| Series VI
|
---|
1994
|
---|
1995
|
---|
1996
|
---|
1997
| Series VII
|
---|
1998
|
---|
1999
| Series VIII
|
---|
2000
|
---|
2001
|
---|
2002
|
---|
2003
|
---|
2004
|
---|
2005
|
---|
2006
|
---|
2007
|
---|
2008
|
---|
2009
| Back To Earth
|
---|
2010
|
---|
2011
|
---|
2012
| Series X
|
---|
2013
|
---|
2014
|
---|
2015
|
---|
2016
| Series XI
|
---|
2017
| Series XII
|
---|
2018
|
---|
2019
|
---|
2020
| The Promised Land
|
---|
Four years elapsed between series VI and VII, partly due to the dissolving of the
Grant and Naylor
partnership, but also due to cast and crew working on other projects.
[36]
When the series eventually returned, it was
filmised
and no longer shot in front of a live audience, allowing for greater use of four-walled sets, location shooting, and
single-camera
techniques.
[56]
When the show returned for its eighth series two years later, however, it had dropped use of the filmising process and returned to using a live audience.
[57]
The show received a setback when the BBC rejected proposals for a series IX. Doug Naylor confirmed in 2007 that the BBC decided not to renew the series as they preferred to work on other projects.
[58]
A short animated Christmas special was, however, made available to mobile phone subscribers the same year.
[59]
Ultimately, however, fans had to wait a decade before the series finally returned to television.
Revival
[
edit
]
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
[
edit
]
In 2008, a three-episode production was commissioned by the digital channel
Dave
.
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
was broadcast over the
Easter
weekend of 2009, along with a "making of" documentary.
[60]
[61]
The episode was set nine years after the events of "
Only the Good...
" (with the cliffhanger ending of that episode left unresolved, a situation that would continue with series X). The storyline involves the characters arriving back on Earth, circa 2009, only to find that they are characters in a TV show called "Red Dwarf". Kochanski is supposedly dead and Holly is offline due to water damage caused by Lister leaving a tap running.
[62]
Actress
Sophie Winkleman
played a character called Katerina, a resurrected hologram of a
Red Dwarf
science officer intent on replacing Rimmer.
[63]
To achieve a more cinematic atmosphere,
Back to Earth
was not filmed in front of a studio audience. Some previous
Red Dwarf
episodes had been shot in that way ("
Bodyswap
" and all of the seventh series), but
Back to Earth
represented the first time that a laughter track was not added before broadcast.
[64]
It was also the first episode of
Red Dwarf
to be filmed in
high definition
.
[62]
The specials were televised over three nights, starting on Friday 10 April 2009. The broadcasts received record ratings for Dave;
[65]
the first of the three episodes represented the UK's highest-ever viewing figures for a commissioned programme on a digital network.
[66]
Back to Earth
was released on DVD on 15 June 2009,
[67]
and on
Blu-ray
on 31 August 2009.
[68]
Back to Earth
was subsequently described on the series' official website as "for all intents and purposes, the 'ninth series' of
Red Dwarf
".
[69]
This placement was confirmed when Series X was commissioned and branded as the tenth series, although
Back to Earth
continues not to be referred to as "Series IX" on home media or digital releases.
Red Dwarf X
[
edit
]
On 10 April 2011, Dave announced that it had commissioned a six-episode series X to be broadcast on Dave in late 2012.
[70]
[71]
Filming dates for the new series
Red Dwarf X
were announced on 11 November 2011, along with confirmation that the series would be shot at
Shepperton Studios
in front of an audience.
[72]
Principal filming began on 16 December 2011 and ended on 27 January 2012, and the cast and crew subsequently returned for six days filming
pick-ups
.
[73]
Discounting guest stars, only the core cast of Charles, Barrie, Llewellyn and John-Jules returned for Series X, with Annett and Lovett absent, though the scripts include references to Kochanski and Holly.
On 20 July 2012, a 55-second trailer for series X was released on
Facebook
, followed by a new "teaser" every Friday.
[74]
The new series debuted on Thursday 4 October 2012.
[75]
Red Dwarf XI and XII
[
edit
]
Following series X, which attracted high viewing figures, Dave, Doug Naylor and the cast showed strong interest in making another series. During the
Dimension Jump
fan convention in May 2013, Doug Naylor stated that discussions were ongoing with all involved parties and while arrangements had not been finalised, he hoped shooting could begin in February 2014.
[76]
In October 2013, Robert Llewellyn posted on his blog, stating that "an eleventh series would happen" and that it would be "sometime in 2014". Llewellyn later removed the post from his blog and Doug Naylor issued a statement on Twitter, saying: "Getting tweets claiming Red Dwarf XI is commissioned. Not true. Not yet."
[77]
[78]
However, in January 2014, Danny John-Jules stated that the eleventh series of
Red Dwarf
was in the process of being written.
[79]
At the April 2014
Sci-Fi Scarborough Festival
, during the
Red Dwarf
cast panel, Danny John-Jules stated that filming of the eleventh series would commence in October 2014, with an expected release of Autumn 2015 on Dave.
[80]
On 2 May 2015, at the Dimension Jump XVIII convention, Naylor announced that an eleventh and a twelfth series had been commissioned. The two series would be shot back-to-back towards the end of 2015 for broadcast on Dave in 2016 and 2017, respectively,
[81]
and would be co-produced by
Baby Cow Productions
, with company CEO,
Henry Normal
, executive-producing the new episodes.
[82]
Series XI and XII were filmed back-to-back at
Pinewood Studios
between November 2015 and March 2016.
[83]
[84]
The eleventh series premiered on UKTV's
video-on-demand
service
UKTV Play
on 15 September 2016, a week ahead of its broadcast transmission on 22 September.
On 8 September 2017, it was announced that
Red Dwarf XII
would begin broadcasting on Dave on 12 October 2017,
[85]
and on 15 September 2017 it was further announced that each episode would preview a week earlier via the UKTV Play video on demand service, effectively meaning that series 12 would be starting on 5 October 2017.
[86]
Red Dwarf: The Promised Land
[
edit
]
In late May 2019, in a radio interview, Robert Llewellyn stated that a thirteenth series was happening
[87]
and in June of that year, Danny John-Jules stated that it was expected to be wrapped up by the end of 2019.
[88]
However, in October 2019, UKTV announced that a 90-minute feature-length special would be produced instead, to be filmed from December 2019 to January 2020,
[89]
[90]
with location filming scheduled for November.
[91]
Three 60-minute documentaries were also announced to accompany it, intended to act as a retrospective of all previous 12 series.
In January 2020, the first publicity photos of the special were released, with
Ray Fearon
revealed as the first confirmed guest actor portraying Rodon, the "leader of the feral cats".
[92]
In February 2020, the day before the 32nd anniversary of
when
Red Dwarf
first aired
, a synopsis was given by the official
Red Dwarf
website: "The special will see the posse meet three cat clerics (
Tom Bennett
,
Mandeep Dhillon
,
Lucy Pearman
) who worship Lister as their god. Lister vows to help them as they're being hunted by Rodon, the ruthless feral cat leader (Ray Fearon) who has vowed to wipe out all cats who worship anyone but him."
Norman Lovett
officially announced to be returning as Holly following his one-off
guest spot in Series XII
.
[93]
On 10 March 2020, in an exclusive with
Radio Times
, a
teaser trailer
was released.
[94]
A rough release date of sometime in April was given and, a day later on 11 March 2020, the official
Twitter
account for Dave revealed the title of the television film:
Red Dwarf: The Promised Land
.
[95]
Three Episode Special
[
edit
]
While speaking to the
British Comedy Guide
in May 2024, Robert Llewellyn confirmed that a three-episode special was due to be filmed in late 2024 with an air date sometime in 2025.
[96]
[97]
Themes
[
edit
]
Red Dwarf
was founded on the standard sitcom focus of a disparate and frequently dysfunctional group of individuals living together in a restricted setting. With the main characters routinely displaying their cowardice, incompetence and laziness, while exchanging insulting and sarcastic dialogue, the series provided a humorous antidote to the fearless and morally upright space explorers typically found in science-fiction series,
[15]
with its main characters acting bravely only when there was no other possible alternative. The increasing science-fiction elements of the series were treated seriously by creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. Satire, parody and drama were alternately woven into the episodes, referencing other television series, films and books. These have included references to the likes of
2001: A Space Odyssey
(1968),
[98]
Top Gun
(1986),
[99]
RoboCop
(1987),
Star Wars
(1977),
Citizen Kane
(1942),
The Wild One
(1953),
High Noon
(1952),
Rebel Without a Cause
(1955),
Casablanca
(1942),
Easy Rider
(1969),
The Terminator
(1984),
[100]
Pride and Prejudice
(1813), Isaac Asimov's
Robot
series
(1939?85) and the
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
.
The writers based the whole theme of some episodes on the plots of feature films. The series III episode "Polymorph" references and parodies key moments from
Alien
(1979); from series IV, "
Camille
" echoes key scenes from
Casablanca
(1942),
[100]
while "
Meltdown
" borrows the main plot from
Westworld
(1973). For series IX, "
Back to Earth
" was partially inspired by
Blade Runner
(1982).
[101]
The series' themes are not limited to films or television, having also incorporated historical events and figures.
[102]
Religion also plays a part in the series, as a significant factor in the ultimate fate of the Cat race, and the perception of Lister as their 'God', both in the episode "
Waiting for God
"
[103]
(whose title makes a literary reference to the
Samuel Beckett
play
Waiting for Godot
), as well as the crew meeting a man whom they believe to be
Jesus Christ
in series X episode "
Lemons
". The series VII episode "
Ouroboros
" derives its name and theme from the ancient mythological snake of the
same name
. The third episode of series VI, "
Gunmen of the Apocalypse
", was based on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
The series explores many science-fiction staples such as time-travel paradoxes (including the
grandfather paradox
), the question of
determinism
and
free will
(in several episodes), the pursuit of happiness in virtual reality and, crucially to the show's premise of Lister being the last human, the near-certainty of the human species'
extinction
sometime in the far future.
Aliens
do not feature in the series, as Grant and Naylor decided very early in the process that they did not want aliens involved. This is usually addressed with Rimmer's belief in extraterrestrial life being shot down, as with a vessel he believes to be an alien ship (which turns out to be a garbage pod). However, there are non-human life forms such as evolutions of Earth species (e.g. the cat race), robotic or holo-life forms created by humans, and a "genetically engineered life form" (GELF), an artificially created creature. Simulants and GELFs frequently serve as antagonists during the later series of the show.
[104]
Hallmarks
[
edit
]
The series developed its own distinct vocabulary. Words and phrases such as
hologrammatic
[
sic
], dollarpound, bazookoids,
Felis sapiens
, Simulants, GELF, space
weevil
, and
Zero Gee
Football appear throughout the series, highlighting a development in language, political climate, technology, evolution and culture in the future.
[105]
The creators also employed a vocabulary of fictional
expletives
to avoid using potentially offensive words in the show and to give nuance to futuristic colloquial language; in particular, "smeg" (and variants such as "smegging", "smegger", and "smeg-head") features prominently, alongside the terms "gimboid", "goit" and "
Gwenlan
".
[106]
[107]
Episodes
[
edit
]
Ratings
[
edit
]
Red Dwarf I
[
edit
]
Episode no.
|
Airdate
|
Viewers (millions)
|
BBC2 weekly ranking
|
1
|
15 February 1988
|
4.75m
|
3
|
2
|
22 February 1988
|
N/K
|
-
|
3
|
29 February 1988
|
4.25m
|
9
|
4
|
7 March 1988
|
3.75m
|
8
|
5
|
14 March 1988
|
N/K
|
-
|
6
|
21 March 1988
|
N/K
|
-
|
Red Dwarf VIII
[
edit
]
Episode no.
|
Airdate
|
Viewers
|
BBC Two weekly ranking
|
1
|
18 February 1999
|
8,050,000
|
1
|
2
|
25 February 1999
|
7,580,000
|
1
|
3
|
4 March 1999
|
6,920,000
|
2
|
4
|
11 March 1999
|
5,950,000
|
1
|
5
|
18 March 1999
|
6,760,000
|
1
|
6
|
25 March 1999
|
6,320,000
|
1
|
7
|
1 April 1999
|
4,520,000
|
3
|
8
|
5 April 1999
|
4,240,000
|
3
|
Back to Earth
[
edit
]
Episode no.
|
Air date
|
Dave viewers
|
Dave rank
|
Rank
(cable)
|
Dave ja vu
viewers
|
Total viewers
|
1
|
10 April 2009
|
2,357,000
|
1
|
1
|
385,000
|
2,742,000
|
2
|
11 April 2009
|
1,238,000
|
2
|
6
|
366,000
|
1,604,000
|
3
|
12 April 2009
|
1,197,000
|
3
|
7
|
245,000
|
1,442,000
|
Red Dwarf X
[
edit
]
Episode no.
|
Airdate
|
Dave viewers
|
Dave rank
|
Rank
(cable)
|
Dave ja vu
viewers
|
Total viewers
|
1
|
4 October 2012
|
1,978,000
|
1
|
3
|
113,000
|
2,091,000
|
2
|
11 October 2012
|
1,567,000
|
1
|
2
|
78,000
|
1,645,000
|
3
|
18 October 2012
|
1,519,000
|
1
|
3
|
106,000
|
1,625,000
|
4
|
25 October 2012
|
1,345,000
|
1
|
7
|
119,000
|
1,464,000
|
5
|
1 November 2012
|
1,561,000
|
1
|
4
|
73,000
|
1,634,000
|
6
|
8 November 2012
|
1,400,000
|
1
|
5
|
107,000
|
1,507,000
|
Red Dwarf XI
[
edit
]
Episode no.
|
Airdate
|
7-day viewers
|
28-day viewers
|
Dave rank
|
1
|
22 September 2016
|
1,456,000
|
1,724,000
|
1
|
2
|
29 September 2016
|
1,443,000
|
1,710,000
|
1
|
3
|
6 October 2016
|
1,144,000
|
1,310,000
|
1
|
4
|
13 October 2016
|
1,096,000
|
1,292,000
|
1
|
5
|
20 October 2016
|
1,180,000
|
1,272,000
|
1
|
6
|
27 October 2016
|
1,024,000
|
1,158,000
|
1
|
Red Dwarf XII
[
edit
]
Episode no.
|
Airdate
|
7-day viewers
|
28-day viewers
|
Dave rank
|
1
|
12 October 2017
|
1,200,000
|
1,352,000
|
1
|
2
|
19 October 2017
|
1,179,000
|
1,278,000
|
1
|
3
|
26 October 2017
|
1,189,000
|
1,286,000
|
1
|
4
|
2 November 2017
|
973,000
|
1,077,000
|
1
|
5
|
9 November 2017
|
903,000
|
950,000
|
1
|
6
|
16 November 2017
|
846,000
|
968,000
|
1
|
The Promised Land
[
edit
]
Airdate
|
Dave viewers
|
Rank
(cable)
|
Dave ja vu
viewers
|
Total viewers
|
9 April 2020
|
980,000
|
1
|
636,000
|
1,670,000
[108]
|
Reception and achievements
[
edit
]
Critical reception
[
edit
]
The changes made to the series' cast, setting, creative teams, and even production values from series to series have meant that opinions differ greatly between fans and critics as to the quality of each series.
[15]
In the "Great Red Dwarf Debate," published in Volume 2, Issue 3 of the
Red Dwarf Smegazine
, science fiction writers Steve Lyons and Joe Nazarro argue about the pros and cons of the early series versus the later series. Lyons states that the show "once had was a unique balance of sci-fi comedy, which worked magnificently." Nazarro agrees that "the first two series are very original and very funny," but goes on to say that "it wasn't until series III that the show hit its stride."
[100]
Discussions revolve around the quality of series VI, seen by one reviewer as just as good as the earlier series',
[16]
but criticised by another reviewer as a descent into formulaic comedy with an unwelcome change of setting.
[109]
The changes seen in series VII disappointed some; while much slicker and higher-budget in appearance, the shift away from outright sitcom and into something approaching
comedy drama
was seen by one reviewer as a move in the wrong direction.
[110]
The attempt to shift back into traditional sitcom format for series VIII was greeted with a response that was similarly lukewarm.
[15]
There was criticism aimed at the decision to resurrect the entire crew of
Red Dwarf
, as it was felt this detracted from the series' central premise of Lister being the last human being alive.
[18]
There are other critics who feel that series VII and VIII are no weaker than the earlier series, however,
[111]
[112]
and the topic is the subject of constant fervent debate among the show's fanbase.
[15]
The return of the series on Dave has been met with a mostly positive reception.
Achievements
[
edit
]
Although the pilot episode of the show gathered over four million viewers, viewing figures dipped in successive episodes and the first series had generally poor ratings.
[113]
Through to series VI, ratings steadily increased and peaked at over six million viewers,
[36]
achieved with the episode "
Gunmen of the Apocalypse
."
[114]
When the series returned in 1999, it gained the highest audience figures yet?over eight million viewers tuned in for series VIII's opening episode "
Back in the Red: Part I
".
[115]
The series has won numerous awards including the
Royal Television Society Award
for special effects, the
British Science Fiction award
for Best Dramatic Presentation, as well as an International Emmy Award
[116]
for series VI episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", which tied with an
Absolutely Fabulous
episode, "Hospital," in the Popular Arts category. The show had also been nominated for the International Emmy Award in 1987, 1989 and 1992. Series VI won a British Comedy Award for 'Best BBC Comedy Series.' The video sales have won eight Gold Awards from the British Video Association,
[117]
and the series still holds the record for being BBC Two's longest-running, highest-rated sitcom.
[118]
During 2005
SFX
surveyed readers' top 50 British telefantasy shows of all time, and
Red Dwarf
placed second ahead of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
and behind
Doctor Who
.
[119]
In 2007, the series was voted 'Best Sci-Fi Show Of All Time' by the readers of
Radio Times
magazine. Editor Gill Hudson stated that this result surprised them as 'the series had not given any new episodes this century'.
[120]
Entertainment Weekly
listed it in a 2009 roundup of shows they missed in their list of best cult television series.
[121]
In January 2017, series XI was voted "Best Returning TV Sitcom" and "Comedy of the Year" for 2016 by readers for the
British Comedy Guide
.
[7]
A year later,
Red Dwarf
was once again voted "Best Returning TV Sitcom" for series XII, retaining the title from British Comedy Guide.
[122]
As noted by
Collider
in 2023, it ranked number four among the top ten British science fiction shows on
IMDb
.
[123]
In 2024 it was listed by
Den of Geek
as among the best British science fiction shows of the 1980s,
[124]
as well as among the top ten movies and shows inspired by
Star Trek
.
[125]
It was listed at 90 on
Empire
's "The 100 Best TV Shows Of All Time" ranking.
[126]
Spin-offs and merchandise
[
edit
]
The show's logo and characters have appeared on a wide range of merchandise.
[35]
[127]
Red Dwarf
has also been spun off in a variety of different media formats. For instance, the song "Tongue Tied," featured in the "
Parallel Universe
" episode of the show, was released in 1993 as a single and became a top 20 UK hit for Danny John-Jules (under the name 'The Cat').
[51]
Stage plays of the show have been produced by Blak Yak, a theatre group in
Perth
, Western Australia, who were given permission by Grant Naylor Productions to mount stage versions of certain episodes in 2002, 2004 and 2006.
[128]
[129]
[130]
[131]
In October 2006, an
Interactive Quiz DVD
entitled
Red Dwarf: Beat The Geek
was released, hosted by Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge, both reprising their roles as Holly.
[132]
In 2005, Grant Naylor Productions and Studio Hubris, in conjunction with Across the Pond Comics, collaborated to produce the spin-off
webcomic
Red Dwarf: Prelude to Nanarchy
.
[133]
Novels
[
edit
]
Working together under the name "Grant Naylor," the creators of the series collaboratively wrote two novels. The first,
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
, was published in November 1989, and it incorporates plot lines from several episodes of the show's first two series. The second novel,
Better Than Life
, followed in October 1990, and it is largely based on the second-series episode of the same name. Together, the two novels provide expanded backstory and development of the series' principal characters and themes.
The authors began work on a sequel to
Better than Life
, called
The Last Human
, but Rob Grant was drawn away from
Red Dwarf
by an interest in other projects.
[
citation needed
]
Still owing
Penguin Publishing
two more
Red Dwarf
novels, Grant and Naylor decided to each write an alternative sequel to
Better than Life
. Two completely different sequels were made as a result, each presenting a possible version of the story's continuation.
Last Human
, by Doug Naylor, adds Kochanski to the crew and places more emphasis on the science-fiction and plot elements, while Rob Grant's novel
Backwards
, is more in keeping with the previous two novels, and borrows more extensively from established television stories.
[36]
An
omnibus edition
of the first two novels was released in 1992, including edits to the original text and extra material such as the original pilot script of the TV series.
[134]
All four novels have been released in
audiobook
format, the first two read by Chris Barrie,
[135]
[136]
Last Human
read by Craig Charles,
[137]
and
Backwards
read by author Rob Grant.
[138]
In December 2009,
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
was released in Germany with the title
Roter Zwerg
("Red Dwarf" in German).
[139]
List of
Red Dwarf
novels
[
edit
]
Home video releases
[
edit
]
The first eight series of
Red Dwarf
were released on VHS but not in the order of the series as broadcast. Series III (1989) was released on home video in 1991, followed by series II (1988) and series IV (1991) in 1992. Series I was released on VHS in 1993; at the time, that series had not been repeated on television since its original broadcast in 1988. Series V (1992) was released on video in 1994, followed by series VI (1993) in 1995, series VII (1997) in 1997, and series VIII (1999) in 1999.
For the initial release of the VHS editions, episodes of
Red Dwarf
were separated and two volumes released for each series (except series VII and VIII, which were released on three separate tapes), labelled 'Byte One' and 'Byte Two' (plus 'Byte Three' for series VII and VIII, although in Australia, series VII and VIII were released in two volumes each, with four episodes per tape). These videos were named after the first episode of the three presented on the tape, as was typical with other BBC video releases at the time. However, on occasions the BBC decided to ignore the original running order and use the most popular episodes from the series to maximise sales of the videos: for series III (the first-ever release), "Bodyswap" and "Timeslides" were swapped round, so that the latter could receive top billing on the second VHS volume; for the second VHS volume of series I, "
Confidence and Paranoia
" was given top billing, even though the original broadcast order was retained; this was due to the leading episode being "Waiting for God" which shared its name with the title of
another comedy series
(set in a retirement home); and for series V, "
Back to Reality
" and "
Quarantine
" were given top billing on their respective video release, which completely re-organised the order of episodes from that in which they were originally broadcast.
[140]
Future releases would increasingly observe authenticity with the 'original broadcast' context, although Byte Two of
Red Dwarf VI
was titled "Polymorph II: Emohawk" despite the lead-off episode's actual title of "Emowhawk: Polymorph II."
Three episodes of series VII were also released as special "Xtended" [
sic
] versions with extra scenes (including an original, unbroadcast ending for the episode "Tikka To Ride") and no
laugh track
;
[141]
the
remastered
versions of series I?III were also released individually and in a complete box-set.
[142]
[143]
[144]
Finally, two
outtake
videos were released, both hosted by Robert Llewellyn in character as Kryten:
Smeg Ups
in 1994, and its sequel,
Smeg Outs
, in 1995.
[145]
[146]
DVD releases
[
edit
]
The first eight series have been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4, each with a bonus disc of extra material. Each release from series III onwards also features an original documentary about the making of each respective series.
[147]
Regions 2 and 4 have also seen the release of two
Just the Shows
, digipack box sets containing the episodes from series I?IV (Volume 1) and V?VIII (Volume 2) with static menus and no extras.
[148]
[149]
Red Dwarf: The Bodysnatcher Collection
, containing the 1998 remastered episodes, as well as new documentaries for series I and II, was released in 2007. This release showcased a storyboard construction of "Bodysnatcher", an unfinished script from 1987, which was finally completed in 2007 by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor who were working together for the first time since 1993.
[55]
In December 2008 an anniversary DVD set entitled
Red Dwarf: All the Shows
was released, reworking the vanilla disc content of the two
Just the Shows
sets within A4 packaging resembling a photo album, which omitted information that no extras were included. This box set was re-released in a smaller slipcase-sized box, reverting to the
Just the Shows
title, in November 2009. The series is also available for download on
iTunes
.
Release
|
# of discs
|
DVD release date
|
Region 1
|
Region 2
|
Region 4
|
Series I
|
2
|
25 February 2003
|
4 November 2002
|
3 December 2002
|
Series II
|
2
|
25 February 2003
|
10 February 2003
|
1 April 2003
|
Series III
|
2
|
3 February 2004
|
3 November 2003
|
18 November 2003
|
Series IV
|
2
|
3 February 2004
|
16 February 2004
|
9 March 2004
|
Just the Shows Vol. 1
Series 1?4 with no extras
|
4
|
?
|
18 October 2004
|
12 November 2004
|
Series V
|
2
|
15 March 2005
|
8 November 2004
|
1 December 2004
|
Series VI
|
2
|
15 March 2005
|
21 February 2005
|
6 April 2005
|
Series VII
|
3
|
10 January 2006
|
7 November 2005
|
1 December 2005
|
Series VIII
|
3
|
2 May 2006
|
27 March 2006
|
20 April 2006
|
The Complete Collection
Series 1?8 with extras
|
18
|
5 September 2006
|
?
|
?
|
Just the Shows Vol. 2
Series 5?8 with no extras
|
6
|
?
|
2 October 2006
|
3 November 2006
|
Beat the Geek
(Interactive DVD quiz game)
|
1
|
?
|
23 October 2006
|
3 March 2011
|
The Bodysnatcher Collection
The
remastered versions
of series 1?3
|
4
|
?
|
12 November 2007
|
7 May 2008
|
Just the Smegs
DVD re-issue of the VHS release
Smeg Ups
and
Smeg Outs
|
1
|
?
|
19 November 2007
|
3 March 2011
|
All the Shows
Series 1?8 with no extras
|
10
|
?
|
10 November 2008
|
?
|
Back to Earth
|
2
|
6 October 2009
|
15 June 2009
|
17 December 2009
|
Just the Shows
Series 1?8 with no extras
|
10
|
?
|
9 November 2009
|
?
|
The Complete Collection
Series 1?3 (Remastered), series 4?8,
Just the Smegs
and
Back to Earth ? The Director's Cut
|
19
|
?
|
?
|
4 August 2010
|
Series X
|
2
|
8 January 2013
[150]
|
19 November 2012
[151]
|
12 December 2012
[152]
|
Series XI
|
2
|
8 November 2016
|
14 November 2016
|
8 March 2017
|
Series XII
|
2
|
21 November 2017
|
20 November 2017
|
18 February 2018
|
The Promised Land
|
1
|
15 September 2020
|
1 June 2020
|
TBA
|
Blu-ray releases
[
edit
]
Release
|
# of discs
|
Blu-ray release date
|
Region A
|
Region B
|
Series I?VIII
With
The Bodysnatcher Collection
|
19
|
2 August 2019
a
|
14 January 2019
b
|
Back to Earth
|
2
|
6 October 2009
|
31 August 2009
|
Series X
|
2
|
8 January 2013
[153]
|
19 November 2012
[154]
|
Series XI
|
2
|
8 November 2016
|
14 November 2016
|
Series XII
|
2
|
21 November 2017
|
20 November 2017
|
The Promised Land
|
1
|
15 September 2020
|
1 June 2020
|
^a
Only in Japan
[155]
^b
Only in the United Kingdom
[156]
In 2016, BBC Worldwide began creating an '
up-resed
' version of the first five series for release on Blu-ray, due to demand from Japan.
[157]
When asked about the project in 2017, Naylor confirmed he had stopped it due to lackluster picture quality.
[158]
By 2018, the project, now encompassing the entire original run, had been restarted,
[159]
and a series 1?8 Blu-ray set release was confirmed in August.
[160]
Magazine
[
edit
]
The
Red Dwarf Magazine
?the magazine part of the title changed to "Smegazine" from Issue 3? was launched in 1992 by
Fleetway Editions
. It ran for 23 issues, Volume 1 from Issues 1 through 14 and Volume 2 from Issues 1 - 9. It comprised a mix of news, reviews, interviews, comic strips, and competitions. The comic strips featured episode adaptations and original material, including further stories of popular characters like Mr. Flibble, the Polymorph, and Ace Rimmer.
Notably, the comic strip stories' holographic characters, predominately Rimmer, were drawn in
greyscale
. This was at the request of Grant and Naylor, who had wanted to but, for financial reason, were unable to use the technique for the television series (Rimmer did appear in greyscale in "low power mode" in "The Promised Land").
[161]
Despite achieving circulation figures of over 40,000 per month,
[161]
the magazine's publisher decided to close the title down to concentrate on their other publications.
[36]
A farewell issue was published in January 1994, featuring remaining interviews, features, and comic strips that had been planned for the following issues.
[162]
The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club produces a periodical magazine for members titled
Back to Reality
. The previous volume of this magazine, dating back to the 1990s, was known as
Better Than Life.
[163]
U.S. version
[
edit
]
Cast of second
Red Dwarf USA
pilot
Despite the original version having been broadcast on
PBS
, a pilot episode for an American version (known as
Red Dwarf USA
) was produced through
Universal Studios
with the intention of broadcasting on
NBC
in 1992.
[164]
The show essentially followed the same story as the
first episode
of the original series, using American actors for most of the main roles:
[165]
Craig Bierko
as Lister,
Chris Eigeman
as Rimmer, and
Hinton Battle
as Cat. Exceptions to this were Llewellyn, who reprised his role as Kryten, and the British actress
Jane Leeves
, who played Holly. It was written by
Linwood Boomer
and directed by
Jeffrey Melman
, with Grant and Naylor on board as creators and executive producers.
[166]
Llewellyn, Grant and Naylor travelled to America for the filming of the American pilot after production of the fifth series of the UK series. According to Llewellyn and Naylor, the cast were not satisfied with Linwood Boomer's script. Grant and Naylor rewrote the script, but although the cast preferred the re-write, the script as filmed was closer to Boomer's version. The pilot episode includes footage from the UK series in its title sequence, although it did not retain the logo or the theme music of the UK series. During filming of the pilot, the audience reaction was good and it was felt that the story had been well received.
[166]
The studio executives were not entirely happy with the pilot, especially the casting, but decided to give the project another chance with Grant and Naylor in charge.
[167]
The intention was to shoot a "promo video" for the show in a small studio described by the writers as "a garage".
[166]
New cast members were hired for the roles of Cat (now depicted as female) and Rimmer,
[166]
Terry Farrell
and Anthony Fusco, respectively.
[168]
This meant that, unlike the original British series, the cast were all Caucasian, which Charles referred to as "White Dwarf".
[169]
Chris Barrie was asked to play Rimmer in the second pilot, but he declined. With a small budget and deadline, new scenes were quickly shot and mixed in with existing footage of the pilot and UK series V episodes, to give an idea of the basic plot and character dynamics, alongside proposed future episodes, remakes of episodes from the original show.
[166]
Llewellyn did not participate in the re-shoot, though clips from the British version were used to show the character. Despite the re-shoots and re-casting, the option on the pilot was not picked up.
[166]
The cast of both the British and American versions criticised the casting of
Red Dwarf USA
, particularly the part of Lister, who is portrayed in the British version as a likeable slob, but in the U.S. version as somewhat clean-cut. In the 2004 documentary
Dwarfing USA
, Danny John-Jules said the only actor who could have successfully portrayed an American Lister was
John Belushi
. In a 2009 interview on
Kevin Pollak's Chat Show
, Bierko said that it was a "huge mistake" for him to play Lister, and also said that a "John Belushi-type" would have been better suited to the role.
[170]
The American pilot has been heavily bootlegged, but it has never been broadcast on TV in any country. Excerpts from the first pilot are included in
Dwarfing USA
, a featurette on the making of the pilots included on the DVD release of
Red Dwarf
's
fifth series. Because of rights-clearance issues, no footage from the second pilot is included in the featurette.
Red Dwarf: The Movie
[
edit
]
Since the beginning of the seventh series in 1997, Doug Naylor had been attempting to make a feature-length version of the show.
[171]
A final draft of the script was written by Naylor, and
flyers
began circulating around certain websites. The flyer had been created by Winchester Films in order to market the film overseas.
[172]
Plot details were included as part of a teaser.
The movie was set in the distant future in which
Homo sapienoids
? a race of cyborgs? had taken over the solar system and were wiping out the human race. Spaceships that tried to escape Earth were hunted down "until only one remained...
Red Dwarf
".
Naylor scouted Australia to get an idea of locations and finance costs. Pre-production began in 2004 and filming was planned for 2005.
[173]
Costumes were made, including Kryten's, and A-list celebrity cameos, including
Madonna
, were rumoured.
[174]
However, the team struggled to find sufficient funding. Naylor explained at a
Red Dwarf
Dimension Jump convention
that the film had been rejected by the BBC and the
British Film Council
.
[173]
In 2012, material from early drafts of the film was incorporated into the Series X finale "
The Beginning
".
[175]
In 2018, Naylor suggested production of the movie was still under consideration, explaining, "The order will probably be another TV series, a stage show and possibly a movie, and I think the guys agree on that. The film is a long shot at this point just because it can take so long to get funding."
[176]
[177]
Role-playing game
[
edit
]
Deep7 Press (formerly Deep7 LLC) released
Red Dwarf ? The Roleplaying Game
in February 2003 (the printed copyright is 2002).
[178]
Based on the series, the game allows its players to portray original characters within the
Red Dwarf
universe. Player characters can be human survivors, holograms, "evolved" house pets (cats, dogs, iguanas, rabbits, rats and mice), various types of mechanoid (Series 4000, Hudzen 10 and Waxdroids in the corebook, Series 3000 in the Extra Bits Book) or GELFs (Kinatawowi and Pleasure GELF in the corebook, "Vindaloovians" in the Extra Bits Book).
A total of three products were released for the game: the core 176-page rulebook, the
AI Screen
(analogous to the
Game Master's Screen
used in other
role-playing games
, also featuring the "Extra Bits Book" booklet) and the
Series Sourcebook
.
[179]
The
Series Sourcebook
contains plot summaries of each episode from series I to VIII as well as game rules for all major and minor characters from each series.
The game has been praised for staying true to the comedic nature of the series, for its entertaining writing and for the detail to which the background material is explained.
[179]
[180]
However, some reviewers found the game mechanics to be simplistic and uninspiring compared to other science-fiction role-playing games on the market.
[181]
Video games
[
edit
]
On June 23, 2003 a shooting game called
Simulant's Revenge
was released by Blue Beck for
J2ME
powered
mobile phones
.
[182]
In promotion of the upcoming release of series XI, a
mobile game
titled
Red Dwarf XI - The Game
was released to coincide with the release of
Twentica
on 22 September 2016. Developed by GameDigits, it was intended to release episodically with new releases being based on all the episodes of XI.
[183]
However, it ceased development following the end of its adaptation of
Officer Rimmer
to instead focus on developing
Red Dwarf XII - The Game
,
[184]
which dropped the episodic format and instead featured minigames such as running through the corridors of spaceships featured in XII, similar to
Temple Run
, and free-roaming space on board
Starbug
. Fan reception to the games were mixed and, by late 2019, both games were no longer available to download from
Google Play
; however, Red Dwarf XII - The Game can still be downloaded from Amazon App Store as well as Google Play when linked to via the URL.
[185]
Red Dwarf
was featured as a hidden area in the
Lego
video game,
Lego Dimensions
. The area was featured in the game's
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
expansion pack released on 18 November 2016, where the player was able to explore a small section of the titular ship including the sleeping quarters. References to the most recent series of the show were also included such as Snacky from
Give & Take
making a non-speaking appearance and the bio-printer from
Officer Rimmer
being an interactable object.
[186]
Red Dwarf Night
[
edit
]
On 14 February 1998, the night before the tenth anniversary of the show's first episode broadcast,
BBC Two
devoted an evening of programmes to the series, under the banner of
Red Dwarf Night
. The evening consisted of a mixture of new and existing material, and it was introduced and linked by actor and fan
Patrick Stewart
. In addition, a series of special take-offs on BBC Two's
idents
, featuring the "2" logo falling in love with a
skutter
, were used.
[187]
The night began with
Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg
, a spoof of the cookery programme
Can't Cook, Won't Cook
, presented by that show's host
Ainsley Harriott
who had himself appeared as a GELF in the series VI episode "
Emohawk: Polymorph II
". Taking place outside the continuity of the series, two teams (Kryten and Lister versus Rimmer and Cat, although Cat quickly departs to be replaced by alter ego
Duane Dibbley
) were challenged to make the best chicken
vindaloo
.
[187]
After a compilation
bloopers
show, featuring out-takes, the next programme was
Universe Challenge
, a spoof of
University Challenge
. Hosted by original
University Challenge
presenter
Bamber Gascoigne
, the show had a team of knowledgeable
Dwarf
fans compete against a team consisting of Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Robert Llewellyn, Chloe Annett and Danny John-Jules.
[187]
This was followed by
The Red Dwarf A?Z
, a half-hour documentary that chose a different aspect of the show to focus on for each letter of the alphabet. Talking heads on the episode included
Stephen Hawking
,
Terry Pratchett
, original producer
Paul Jackson
,
Mr Blobby
, Patrick Stewart and a
Dalek
.
[188]
Finally, the night ended with a showing of the episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".
[187]
YouTube Geek Week
[
edit
]
In August 2013,
YouTube
held a campaign to promote user-generated content concerning science fiction, comics, gaming, and science.
[189]
Robert Llewellyn in-character as Kryten hosted the event's daily videos, making references to Lister, Rimmer, and the Cat whilst presenting featured uploads.
[190]
Stellar Rescue
[
edit
]
On 1 July 2019, an advert for the
AA
called "Stellar Rescue" featuring the core
Red Dwarf
crew premiered on
ITV
.
[191]
The advert has
Starbug
break down on an inhospitable planet with Lister using the AA app to call a mechanic and successfully escape.
[192]
[193]
[194]
On 2 March 2020, a second advert called "Stellar Rescue - Smart Breakdown" was uploaded to the AA official YouTube channel featuring
Starbug
stranded without power on an ice planet but with Lister again calling a mechanic and saving the day.
[195]
[196]
[197]
An alternate 30-second one accompanied it, with this one serving as the broadcast version.
Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years
[
edit
]
In August 2020, a three-part documentary series entitled 'The First Three Million Years' was aired on
Dave
and narrated by
Doctor Who
actor
David Tennant
. The retrospective contained deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage and new interviews, as the cast and crew reflected upon 30 years of the show. A conversation between the four key cast members was filmed on the set of "The Promised Land", as the actors shared memories and anecdotes from their decades of working together
[198]
Red Dwarf: Into The Gloop
[
edit
]
On 7 February 2021, a script entitled 'Into The Gloop' was read at the Official Red Dwarf Fan Club Holly Hop Convention by a cast of fans. Written by
Rob Grant
, directed by Ed Bye and produced by Paul Jackson, the one-off performance was broadcast live to Holly Hop attendees on Zoom. The mini-episode, a self-contained story, was set at the end of Series VI. The cast was Harmony Hewlett and Loic Baucherel as Rimmer, Raph Clarkson as Lister, Nikola Skalova as the Cat, and Ellie Griffiths as Kryten.
[199]
Dave Hollins: Space Cadet
[
edit
]
Red Dwarf
was originally based on
Dave Hollins: Space Cadet
, a series of five sketches that aired in the
BBC Radio 4
series
Son of Cliche
, produced by
Rob Grant
and
Doug Naylor
in 1984.
[200]
[201]
The sketches recounted the adventures of Dave Hollins (voiced by
Nick Wilton
), a hapless space traveller who is marooned in space far from Earth.
[202]
His only steady companion is the computer Hab (voiced by Chris Barrie).
[203]
Grant and Naylor chose to use the
Dave Hollins: Space Cadet
sketches as a base for a television show after watching the 1974 film
Dark Star
.
[204]
They changed some elements from the sketches:
[205]
The 7-trillion-year figure was first changed to 7 billion years and then to 3 million and the characters of
Arnold Rimmer
and
the Cat
were created. The name Dave Hollins was changed to
Dave Lister
when a
football
player called
Dave Hollins
became well known, and Hab was replaced by
Holly
. One of the voice actors from
Son of Cliche
, Chris Barrie went on to portray Arnold Rimmer in the
Red Dwarf
TV series.
Episodes of
Dave Hollins
can be found on the 2-disc
Red Dwarf
DVD sets starting with series V and ending with series VIII.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Later revised to the 23rd century, according to the 1991 episode "
DNA
", or the 22nd century, according to the 1997 episode "
Ouroboros
".
- ^
Later revised to 1,169 crew members in the 1991 episode "
Justice
" and "over a thousand" in the 2017 episode "
Timewave
".
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Red Dwarf on DVD"
.
BBC Worldwide
Press Office
. 4 October 2002.
Archived
from the original on 27 February 2010
. Retrieved
28 November
2009
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf VI released on DVD"
.
BBC Worldwide Press Office
. 12 January 2005.
Archived
from the original on 20 February 2009
. Retrieved
5 February
2009
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf VIII: Aftermath"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 23 January 2009
. Retrieved
5 February
2009
.
- ^
"Back To Earth Ratings"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 17 April 2009.
Archived
from the original on 9 March 2016
. Retrieved
21 August
2017
.
- ^
"Rated And Reviewed: The dust settles on Series X"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 23 November 2012.
Archived
from the original on 7 April 2016
. Retrieved
21 August
2017
.
- ^
"Topping The Charts: Consolidated viewing figures for Twentica"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 7 October 2016.
Archived
from the original on 12 September 2017
. Retrieved
21 August
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"Comedy.co.uk Awards 2016 winners announced"
.
British Comedy Guide
. 23 January 2017.
Archived
from the original on 3 February 2017
. Retrieved
23 January
2017
.
- ^
Team Empire (16 October 2019).
"The 100 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time"
.
Empire
.
Archived
from the original on 24 April 2020
. Retrieved
14 December
2019
.
- ^
Snider, John C. (2003).
"DVD Review: Red Dwarf Series I"
.
ScifiDimensions.com
. Archived from
the original
on 17 October 2012
. Retrieved
6 February
2008
.
- ^
a
b
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 45.
- ^
a
b
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 46.
- ^
"Red Dwarf Series I DVD"
.
Sci-Fi Weekly
. 3 March 2003. Archived from
the original
on 17 August 2007
. Retrieved
6 February
2008
.
- ^
Stuart, Alasdair (22 September 2016).
"Welcome Back to Red Dwarf: The Best Running Joke on UK Television"
.
Tor.com
.
Archived
from the original on 31 January 2020
. Retrieved
31 January
2020
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 52.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Worley, Alec.
"Red Dwarf (1988-99)"
.
Screenonline
.
Archived
from the original on 13 December 2007
. Retrieved
11 February
2008
.
- ^
a
b
"Red Dwarf Series VI DVD"
.
Sci-Fi Weekly
. 28 March 2005. Archived from
the original
on 4 March 2009.
- ^
a
b
Martin, Peter (October 2005).
"Red Dwarf VII UK - DVD R2"
.
DVD Active.com
. Archived from
the original
on 11 October 2008
. Retrieved
20 February
2008
.
- ^
a
b
Castro, Adam-Troy (13 July 2006).
"Red Dwarf Series VIII DVD"
.
Sci-Fi Weekly
. Archived from
the original
on 20 July 2006
. Retrieved
20 February
2008
.
- ^
Harris, Andrew S.
"Red Dwarf Series VIII Episode Guide"
.
The Britannia TV Archives
. Archived from
the original
on 19 June 2013
. Retrieved
6 February
2008
.
- ^
a
b
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 19?24.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 24?30.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 30?34.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 35?38.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 38?42.
- ^
Grant, Rob
;
Naylor, Doug (writers)
;
Bye, Ed (director)
(14 March 1991). "
Dimension Jump
".
Red Dwarf
. Series IV. Episode 5.
BBC
.
BBC2
.
- ^
Naylor, Doug (writer/director)
(4 October 2012). "
Trojan
".
Red Dwarf
. Series X. Episode 1.
Dave
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf Special Announced: The Boys from the Dwarf are returning to Dave in 2020!"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 18 October 2019.
Archived
from the original on 19 October 2019
. Retrieved
19 October
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Dessau, Bruce
(1992).
"Red Dwarf Genesis"
.
The Official Red Dwarf Companion
.
Titan Books
. pp. 8?12.
ISBN
978-1-85286-456-9
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf Series I Genesis"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 16 November 2008
. Retrieved
17 December
2007
.
- ^
a
b
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 6.
- ^
Neela Debnath (16 September 2016).
"Red Dwarf creator Doug Naylor reveals cast were 'outsiders' at the BBC despite Emmy win"
.
Daily Express
.
Archived
from the original on 30 November 2019
. Retrieved
19 January
2020
.
- ^
Howarth, Chris; Lyons, Steve (October 1992).
"The Red Dwarf Interview: Norman Lovett"
.
Red Dwarf Smegazine
. Vol. 1, no. 9. Fleetway Editions Ltd. pp. 20?25.
ISSN
0965-5603
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Red Dwarf Series 1 Episode One: The End"
.
Red Dwarf Smegazine
. Vol. 2, no. 1. Fleetway Editions Ltd. May 1993. pp. 34?36.
ISSN
0965-5603
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 5.
- ^
a
b
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 205.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Series VI Aftermath"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 21 April 2008
. Retrieved
11 February
2008
.
- ^
"Series VII Writing"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 21 April 2008
. Retrieved
11 February
2008
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 16.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series V Production"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 19 November 2008
. Retrieved
17 December
2007
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 13?14.
- ^
Goodall, Howard (2015).
"QI Theme (Piano Solo)"
.
Faber Music Limited
. Archived from
the original
on 24 February 2015
. Retrieved
7 September
2020
.
See preview. This is a sheet music download. When your transaction is complete you will have up to 7 days to print the music yourself ? it will not be posted to you.
- ^
"Mindblowing thing I've just noticed about the Opening Theme..."
Ganymede & Titan
. 21 October 2016.
Archived
from the original on 4 December 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
Goodall, Howard.
"Red Dwarf: TV & Film: Works"
.
howardgoodall.co.uk
. Archived from
the original
on 13 August 2018
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
phillimess.
"789660406050541568"
.
Twitter
. Archived from
the original
on 6 September 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
Goodall, Howard (22 October 2016).
"I am honoured & delighted my vo-coded message from the past has been cracked!"
.
Twitter
. Archived from
the original
on 6 September 2020.
I am honoured & delighted my vo-coded message from the past has been cracked! t .co/1GZMzPgZ9C
- ^
Goodall, Howard.
"Red Dwarf Theme lyrics"
.
Lyrics Freak
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
Whistlecroft, Charlotte (22 October 2016).
"So apparently the Red Dwarf theme has hidden lyrics"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 11 November 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
Mellor, Louisa (6 August 2020).
"Red Dwarf: Behind-the-Scenes Doc Shows Alternative Theme Song Lyrics"
.
Den of Geek
.
Archived
from the original on 29 September 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
Goodall, Howard.
"Red Dwarf Theme"
.
genius.com
.
Archived
from the original on 13 November 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
"The Red Dwarf Interview: Making Music, Howard Goodall"
.
Red Dwarf Smegazine
. Vol. 1, no. 10. Fleetway Editions Ltd. November 1992. pp. 29?32.
ISSN
0965-5603
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Search the UK Top 40 Hit Database"
.
EveryHit.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 18 January 2008
. Retrieved
19 December
2007
.
- ^
"Back from the Dead" featurette on the Series VII DVD release.
- ^
Dillon, Matt (14 November 2007).
"Red Dwarf: The Bodysnatcher Collection"
.
Sci-Fi-London Film Festival
. Archived from
the original
on 8 April 2008
. Retrieved
28 January
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series I Remastering"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 25 November 2008
. Retrieved
18 December
2007
.
- ^
a
b
"The Bodysnatcher Collection: The groundbreaking DVD release arrives in stores!"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 9 November 2007.
Archived
from the original on 16 April 2008
. Retrieved
19 December
2007
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series VII Production"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 21 April 2008
. Retrieved
17 December
2007
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series VIII Production"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 21 April 2008
. Retrieved
18 December
2007
.
- ^
Rawson-Jones, Ben (4 October 2007).
"BBC rejects new 'Red Dwarf' series"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 12 January 2008
. Retrieved
18 January
2008
.
- ^
Rawson-Jones, Ben (22 December 2007).
"
'Red Dwarf' returns for new 'mobisodes'
"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 25 January 2008
. Retrieved
18 January
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf to return in new series"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. London. 27 January 2009.
Archived
from the original on 25 February 2009
. Retrieved
27 January
2009
.
- ^
"Back To Earth: The Trilogy"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 20 February 2009.
Archived
from the original on 23 February 2009
. Retrieved
20 February
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Red Alert".
SFX
. No. 181. April 2009. p. 8.
- ^
"Red Dwarf News: New character revealed!"
.
Dave
. 4 March 2009. Archived from
the original
on 16 August 2009
. Retrieved
4 March
2009
.
- ^
"Red-Through: A high-definition start to the new
Dwarf
production"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 13 February 2009.
Archived
from the original on 16 February 2009
. Retrieved
13 February
2009
.
- ^
Holmwood, Leigh (14 April 2009).
"TV ratings: Red Dwarf brings Dave record audience"
.
The Guardian
.
Guardian News and Media Limited
.
Archived
from the original on 13 May 2014
. Retrieved
5 October
2012
.
- ^
"Back To Earth Ratings"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 17 April 2009.
Archived
from the original on 13 September 2012
. Retrieved
5 October
2012
.
- ^
"Dave Episodes' DVD Date Revealed"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 20 February 2009.
Archived
from the original on 23 February 2009
. Retrieved
20 February
2009
.
- ^
"Blu-ray In The UK"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 24 July 2009.
Archived
from the original on 1 December 2012
. Retrieved
5 October
2012
.
- ^
"The Show: Q&A"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 17 July 2012
. Retrieved
30 July
2012
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf X confirmed"
.
Dave
. 10 April 2011. Archived from
the original
on 15 April 2011
. Retrieved
15 April
2011
.
- ^
"New Series of Red Dwarf Confirmed"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 15 April 2011.
Archived
from the original on 6 August 2012
. Retrieved
20 August
2012
.
- ^
"Be in the Audience for Red Dwarf X"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 11 November 2011.
Archived
from the original on 22 April 2012
. Retrieved
25 May
2012
.
- ^
Capps, Jonathan (30 January 2012).
"A Big Red Dwarf X Round-Up"
.
Ganymede & Titan
. Archived from
the original
on 22 July 2012
. Retrieved
25 May
2012
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf X: First Trailer"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 20 July 2012.
Archived
from the original on 10 September 2012
. Retrieved
20 August
2012
.
- ^
Mellor, Louisa (22 August 2012).
"Will Red Dwarf X be the show's final outing?"
.
Den of Geek
.
Archived
from the original on 24 August 2012
. Retrieved
23 August
2012
.
- ^
"Dimension Jump XVII: Sunday"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 5 May 2013.
Archived
from the original on 27 March 2014
. Retrieved
22 October
2013
.
- ^
Naylor, Doug [@DougRDNaylor] (21 October 2013).
"Getting tweets claiming Red Dwarf XI is commissioned..."
(
Tweet
)
. Retrieved
20 December
2017
– via
Twitter
.
- ^
Fletcher, Alex (22 October 2013).
"
'Red Dwarf' series 11 still not commissioned, says Doug Naylor"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 23 October 2013
. Retrieved
22 October
2013
.
- ^
Fletcher, Alex (14 January 2014).
"Red Dwarf series 11 currently being written, says Danny John-Jules"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 13 March 2014
. Retrieved
3 March
2014
.
- ^
Frazer, Philip (9 April 2014).
"Red Dwarf Season 11 Confirmed With Filming Date"
.
WhatCulture.com
.
Archived
from the original on 12 April 2014
. Retrieved
10 April
2014
.
- ^
"Cult comedy classic Red Dwarf ready to take off with new series"
.
ITV News
. 2 May 2015.
Archived
from the original on 5 May 2015
. Retrieved
2 May
2015
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf Returns... Twice!"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 2 May 2015.
Archived
from the original on 5 May 2015
. Retrieved
2 May
2015
.
- ^
"Just The Ticket"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 11 September 2015.
Archived
from the original on 11 September 2016
. Retrieved
21 August
2017
.
- ^
Ashurst, Sam (12 October 2017).
"Red Dwarf XII episode one, 'Cured' review: Lister's new BFF is... Hitler?!"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 15 October 2017
. Retrieved
12 October
2017
.
- ^
"All Right, Dudes?"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 8 September 2017.
Archived
from the original on 8 September 2017
. Retrieved
15 September
2017
.
- ^
"Teaser For Twelve"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 15 September 2017.
Archived
from the original on 16 September 2017
. Retrieved
15 September
2017
.
- ^
Symes, Ian (24 May 2019).
"Bobby Llew strikes yet again"
.
Ganymede & Titan
.
Archived
from the original on 29 June 2019
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
Warner, Sam (27 June 2019).
"Red Dwarf star Danny John-Jules gives update on the series' return"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 17 December 2019
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
"Finally! Red Dwarf movie IS happening"
.
Chortle
. 18 October 2019.
Archived
from the original on 19 October 2019
. Retrieved
21 February
2020
.
- ^
Symes, Ian (21 November 2019).
"Red Dwarf Special Recording Postponed"
.
Ganymede & Titan
.
Archived
from the original on 15 February 2020
. Retrieved
21 February
2020
.
- ^
Howard, Kirsten (18 October 2019).
"Red Dwarf feature-length special on the way in 2020"
.
Den of Geek
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
Cremona, Patrick (23 January 2020).
"First look at new Red Dwarf special as Dave releases new images"
.
Radio Times
.
Archived
from the original on 22 February 2020
. Retrieved
21 February
2020
.
- ^
"What's It All About?"
.
reddwarf.co.uk
. 14 February 2020.
Archived
from the original on 22 February 2020
. Retrieved
21 February
2020
.
- ^
Fullerton, Huw (10 March 2020).
"Red Dwarf gets dramatic in new special trailer"
.
Radio Times
.
Archived
from the original on 4 April 2020
. Retrieved
11 March
2020
.
- ^
@davechannel (11 March 2020).
"#RedDwarf: The Promised Land. Coming soon to Dave"
(
Tweet
)
. Retrieved
11 March
2020
– via
Twitter
.
- ^
"Iconic BBC comedy series to return to screens - 36yrs after first episode"
.
uk.style.yahoo.com/
. 17 May 2024.
Archived
from the original on 17 May 2024
. Retrieved
17 May
2024
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf 'returning to TV with 3 brand new episodes'
"
.
radiotimes.com
. 17 May 2024.
Archived
from the original on 17 May 2024
. Retrieved
17 May
2024
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series II Writing"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 21 April 2008
. Retrieved
17 January
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Series IV music"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 24 November 2008
. Retrieved
17 January
2008
.
- ^
a
b
c
Lyons, Steve; Nazzaro, Joe (July 1993).
"The Great Red Dwarf Debate"
.
Red Dwarf Smegazine
. Vol. 2, no. 3. Fleetway Editions Ltd. pp. 38?39.
ISSN
0965-5603
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
Howard, Rob (9 April 2009).
"
'Red Dwarf: Back To Earth' ? This Weekend's Essential Viewing"
.
NME
. Archived from
the original
on 11 October 2012
. Retrieved
15 April
2009
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 67?68.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) pp. 48?49.
- ^
"Ten Moments That Shaped Red Dwarf"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 14 November 2008.
Archived
from the original on 7 March 2009
. Retrieved
5 March
2009
.
- ^
Howarth, Chris; Lyons, Steve (1993).
Red Dwarf Programme Guide: A-Z
. London, UK:
Virgin Books
.
ISBN
0-86369-682-1
.
- ^
"10 things you might not know about RED DWARF - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek"
.
www.warpedfactor.com
. Retrieved
3 April
2023
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series I Writing"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 18 November 2008
. Retrieved
18 December
2007
.
- ^
"Ratings Consolidated"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 24 April 2020.
Archived
from the original on 27 April 2020
. Retrieved
30 April
2020
.
- ^
Perry, Gavrielle.
"The Good Dwarf Guide: Series III"
.
ReviewsByGavrielle.com
.
Archived
from the original on 4 March 2008
. Retrieved
1 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf VII UK - DVD R2"
.
DVD Active.com
. Archived from
the original
on 11 October 2008
. Retrieved
11 February
2008
.
- ^
Di Filippo, Paul.
"Red Dwarf Series VII DVD"
.
Sci-Fi Weekly
. Archived from
the original
on 3 July 2007
. Retrieved
11 February
2008
.
- ^
Gibron, Bill (7 June 2006).
"Red Dwarf: Series 5-8"
.
DVD Verdict.com
. Archived from
the original
on 19 January 2008
. Retrieved
11 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series I Aftermath"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 25 November 2008
. Retrieved
25 February
2007
.
- ^
Killick, Jane (January 1994).
"News From the Dwarf: Top of the Charts"
.
Red Dwarf Smegazine
. Vol. 2, no. 9. Fleetway Editions Ltd. p. 15.
ISSN
0965-5603
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
"Weekly Viewing Summary: Terrestrial Top 30 ? 4 December 2005"
.
BARB
. Archived from
the original
on 15 December 2005
. Retrieved
8 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series IV on DVD"
.
BBC Worldwide Press Office
.
Archived
from the original on 23 December 2007
. Retrieved
18 December
2007
.
- ^
"The Red Dwarf Phenomenon: 12 Years On"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 2001. Archived from
the original
on 7 August 2001
. Retrieved
18 December
2007
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf VI on DVD"
.
BBC Worldwide Press Office
. 1 January 2005.
Archived
from the original on 20 February 2009
. Retrieved
18 December
2007
.
- ^
Bradley, Dave, ed. (2005). "The Top 50 Greatest UK Telefantasy Shows Ever".
SFX Collection
(22): 50?51.
- ^
Hilton, Beth (17 July 2007).
"Red Dwarf voted 'best sci-fi show'
"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 10 October 2007
. Retrieved
23 January
2008
.
- ^
"17 All-Time Great Cult TV Shows You Say We Missed"
.
Entertainment Weekly
. 12 October 2009
. Retrieved
20 April
2024
.
- ^
"Inside No. 9 named Comedy Of The Year 2017"
.
British Comedy Guide
. 29 January 2018.
Archived
from the original on 10 February 2018
. Retrieved
9 February
2018
.
- ^
Brown, Simon (5 September 2023).
"The 10 Best British Sci-fi TV Shows, According to IMDb"
.
Collider
. Retrieved
20 April
2024
.
- ^
Farnell, Chris (2 February 2024).
"The Best 1980s British Sci-Fi TV Series (That Still Aren't Doctor Who)"
.
Den of Geek
. Retrieved
20 April
2024
.
- ^
Harrisson, Juliette (24 January 2024).
"The Best Sci-Fi TV Shows and Movies Inspired by Star Trek"
.
Den of Geek
.
- ^
"The 100 Best TV Shows Of All Time"
.
Empire
. 11 April 2024
. Retrieved
20 April
2024
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 219.
- ^
Mason, Fleur (5 September 2006). "Feline funky with the help of James Brown".
Fremantle Gazette
. Perth, W.A.
- ^
"Media man as the Cat".
Western Suburbs Weekly
. Perth, W.A. 12 September 2006.
- ^
Mason, Fleur (12 September 2006). "TV hits come alive on stage".
Southern Gazette
. Perth, W.A.
- ^
Cahill, Denise (16 March 2004). "Recall for one cool cat".
Fremantle Gazette
. Perth, W.A.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Beat The Geek"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 14 March 2008
. Retrieved
19 December
2007
.
- ^
"Prelude to Nanarchy Web Comic"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
15 December
2017
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 206.
- ^
Red Dwarf ? Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
.
ASIN
1897774109
.
- ^
Red Dwarf ? Better Than Life
.
ASIN
1897774818
.
- ^
Red Dwarf ? Last Human
.
ASIN
0007105657
.
- ^
Backwards: A Red Dwarf Novel
.
ASIN
0140171509
.
- ^
"German Novel Artwork"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 3 July 2009.
Archived
from the original on 9 July 2009
. Retrieved
28 November
2009
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series V Aftermath"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 24 November 2008
. Retrieved
7 January
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf series VII Aftermath"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 25 November 2008
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf - Series 1 - Episodes I-III (1988) VHS"
.
Amazon.co.uk
. 16 February 1998
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf - Series 3 - Episodes IV?VI (1988) VHS"
.
Amazon.co.uk
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf Series I?III : Remastered (Box Set) (1998)"
.
Sendit.com
. Archived from
the original
on 26 January 2008
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Smeg Ups"
.
Amazon.co.uk
. 7 November 1994
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Smeg Outs"
.
Amazon.co.uk
. 6 November 1995
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
Castro, Adam-Troy.
"Red Dwarf Series III DVD"
.
Sci-Fi Weekly
. Archived from
the original
on 22 August 2007
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Just The Shows Volume 1, Series I-IV"
.
BBC Shop
. Archived from
the original
on 18 January 2008
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Just The Shows Volume 2, Series V?VIII"
.
BBC Shop
. Archived from
the original
on 18 January 2008
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: X (DVD)"
.
Amazon.com
. Retrieved
9 November
2012
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: X (DVD)"
.
Amazon.co.uk
. Retrieved
23 August
2012
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Series 10"
.
EzyDVD.com.au
. Archived from
the original
on 8 November 2012
. Retrieved
9 November
2012
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf: Season X (Blu-ray)"
.
Amazon.com
. Retrieved
9 November
2012
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf X (Blu-ray)"
.
Amazon.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 7 November 2021
. Retrieved
23 August
2012
.
- ^
"Japan's Bumper Blu Box"
.
reddwarf.co.uk
. 26 July 2019.
Archived
from the original on 29 February 2020
. Retrieved
29 February
2020
.
- ^
"We're Covered"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 26 October 2018.
Archived
from the original on 26 October 2018
. Retrieved
26 October
2018
.
- ^
Naylor, Doug [@DougRDNaylor] (17 June 2016).
"BBCWW are doing an up-resed version of first 5 series..."
(
Tweet
)
. Retrieved
24 September
2017
– via
Twitter
.
- ^
Naylor, Doug [@DougRDNaylor] (19 September 2017).
"I killed it. Picture quality not good enough"
(
Tweet
)
. Retrieved
24 September
2017
– via
Twitter
.
- ^
King, Ray [@RayKing57] (24 July 2018).
"DougRDNaylor & restoration artist Simon Edwards working on Red Dwarf"
(
Tweet
)
. Retrieved
26 October
2018
– via
Twitter
.
- ^
"Blu Dwarf"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 3 August 2018.
Archived
from the original on 26 October 2018
. Retrieved
26 October
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 217.
- ^
Butcher, Mike (January 1994).
"Smeg-Editorial"
.
Red Dwarf Smegazine
. Vol. 2, no. 9. Fleetway Editions Ltd. p. 2.
ISSN
0965-5603
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
"A New Reality"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 2 May 2014.
Archived
from the original on 21 August 2017
. Retrieved
21 August
2017
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 228.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 225.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Dwarf USA: The full story behind 1992's ill-fated American Red Dwarf pilot"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. 19 July 2002.
Archived
from the original on 2 March 2008
. Retrieved
6 February
2008
.
- ^
Howarth & Lyons (1993) p. 227.
- ^
"Red Dwarf (1992)"
.
IMDb
.
Archived
from the original on 18 February 2017
. Retrieved
17 October
2017
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf USA unaired pilot"
.
The Red Dwarf Section
. February 2010.
Archived
from the original on 9 September 2016
. Retrieved
28 June
2017
.
- ^
"Episode 28 ? Craig Bierko"
.
Kevin Pollak's Chat Show
Archive
. 2 August 2009. Archived from
the original
on 2 November 2012.
- ^
Naylor, Doug (1999).
Red Dwarf VIII: The Official Book
. Virgin. p. 11.
- ^
"Making The Movie"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
. Archived from
the original
on 2 June 2003
. Retrieved
7 February
2008
.
- ^
a
b
Thomas, Craig (2 October 2015).
"Red Dwarf, and the movie that never was"
.
Den of Geek
.
Archived
from the original on 26 March 2020
. Retrieved
25 March
2020
.
- ^
KJB (26 September 2000).
"Madonna in Red Dwarf?"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on 26 March 2020
. Retrieved
25 March
2020
.
- ^
Symes, Ian (23 August 2012).
"Doug Naylor Broadcast Interview"
.
Ganymede & Titan
.
Archived
from the original on 26 March 2020
. Retrieved
25 March
2020
.
Most of the ideas are fresh but for the last episode I borrow things from the very early drafts of the film and explain what happened after the conclusion of series eight.
- ^
"Red Dwarf Turns 30: Interview With Co-Creator Doug Naylor On The 30th Anniversary"
.
WhatCulture
. 15 February 2018.
Archived
from the original on 1 September 2018
. Retrieved
1 September
2018
.
- ^
Arnold, Ben (18 October 2019).
"Red Dwarf to return with new movie"
.
Yahoo! Movies
.
Archived
from the original on 20 October 2019
. Retrieved
19 October
2019
.
- ^
"Three Million Years - Infinite Dimensions - Unlimited Possibilities"
.
Deep7
. Archived from
the original
on 13 September 2008
. Retrieved
29 September
2008
.
- ^
a
b
"Red Dwarf: The Role Playing Game"
.
GameWyrd
. Archived from
the original
on 2 February 2008
. Retrieved
29 September
2008
.
- ^
Peck, J. B.
"Red Dwarf: The Roleplaying Game Review"
.
Sci-Fi Weekly
. Archived from
the original
on 13 May 2008
. Retrieved
29 September
2008
.
- ^
Matt (5 May 2002).
"Interview : Red Dwarf ? The Roleplaying Game"
.
Realms.org.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 11 October 2008
. Retrieved
29 September
2008
.
- ^
Ellard, Andrew (20 June 2003).
"Simulants' Revenge"
.
The Official Red Dwarf Website
. Retrieved
4 May
2024
.
- ^
Warner, Sam (8 September 2016).
"Red Dwarf is getting its own game and it's launching later this month"
.
Digital Spy
.
Archived
from the original on 10 November 2019
. Retrieved
10 November
2019
.
- ^
Capps, Jonathan (16 August 2017).
"What's going on with the Red Dwarf mobile game?"
.
Ganymede & Titan
.
Archived
from the original on 10 November 2019
. Retrieved
10 November
2019
.
- ^
"Red Dwarf XI and XII games are gone"
.
Red Dwarf - The Officle Website Chat Forum
. 29 September 2019.
Archived
from the original on 31 December 2019
. Retrieved
17 January
2020
.
- ^
Tom Phillips (16 November 2016).
"Smegging hell, Lego Dimensions has added a Red Dwarf area"
.
Eurogamer
.
Archived
from the original on 26 May 2019
. Retrieved
17 January
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Red Dwarf Series VII Aftermath"
.
RedDwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 25 November 2008
. Retrieved
4 February
2008
.
- ^
"Daleks opinion about Red Dwarf"
.
YouTube
. 22 February 2011.
Archived
from the original on 27 November 2015
. Retrieved
23 August
2015
.
- ^
Dredge, Stuart (24 July 2013).
"Knightmare children's TV show to be revived for YouTube Geek Week"
.
The Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 26 October 2019
. Retrieved
5 November
2019
.
- ^
Vincent, James (25 July 2013).
"YouTube launches 'Geek Week', nerds left in the shade"
.
The Independent
.
Archived
from the original on 5 November 2019
. Retrieved
5 November
2019
.
- ^
"Stellar Rescue - YouTube"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on 7 July 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
Deen, Sarah (1 July 2019).
"Red Dwarf fans are going to smegging lose it over this AA advert after cast teases series 13"
.
Metro
.
Archived
from the original on 3 July 2019
. Retrieved
2 July
2019
.
- ^
Glenday, John (2 July 2019),
Red Dwarf crew receives planet-side breakdown cover from the AA
, The Drum,
archived
from the original on 3 March 2020
, retrieved
2 March
2020
- ^
"Stellar Rescue - Behind the Scenes of the new AA TV ad - YouTube"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on 8 November 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
"AA Stellar Rescue ? Smart Breakdown - YouTube"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on 28 September 2020
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
"AA Stellar Rescue - Red Dwarf Behind the Scenes - YouTube"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on 7 November 2021
. Retrieved
6 September
2020
.
- ^
"Drive Smart - Our latest Red Dwarf TV advert"
,
The AA
, 2 March 2020,
archived
from the original on 25 October 2019
, retrieved
2 March
2020
- ^
"Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years"
.
Reddwarf.co.uk
.
Archived
from the original on 5 August 2020
. Retrieved
17 August
2020
.
- ^
"Into The Gloop And Beyond"
.
Red Dwarf Official Site
. 19 February 2021
. Retrieved
18 January
2022
.
- ^
Sim, Krystal (3 October 2012).
"Red Dwarf Co-Creator Doug Naylor on the Birth of the Show"
.
Sci-Fi Now
.
Archived
from the original on 14 July 2014
. Retrieved
7 June
2014
.
- ^
Lavery, David (2009).
The Essential Cult TV Reader
. University Press of Kentucky. p. 209.
ISBN
978-0-81317-365-8
.
Archived
from the original on 7 November 2021
. Retrieved
5 October
2020
.
- ^
McMullen, Marion (19 October 2012).
"The Origins Of Red Dwarf"
.
Coventry Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on 14 July 2014
. Retrieved
7 June
2014
.
- ^
Turner, Fliss (5 March 2013).
"Q&A with Rob Grant"
.
Nouse
.
Archived
from the original on 14 July 2014
. Retrieved
7 June
2014
.
- ^
Gillam, J. D. (1 October 2012).
"Interview: Red Dwarf Writer / Co-Creator Doug Naylor"
.
Starburst
.
Archived
from the original on 14 July 2014
. Retrieved
7 June
2014
.
- ^
Davis, Laura (10 April 2009).
"Cult show returns from outer space; The first Red Dwarf series in a decade begins tonight. Its co-writer, Doug Naylor, speaks to Laura Davis"
.
thefreelibrary.com
. Retrieved
11 March
2023
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Alexander, Paul (1995).
Red Dwarf Log No. 1996
. William Heineman Ltd.
ISBN
978-0-434-00370-9
.
- Burnett, Sharon; Hooks, Nicky (1997).
A Question of Smeg
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-027070-9
.
- Charles, Craig; Bell, Russell (1997).
The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-026862-1
.
- Grant; Naylor (1993).
Primordial Soup: The Least Worst Scripts
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-017886-9
.
- Grant; Naylor (1996).
Son Of Soup
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-025363-4
.
- Grant; Naylor (1996).
Scenes from the Dwarf
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-600243-4
.
- Hooks, Nicky; Burnett, Sharon (1994).
The Red Dwarf Quiz Book
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-023662-0
.
- Llewellyn, Robert (1994).
The Man in the Rubber Mask
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-023575-3
.
- Naylor, Doug; Alexander, Paul (1996).
The Space Corps Survival Manual
. Mandarin.
ISBN
978-0-7493-2374-5
.
- Naylor, Doug; Alexander, Paul (2000).
Red Dwarf VIII Scriptbook
. Virgin.
ISBN
978-1-85227-872-4
.
- Nazzaro, Joe (1994).
The Making of Red Dwarf
. Penguin.
ISBN
978-0-14-023206-6
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikiquote has quotations related to
Red Dwarf
.
|
---|
Characters
| |
---|
Books
| |
---|
Episodes
| Series I (1988)
| |
---|
Series II (1988)
| |
---|
Series III (1989)
| |
---|
Series IV (1991)
| |
---|
Series V (1992)
| |
---|
Series VI (1993)
| |
---|
Series VII (1997)
| |
---|
Series VIII (1999)
| |
---|
Miniseries (2009)
| |
---|
Series X (2012)
| |
---|
Series XI (2016)
| |
---|
Series XII (2017)
| |
---|
Television film (2020)
| |
---|
Unmade episodes
| |
---|
|
---|
Other
| |
---|
|
Dave
original programming
|
---|
Current
| |
---|
Former
| |
---|
|
---|
|
Television
| |
---|
Radio
| |
---|
Novels
| |
---|
Rob Grant solo
| |
---|
Doug Naylor solo
| |
---|
|
---|
1960s
| |
---|
1970s
| |
---|
1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|