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Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf logo
Created by	Grant Naylor (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor)
Starring	Chris Barrie Craig Charles Danny John-Jules Norman Lovett Hattie Hayridge Robert Llewellyn Chloë Annett
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	8
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 mins
Original release
Network	BBC2
Release	15 February 1988 – 5 April 1999

Red Dwarf is a British science fiction comedy franchise, the primary form of which comprises eight series of a television sitcom that ran on BBC2 between 1988 and 1999, and which has achieved a global cult following. It was created and originally written by Grant Naylor (a so-called 'gestalt entity', in reality a collective pseudonym for the writing duo Rob Grant and Doug Naylor). The show's origins come from a recurring sketch, Dave Hollins: Space Cadet, in the mid-1980s BBC Radio 4 comedy show Son Of Cliché, also scripted by Grant and Naylor. In addition to the Red Dwarf television series, there have also been four bestselling novels, two pilot episodes for an American version of the show, and a significant number of tie-in books, magazines and other merchandise.

Despite the pastiche of science fiction used as a backdrop, Red Dwarf is primarily a character driven comedy, with many off-the-wall science fiction elements used as complementary plot devices. In the early series episodes, a recurring source of comedy was the "odd couple" relationship between Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer, the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other but are trapped together deep in space.

Red Dwarf's highest accolade came in 1994, when an episode from the sixth series, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", won an International Emmy Award in the Popular Arts category. The show has also won Best BBC Comedy series at the British Comedy Awards during the same year, and attracted its highest ratings — of over eight million viewers — by the eighth series in 1999.

The current status of the show remains uncertain, as Doug Naylor (now in sole control of the franchise following the departure of Rob Grant in 1995) is committed to writing and producing a feature film version of the sitcom. However the film's production itself remains uncertain as it has been plagued with many delays.

Production history

The first series aired on BBC2 in 1988. Seven further series have so far been produced, and a film has been in development hell almost continually since before the last series in 1999.

Concept and commission

The concept for the show was originally developed from the sketch-series Dave Hollins: Space Cadet on the BBC Radio 4 show Son of Cliché in the mid-1980s, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. Some of their influences came from 1970s movies such as Alien, Dark Star, Silent Running, and the television series Lost in Space; but their concept had a large element of British-style comedy and satire thrown into the mix, ultimately moulded into the form of a sitcom. Having first written the pilot script for Red Dwarf in 1983 during a stay at a Welsh cottage owned by Naylor's father, the former Spitting Image writers had hawked their unusual and original script around a number of places but it was rejected by everyone at the BBC for three years, as it was believed a sitcom based around science fiction wouldn't be popular.

However it was finally accepted by BBC North in 1986, a happy result of a spare budget being assigned for a second series of Happy Families that would never arise, and producer Paul Jackson's insistance that a new series called Red Dwarf should be filmed. The show was lucky to be remounted after an electrician's strike partway through rehearsals shut the entire production down, and the first episode, The End, finally made it onto screens on 15 February 1988.

Casting

Alan Rickman and Alfred Molina were two of the notable names that auditioned for roles in the series, with Molina actually being cast as Rimmer originally. However, after Molina having difficulties with the concept of the series, and of his role in particular, the role was recast and filled by Chris Barrie. Barrie was 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 various Jasper Carrott productions. Craig Charles, a Liverpudlian "punk poet", was given the role of Dave Lister. He was originally approached by Grant and Naylor for his opinion about the character 'The Cat' as they were concerned it may be considered by some people as racist. On the television programme 'Comedy Connections', Charles described the character as 'pretty cool' and after reading the script he decided he wanted to audition for the part of Dave Lister. Laconic stand up comedian Norman Lovett, who had originally tried out for the role of Rimmer, was kept in the show as the senile computer of the titular ship, Holly. A professional dancer and singer, Danny John-Jules, arriving famously late for his appointment, stood out as The Cat immediately. This was partly due to his "cool" exterior, partly due to his dedicated research (reading Desmond Morris's book Catwatching), and partly because he showed up in character, wearing his father's 1950s-style suit.

Writing, producing, and directing

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). Grant left in 1996 to pursue other projects, leaving Naylor to write the final two series with a group of new writers, notably including Paul Alexander and actor Robert Llewellyn who portrayed the Red Dward character Kryten.

For the most part, Ed Bye produced and directed the series. He left before Series V due to a scheduling clash (he ending up directing a series starring his wife, Ruby Wax), and Juliet May took over as director, but she parted ways with Grant and Naylor partway through the series for personal and professional reasons. Grant and Naylor took over direction of the series, in addition to writing and producing. Series I, II and III were made by Paul Jackson Productions, with subsequent series produced by the writers' own company Grant Naylor Productions, all for BBC North; all eight series were broadcast on BBC2. At the beginning of Series IV, production moved from the BBC's Manchester studios to Shepperton.

The theme tune and incidental music were written and performed by Howard Goodall, with the distinctive vocals on the theme tune courtesy of Jenna Russell. Goodall also wrote music for the show's various songs, including "Tongue Tied", with lyrics written by Grant and Naylor, which Danny John-Jules re-orchestrated and released as a Top 20 UK single.

Hiatus, changes, and disputes

A period of three years elapsed between series VI and VII, partly due to the parting of the Grant and Naylor partnership, but also due to cast and crew working on other projects. When the series eventually returned, it was filmised and no longer shot in front of a live audience (a common misconception is that canned laughter was used, when in fact the completed episodes were later shown to an audience), allowing for greater use of four-walled sets, location shooting and single camera techniques. When the show returned for its eighth series two years later, it had dropped use of the filmising process and restored the live audience

Red Dwarf Remastered

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 various small pieces of dialogue (and, in some cases, entire scenes), re-filming Norman Lovett's Holly footage, creating a consistent set of opening titles for use in all episodes, and updating music and ambient sound effects with a digital master.

Setting and plot

See also: List of Red Dwarf episodes

The main setting of the series the mining ship Red Dwarf which is a spaceship 6 miles (10 km) long, 5 miles (8 km) tall, and 4 miles (6 km) wide belonging to the Jupiter Mining Corporation. In the first episode, an on-board radiation leak of Cadmium II kills everyone except for low-ranking technician Dave Lister, who is in suspended animation at the time, and his pregnant cat, Frankenstein, who is safely sealed in the cargo hold. Following the accident, the ship's computer Holly has to keep Lister in stasis until the background radiation dies down — a process that takes three million years. Lister therefore emerges as the last human being in the universe — but not the only life form on-board the ship. His former bunkmate and immediate superior Arnold Rimmer is resurrected by Holly as a Hologram after the accident to keep Lister sane, while a creature known only as The Cat is the last known surviving member of Felis Sapiens, a race of humanoids that evolved in the ship's hold from Lister's cat Frankenstein and her kittens during the millions of years that Lister was in stasis.

The main dramatic thrust of the early series is Lister's desire to return home to Earth. Along the way are frequent distractions that usually see the not-so-intrepid Dwarf crew encountering strange races and lifeforms that have developed in the intervening millions of years.

The crew roster changed as the years go by. During the second series, the group encounter the sanitation mechanoid Kryten, rescuing him from a long-since crashed vessel. Initially, Kryten only appeared in one episode of series two, but by the beginning of series three he had become a regular character. At the end of series five, Red Dwarf itself is stolen from the crew, forcing them to travel in the smaller Starbug craft for the subsequent two series, with the added side-effect that they lose contact with Holly. And in series seven, Rimmer departs the crew to take up the role of his alter-ego from a parallel universe, Ace Rimmer, whose name has become a long-standing legend and a legacy passed down from dimension to dimension. Shortly afterwards, the crew find a replacement for Rimmer when they encounter another parallel version of themselves from a universe in which Kristine Kochanski, Lister's former girlfriend, was the person put into stasis and so the last remaining human. A complicated series of events leaves Kochanski stranded in "our" universe, and she is forced to join the crew.

In the eighth (and, so far, final) series, Red Dwarf itself is reconstructed by the nanobots that had originally stolen it and broken it down into its constituent atoms. In the process, the entire crew of the ship — including a pre-accident Rimmer — are resurrected, but the Starbug crew all find themselves sentenced to two years in the ship's brig on a set of convoluted charges. The series ends, however, with Red Dwarf being eaten away by a virus and all on board evacuated, save for Rimmer who is, in the cliffhanger ending, left stranded alone to face Death.

Characters and actors

Characters

Dave Lister is played by Craig Charles and is a genial Liverpudlian (and self-described bum). The lowest-ranking crew member on the ship (chicken soup machine technician) before the accident. He has a long-standing desire to return to Earth and start a farm on Fiji, but is left impossibly far away by the accident that renders him the last surviving member of the human race.

His bunk mate Arnold Rimmer (played by Chris Barrie) is a fussy, bureaucratic, neurotic coward, who is nevertheless judged by Holly to have the highest chance of keeping Lister sane when chosen to be the ship's one available hologram.

The Cat (played by Danny John-Jules) is a humanoid creature who evolved from the offspring of Lister's smuggled pet cat Frankenstein. The Cat is concerned with little other than sleeping, eating and fawning over his appearance, and tends not to socialise with other members of the crew. As time goes by, however, he becomes more influenced by his human companions, and so begins to resemble a stylish yet dimwitted human.

The ship's computer Holly, (played by Norman Lovett during series I, II, VII and VIII) and Hattie Hayridge in series III to V), has an IQ of 6,000, although this is severely depleted by the three million years he/she is left alone after the accident, having developed "computer senility". The change in appearance for series III was explained by Holly having changed his face to resemble that of a computer from a parallel universe with whom he'd fallen in love.

Kryten, full name Full name Kryten 2X4B-523P, (played by Robert Llewellyn from series III onwards, and as a one-off appearance in series II by David Ross), was rescued by the crew from a crashed spaceship, upon which he had continued to serve the ship's crew despite them having been dead for thousands or even millions of years. After an accident involving Lister's spacebike, Kryten was rebuilt by Lister, with a slightly different appearance and voice. Kryten's main function is a sanitation mechanoid and has an overactive guilt chip. When first encountered by the crew, he is bound by his "behavioural protocols", but Lister gradually encourages him to break his programming and think for himself.

Kristine Kochanski, (originally portrayed by Clare Grogan before Chloë Annett took on the role in series VII & VIII), was initially a long gone girlfriend of Lister's who he had though of ever since. Just a memory that he cherished. However, a rift between two alternate dimensions revealed that Kochanski had survived the Red Dwarf cadmium II accident. Kochanksi would later join Lister and the Red Dwarf crew after the link to her own dimension collapsed.

In addition to the main characters, other characters have come and gone, and even come back again. Captain Frank Hollister, (played by Mac McDonald), died in the original cadmium II accident and was revived later on when the nanobots re-built the Red Dwarf ship. Olaf Petersen, (played by Mark Williams), was one of Lister's drinking buddies on the ship. He died along with the rest of the crew, but was mentioned regularly when Lister talked about the days before the accident. Typically Lister refers to Petersen by his surname only. Lister's other drinking buddies were Selby and Chen, (played by David Gillespie and Paul Bradley, respectively). When Lister and Rimmer were imprisoned, and then enrolled in an SAS style group called the Canaries, they had company with the likes of Kill Crazy, (played by Jake Wood), and Baxter, (played by Ricky Grover), both were on hand to help out with any problems. Warden Ackerman, (played by Graham McTavish), would also turn up to torment the imprisoned pair. The Skutters are small maintenance robots that appear when needed, but have limited skills and casue more damage than good.

Themes

While Red Dwarf is a comedy series, the science fiction theme of the series was always treated seriously by Grant and Naylor. Also other elements like satire, parody and drama were woven into the series' episodes. A number of the episodes contain references to other (not always science fiction) television shows, films, books and plays.

Episodes have referenced and parodied the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Top Gun, RoboCop, Star Wars, Terminator, Jaws, Citizen Kane, The Wild One, Rebel Without a Cause, Easy Rider, Friday the 13th, Planet of the Apes and Pride and Prejudice.

Some of the episodes' whole theme was even based on their film references. "Polymorph" references and parodies several key moments from the 1978 film Alien, series IV's "Camille" echoes the key scenes from Casablanca, "Meltdown" shares many similarities to Westworld and "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" parodies the main plot of Rio Bravo.

Historical events and figures have also been referenced, and even integrated as part of many episodes. From The Hundred Years War, The Thirty Years War and World War II, and from Hitler to William Shakespeare.

Religion also plays a part in the series. Besides the overall religion theme of the Cat species, and how Lister turns out ot be their God, the bible has been referenced several times.

Hallmarks

Red Dwarf developed its own distinct vocabulary. Words and phrases such as Hologrammatic, Dollarpound, Felis sapiens, Rogue Simulants, GELF, Space weevil and Zero G Football appear at various points during the series, highlighting a development in language, political climate, technology, evolution and culture in the future.

The series also employed a vocabulary of fictional expletives in order to avoid using potentially-offensive expletives in the show, and to give nuance to futuristic colloquial language. 'Smeg', gimp, gimboid, goit, and varients of smeg like smegging, smegger and smeg-head were used.

Critical reactions and achievements

Mixed reactions

The many changes that were made to the series' cast, setting, creative teams and even production values from series to series have meant that opinions differ greatly between fans as to the quality of certain series. Series VI is often regarded as a highlight for lovers of one-line jokes but some saw it as a continuation of the 'Monster of the week' philosophy of Series V, which was nevertheless visually impressive. In Series VII and VIII there was a discernible shift away from both 'Monster of the week' and the stereotypical antagonism between Lister and Rimmer.

Series VII was seen by many as a disappointment: while much slicker and higher-budget in appearance, the shift away from outright sitcom and into something approaching comedy drama did not impress a significant number of long-standing fans. Furthermore, the attempt to then shift back into traditional sitcom format for series VIII was greeted with a response that was similarly lukewarm — and at times downright hostile — by many fans who felt that the level of humour in that series was far below that which they had come to expect from the show. There was also a significant amount of criticism aimed at the decision to resurrect the entire crew of Red Dwarf, as many felt this detracted from the series' central premise of Lister being the last human being alive.

On the other hand, there are other Red Dwarf fans who feel that Series VII and VIII, either separately or as a whole, are no weaker than the earlier series, and the topic is therefore the subject of constant fervent debate among the show's fanbase. Similar discussions revolve around the quality of Series VI (seen by some as the strongest series, but by others as a descent into formulaic comedy with an unwelcome change of setting), although not to the same extent; and there are even those who argue that the show lost its way with the significant changes made for Series III.

Television ratings

The series began with rather poor ratings, although gathering over four million viewers for the pilot episode, this soon trailed off. Series II had averaged 3.2 million viewers. A slight gain, coupled with the good viewer feedback meant that series III was a posibility.

By 1992 the ratings had steadily increased and peaked over six million viewers for series V.

The series returned in 1997 with the highest audience figures yet. Over 8 million viewers tuned in for series VII

Achievements

In its eight-series history, Red Dwarf 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.

The International Emmy Award was for series' VI episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", which tied with Absolutely Fabulous' episode "Hospital" in the Popular Arts category. Red Dwarf has also been nominated for an International Emmy in 1987, 1989, and 1992. Series III won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award in 1991 for "Best British Comedy.".Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

The Red Dwarf video sales have also won 8 Gold Awards from the British Video Association, and the series still holds the record for being BBC TWO's longest running, highest rated sitcom.

Spin-offs and merchandise

Books

The franchise has expanded to include four novels, written by the show's creators, Doug Naylor and Rob Grant. Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Better Than Life, Last Human and Backwards.

These novels contain deeper insights and more thorough backstories for the main characters, as well as more information on humanity's future state of affairs. Rather than adapting the show outright, the books provide yet another, possibly idealized version of the series' backstory. They reinterpret and reposition elements from past episodes, and even introduce ideas that would later be used in the show.

It was reported that both authors were working together on a sequel to Better than Life, called The Last Human, but Grant had decided to go it alone and do other things besides Red Dwarf. Still owing Penguin Publishing two more Red Dwarf books, Grant and Naylor decided to each work alone on a novel. Two completely different, contradicting sequels were made as a result. Last Human added Kochanski to the crew and places more emphasis on the science-fiction and plot elements, while Backwards (by Rob Grant) was more in keeping with the previous two books, borrowing more extensively from established television stories.

All four books were published in audiobook format, the first two read by Chris Barrie, Last Human read by Craig Charles, and Backwards read by its author Rob Grant.

An Omnibus edition of the first two books, including a few edits to the original text and some extra material such as the original script to the first episode of the TV series, was released in 1992.

Other books released have included The Official Red Dwarf Companion (1992), The Making of Red Dwarf (1994), Red Dwarf Programme Guide (1993 with three subsequent revisions until 2000), The Space Corps Survival Manual (1996), The Red Dwarf Quiz Book (1994), Red Dwarf Log No. 1996 (1995), The Man in the Rubber Mask (1994 Robert Llewellyn's autobiography), Red Dwarf: The Role Playing Game (2003)

Several books containing Red Dwarf scripts have also been published. Primordial Soup (1993) and Son Of Soup (1996) each contain six scripts, and the Red Dwarf VIII Scriptbook (1999) includes all eight episodes from series VIII. A short book entitled Scenes From The Dwarf was released in 1996 as part of the Penguin 60s series, containing scripts of a handful of scenes from the series.

DVD and VHS releases

For the initial release of the VHS editions, the videos were named after the first episode on the tape, as were other BBC videos at the time. This was changed for the second half of series I, as the BBC already had another series called Waiting for God (the title of the fourth episode in the series) so the video was named after the fifth episode, "Confidence and Paranoia". The first video of series VI was named after the third episode on the tape, presumably because the Emmy-winning episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" was seen as being more prestigious than "Psirens", the first episode of the series.

Prior to the DVD releases, all eight series had been available on VHS. Three episodes of series VII were also released as special "Xtended" versions with extra scenes and no laugh track (these "Xtended" episodes would later be included on the DVD), while the remastered versions of series I–III were released individually and in a complete box-set. Finally, two outtake videos were released, Smeg Ups in 1994, and its sequel Smeg Outs in 1995.

All eight series remain available on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4, with each release from Series III onward being accompanied by an original documentary about the making of each respective series, and a bonus disc filled with extra material. The DVD releases have been praised for their particularly extensive bonus material, which includes cast commentaries, exhaustive deleted scenes, raw effects footage, previously-broadcast one-offs and specials about the show, outtakes and much more, including — in one instance — a special audio/part-animated version of an unmade episode, performed by Chris Barrie. In all of the DVDs there are hidden extras among the menus, known as Easter Eggs. These include extra animated interviews with Grant Naylor and Ed Bye, as well as other model shots and unseen footage.

Regions 2 and 4 have also seen the release of two Just The Shows, digipack boxsets containing all the episodes from Series I–IV (Volume 1) and V-VIII (Volume 2) with static menus and no extras. In October 2006, meanwhile, an Interactive Quiz DVD entitled Red Dwarf: Beat The Geek was released. The quiz allows "hardcore fans" to compete against casual viewers, in addition to offering general knowledge questions for friends/family not au fait with the series. The DVD is hosted by Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge, both reprising their roles as Holly.

In December 2006, it was announced that a DVD boxset of Red Dwarf : Remastered was being prepared for release in October 2007. It was subsequently announced in April 2007 that the name of the boxset would be Red Dwarf : The Bodysnatcher Collection rather than Red Dwarf Remastered. The new title highlighted one of the set's other main bonus features: a storyboard construction of "Bodysnatcher" (the "lost" episode from series 1, performed by Chris Barrie as for the series VII extra "Identity Within"), notable for being an original 1987 script "finished" by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor in 2007, working together for the first time since 1993.

Red Dwarf Smegazine

The Red Dwarf Magazine, the magazine part of the title changed to 'Smegazine' from issue 3, was launched in 1992 by Fleetway Editions. Comprising of a mix of Sci-Fi news, reviews, interviews, comic strips and competitions. The comic strips included episode adaptions and original material, including further stories of popular characters like the Polymorph and Ace Rimmer. These comic strip stories were notable for the fact that hologramatics, most notably Rimmer, were drawn in greyscale. This was at the request of Grant and Naylor, who had wanted to use the technique for the series, but the process was deemed too expensive to produce.

Despite achieving circulation figures of over 40,000 per month, the magazine's publishers decided to close the title down to concentrate on their other publications.

U.S. version

A pilot episode for an American version (known to fans as Red Dwarf USA) was produced for NBC in 1992, though never broadcast. The show followed essentially the same story as the first episode of the original series, substituting American actors (including Craig Bierko as Lister, Chris Eigeman as Rimmer, and Hinton Battle as the Cat) for the British; exceptions being Llewellyn, who reprised his role as Kryten, and the British actress Jane Leeves, later of Frasier fame, as Holly. It was directed by Jeffrey Melman and written and produced by Linwood Boomer of Malcolm in the Middle fame.

It was also revealed that Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, with the support of the cast, convinced the pilot's producers to use a revised script of their creation, but in the course of production the American team reverted back to their original script.

As a result of this the two hastily put together an extremely low-budget network promo consisting of scenes from the first pilot and the British show edited in with newly-filmed footage (featuring a new Rimmer and, from a suggestion made by the network, a female Cat, played by Terry Farrell). This was also unsuccessful.

Red Dwarf: The Movie

Since the end of series Eight, Doug Naylor has been attempting to get funding to make a feature length film version of the show, but on every occasion so far has been thwarted by circumstances. He has long persisted with his conviction that the making of the movie (for which the script has been written for many years) takes precedence over any other possible future incarnation of Red Dwarf. He admits to being — perhaps mindful of the age and schedules of the principal cast — close to having to make a final, outright decision of whether to continue to pursue the film, make a series IX or some one-off TV special(s), or simply end the series as it is., Naylor sent a letter to the Red Dwarf fans at the Dimension Jump convention in 2004, which mostly consisted of his failed attempts to create the film, such as a fake Duke of Manchester offering money to fund the film provided Naylor paid his air fare to attend the meeting. Naylor has also stated that some studios have been impressed by the scripts, but either weren't looking for that kind of project or wanted the film recast.

Tongue Tied

The song "Tongue Tied", originally featured in a dream sequence in the series II episode "Parallel Universe", was rearranged and rerecorded by Danny John Jules (under the name 'The Cat') and released as a single in October 1993. It reached number 17 in the UK charts. A video to accompany the release which starred Danny John-Jules as some of his Red Dwarf alter-egos, including Duane Dibbley, was also produced. It was based around a storyline written by Danny John-Jules and featured music videos for some of the remixes, with guest appearances from the rest of the Red Dwarf cast, along with Clayton Mark ("Elvis" in Meltdown) and Charles Augins (Queeg 500 in Queeg).

The main melody of the song is also used in background music cues elsewhere in the second series - it appears in rearranged form in the episodes Stasis Leak and Better Than Life, both of which actually precede Parallel Universe in the broadcast order.

Specials

On February 14 1998, the night before the tenth anniversary of the show's first broadcast episode, BBC2 devoted an evening of special programming to the series, under the banner of Red Dwarf Night. The evening consisted of a mixture of new, specially-recorded content and existing material, and was introduced and linked by famed actor and Dwarf fan Patrick Stewart. In addition, a series of special take-offs on BBC2's famous idents, featuring the "2" logo falling in love with a skutter, were used.

The night began with Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg, a spoof of the popular cookery programme Can't Cook, Won't Cook, presented by that show's host Ainsley Harriott (who had himself earlier appeared in Red Dwarf, albeit under heavy make-up, prior to his career as a celebrity chef). Taking place out of the continuity of the series, two teams (Kryten and Lister versus Rimmer and the Cat, although the Cat quickly departs to be replaced by alter ego Duane Dibbley) are challenged to make the best chicken vindaloo.

After a compilation bloopers show, featuring out-takes that had already been seen on the various Smeg Ups releases but, the next special programme was Universe Challenge, a take-off of the University Challenge (or College Bowl in the USA) format. Hosted by original University Challenge presenter Bamber Gascoigne (following an introduction in which Chris Barrie mimicked current host Jeremy Paxman. The show saw a team of knowledgeable Dwarf fans defeat a team consisting of Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Robert Llewellyn, Chloe Annett and Danny John Jules.

Universe Challenge was followed by The Red Dwarf A-Z, a half-hour documentary special 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, and Patrick Stewart. Finally, the night ended with a showing of the Emmy award-winning episode from 1993, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".

See also

• Red Dwarf ships
• British sitcom
• Britain's Best Sitcom
• List of television series that include time travel
• Chinface
• Hyperdrive

External links

• The Official Red Dwarf Website
• Red Dwarf at IMDb
• The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club
• "Tongue Tied" Wiki
• Red Dwarf FAQ
• Red Dwarf classic clips on Youtube uploaded by the BBC

Cast links

• Website of Norman Lovett (Holly)
• Website of Robert Llewellyn (Kryten)
• Website of Chris Barrie (Rimmer)
• Robert Llewellyn's frequently updated YouTube channel

Fan sites

• Smegoo! - The Original Un-Official Red Dwarf Search Engine
• Ganymede & Titan - News, features, analysis and community
• Groovetown - The Music of Red Dwarf, also a discussion forum
• Red Dwarf entry on FanFiction.Net
• Red Dwarf Scripts & Fan Fiction
• The Red Dwarf Zone
• Blue Dwarf RPG - Continuing fanfiction

References

1. ^ Red Dwarf Programme Guide. Section 1: The History: Virgin Books. 1993. ISBN 0-86369-682-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location (link) Cite error: The named reference "Red Dwarf Programme Guide" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. "Red Dwarf series VIII Aftermath". Red Dwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
3. ^ "Red Dwarf: The Movie". www.thereddwarfzone.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-06. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
4. ^ Dessau, Bruce (1992). The Official Red Dwarf Companion. Red Dwarf Genesis: Titan. ISBN 1-85286-456-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
5. "Red Dwarf series I Genesis". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
6. Interview: Norman Lovett, Red Dwarf Smegazine, issue 9, November 1992, Fleetway Editions Ltd, issn=0965-5603
7. ^ Red Dwarf series 1 Episode One: The End, Red Dwarf Smegazine, volume 2 issue 1, May 1993, Fleetway Editions Ltd, issn=0965-5603
8. "Red Dwarf series V production". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
9. Interview: Howard Goodall, Red Dwarf Smegazine, issue 10, December 1992, Fleetway Editions Ltd, issn=0965-5603
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11. ^ "Red Dwarf series VI Aftermath". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-17. Cite error: The named reference "Red Dwarf series VI Aftermath" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
12. "Red Dwarf series VII Production". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
13. "Red Dwarf series VIII Production". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
14. "Red Dwarf series I Remastering". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
15. "Red Dwarf series I Writing". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
16. "Red Dwarf series VI Writing". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
17. "Red Dwarf series VII Writing". www.reddwarf.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
18. "Ganymede & Titan: Under Fire". http://www.ganymede-titan.info. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
19. The Great Red Dwarf Debate, Red Dwarf Smegazine, volume 2 issue 3, July 1993, Fleetway Editions Ltd, issn=0965-5603
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27. "Amazon.co.uk: Red Dwarf - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers". www.amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
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29. "Amazon.co.uk: Last Human". www.amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
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