Red Dwarf

The main setting of the series is the eponymous mining spaceship Red Dwarf. In the first episode, set sometime in the late 21st century, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Later series 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) joins the crew and becomes a regular character. 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. Kochanski becomes a regular character for Series VII and VIII. At the end of Series VII, Kryten's service nanobots, which had abandoned him years earlier, are revealed to be 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. 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. 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==

, Rimmer, Kryten, and Lister as they appeared in Series X (2012) • Craig Charles as David "Dave" Lister:A technician on the Red Dwarf, who was the lowest-ranking of the original crew. A Scouser and self-described "bum" who has a good heart but is also very lazy. He is the only surviving member of the crew and the last known surviving human being. • Chris Barrie as Arnold Judas Rimmer:Lister's bunkmate and direct superior. 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. 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 abrasive relationship with Lister. • 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-centred 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. • 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 has developed, in the future, "computer senility". Following an unexplained absence in Series VI, male Holly returns in the Series VII finale. • David Ross (guest series II) and Robert Llewellyn (regular series III–The Promised Land) as Kryten 2X4B-523P:A sanitation android rescued from the crashed spaceship Nova 5 in the first episode of series 2; bound by his "behavioural protocols", he is taught independent thinking by Lister and leaves the Red Dwarf to enjoy his newfound freedom. He is reintroduced in series III, as part of the Red Dwarf crew. Categorised as a "series 4000 service mechanoid", He demonstrates 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 Chloë 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). Casting Alan Rickman and Alfred Molina auditioned for roles in the series, with Molina being cast as Rimmer. 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. Charles described "Cat" 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 Holly, the senile computer of the titular ship. 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. ==Production==

The first series aired on BBC2 in 1988, followed by an additional eleven series, one miniseries, and a feature-length special being produced since then. 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. 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), the writers pitched their unique concept to the BBC, but it was rejected on fears that a science fiction sitcom would not be popular. 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). 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 1995, 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). 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. 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. 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. Theme song and music 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. 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. Goodall also wrote music for the show's various songs, including "Tongue Tied", with lyrics written by Grant and Naylor. 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. Goodall himself sang "The Rimmer Song" heard during the Series VII episode "Blue", to which Chris Barrie mimed. 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 certain dialogue and scenes, 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. The remastered series were released in a four-disc DVD box set "The Bodysnatcher Collection" in 2007. Hiatus {{timeline of release years 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. 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. 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. A short animated Christmas special was, however, made available to mobile phone subscribers the same year. Ultimately, however, fans had to wait a decade before the series finally returned to television. Red Dwarf: The Movie Since the beginning of the seventh series in 1997, Doug Naylor had been attempting to make a feature-length version of the show. 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. 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. Costumes were made, including Kryten's, and A-list celebrity cameos, including Madonna, were rumoured. 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. 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." Revival Red Dwarf: Back to Earth 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. 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. Actress Sophie Winkleman played a character called Katerina, a resurrected hologram of a Red Dwarf science officer intent on replacing Rimmer. 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. It was also the first episode of Red Dwarf to be filmed in high definition. the first of the three episodes represented the UK's highest-ever viewing figures for a commissioned programme on a digital network. Back to Earth was released on DVD on 15 June 2009, and on Blu-ray on 31 August 2009. Back to Earth was subsequently described on the series' official website as "for all intents and purposes, the 'ninth series' of Red Dwarf". 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 On 10 April 2011, Dave announced that it had commissioned a six-episode series X to be broadcast on Dave in late 2012. 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. 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. 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. The new series debuted on Thursday 4 October 2012. Red Dwarf XI and XII Following series X, which attracted high viewing figures, Dave, Doug Naylor and the cast showed strong interest in making another series, and they continued to speculate about possible filming dates. On 2 May 2015, at the Dimension Jump XVIII convention, Naylor announced that an eleventh and a twelfth series had been commissioned. Series XI and XII were filmed back-to-back at Pinewood Studios between November 2015 and March 2016 for broadcast in 2016 and 2017, respectively. and were co-produced by Baby Cow Productions, with company CEO, Henry Normal, executive-producing the new episodes. Red Dwarf XI and Red Dwarf XII premiered on UKTV's streaming service UKTV Play on 15 September 2016 and 5 October 2017 respectively, and each started broadcast transmission the subsequent week. Red Dwarf: The Promised Land In late May 2019, in a radio interview, Robert Llewellyn stated that a thirteenth series was happening and in June of that year, Danny John-Jules stated that it was expected to be wrapped up by the end of 2019. 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, with location filming scheduled for November. 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". 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. On 10 March 2020, in an exclusive with Radio Times, a teaser trailer was released. 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. Future More feature-length specials were to be produced following The Promised Land's release in April 2020, however, immediate plans to make them were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, a legal battle between Red Dwarf creators Doug Naylor and Rob Grant over the rights to the franchise further delayed production of the series. The conflict was resolved by March 2023 where they agreed they could each "launch separate iterations of Red Dwarf across various media." Naylor started work on the script for another feature-length special in 2024, which would have involved Lister and Rimmer traveling through time and meeting earlier versions of themselves. Later in the year UKTV decided to stop commissioning scripted comedy and to not go ahead with this commission. Naylor expressed his hope that the show would be picked up by another network, and that his intent that in the "worst case scenario", he would finish the story as a novel. Rob Grant announced a pitch for a prequel project titled Red Dwarf: Titan in November 2023, with a new cast portraying younger versions of the main characters, to be written with collaborator Andrew Marshall. In 2026 this was announced as a novel, to be released in July 2026, with Gollancz. Grant died suddenly shortly after the announcement. In a tribute, his editor confirmed that the book was ready and still scheduled for the summer. ==Themes==

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, Top Gun (1986), 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), The series' themes are not limited to films or television, having also incorporated historical events and figures. 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" (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. Grant and Naylor decided very early in the process that they did not want aliens to feature in the series. 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. ==Hallmarks==

The series developed its own distinct vocabulary. Words and phrases such as hologrammatic, 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. 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". ==Episodes==

Red Dwarf I Red Dwarf VIII Back to Earth Red Dwarf X Red Dwarf XI Red Dwarf XII The Promised Land ==Reception and achievements==

Critical reception 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. Discussions revolve around the quality of Series VI, seen by one reviewer as just as good as the earlier series', 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. The attempt to shift back into traditional sitcom format for Series VIII was greeted with a response that was similarly lukewarm. and the topic is the subject of constant fervent debate among the show's fanbase. Achievements 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. Through to Series VI, ratings steadily increased and peaked at over six million viewers, When the show 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". The show 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 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, and the show still holds the record for being BBC Two's longest-running, highest-rated sitcom. 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''. 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'. Entertainment Weekly listed it in a 2009 roundup of shows they missed in their list of best cult television series. 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. As noted by Collider in 2023, it ranked number four among the top ten British science fiction shows on IMDb. In 2024, it was listed by Den of Geek as among the best British science fiction shows of the 1980s, as well as among the top ten movies and shows inspired by Star Trek. It was listed at 90 on Empire's "The 100 Best TV Shows Of All Time" ranking. ==Spin-offs and merchandise==

The show's logo and characters have appeared on a wide range of merchandise. 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"). 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. 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. Novels 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. 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. All four novels have been released in audiobook format, the first two read by Chris Barrie, Last Human read by Craig Charles, and Backwards read by author Rob Grant. In December 2009, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers was released in Germany with the title Roter Zwerg ("Red Dwarf" in German). In February 2026, a new prequel novel Red Dwarf: Titan written by Grant and Andrew Marshall was announced, to be released by Gollancz on 16 July 2026. Grant explained that "It's Lister and Rimmer before the accident on shore leave on Titan. It's set one universe to the side, so we can have familiar characters but we can do different things with them, because the difficulty was writing something that was going to be original and fresh and using the same characters without breaking the canon." 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 "Emohawk: Polymorph II." "Future Echoes", "Queeg", "Polymorph", "Dimension Jump", "Back to Reality" and "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" were additionally available in a two video box set titled Six of the Best. This also included a holographic sticker of Starbug and a CD interviewing Rob Grant, Doug Naylor, and Ed Bye. Three episodes of Series VII were also released as special "Xtended" versions with extra scenes (including an original, unbroadcast ending for the episode "Tikka To Ride") and no laugh track; the remastered versions of Series I–III were also released individually and in a complete box-set. 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. DVD releases 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. 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. 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. Only in the United Kingdom 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. When asked about the project in 2017, Naylor confirmed he had stopped it due to lackluster picture quality. By 2018, the project, now encompassing the entire original run, had been restarted, and a Series 1–8 Blu-ray set release was confirmed in August. Magazine 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"). Despite achieving circulation figures of over 40,000 per month, 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. American version 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. The show essentially followed the same story as the first episode of the original series, using American actors for most of the main roles: 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. Llewellyn, Grant and Naylor travelled to America for the filming of the American pilot after production of the fifth series of the British version. 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 British version in its title sequence, although it did not retain the logo or the theme music of the British version. During filming of the pilot, the audience reaction was good, and it was felt that the story had been well received. The intention was to shoot a "promo video" for the show in a small studio described by the writers as "a garage". This meant that, unlike the original British show, the cast were all Caucasian, which Charles referred to as "White Dwarf". 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. 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 fifth series. Because of rights-clearance issues, no footage from the second pilot is included in the featurette. Role-playing game Deep7 Press (formerly Deep7 LLC) released Red Dwarf – The Roleplaying Game in February 2003 (the printed copyright is 2002). 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). Video games On June 23, 2003 a shooting game called ''Simulant's Revenge was released by Blue Beck for J2ME powered mobile phones. 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. However, it ceased development following the end of its adaptation of Officer Rimmer to instead focus on developing Red Dwarf XII - The Game, 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. 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. On October 23, 2024 Andy Davidson, the original creator of Worms, highlighted a custom level based on Red Dwarf as part of the run up to the release of ''Worms: The Director's Cut 1.5''. Red Dwarf Night 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. 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 show, 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. Finally, the night ended with a showing of the episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse". Robert Llewellyn in-character as Kryten hosted the event's daily videos, making references to Lister, Rimmer and the Cat whilst presenting featured uploads. Stellar Rescue On 1 July 2019, an advert for the AA called "Stellar Rescue" featuring the core Red Dwarf crew premiered on ITV. The advert has Starbug break down on an inhospitable planet with Lister using the AA app to call a mechanic and successfully escape. 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. An alternate 30-second one accompanied it, with this one serving as the broadcast version. Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years In August 2020, a three-part documentary series entitled The First Three Million Years 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 reflecting 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. ==Dave Hollins: Space Cadet==

Red Dwarf was originally based on Dave Hollins: Space Cadet, a series of five sketches that aired as part of the BBC Radio 4 series Son of Cliché, produced by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor in 1984. The sketches recounted the adventures of Dave Hollins (voiced by Nick Wilton), a hapless space traveller who is marooned in space far from Earth. His only steady companion is the computer Hab (voiced by Chris Barrie). Grant and Naylor chose to use the Dave Hollins: Space Cadet sketches as the basis for a television show after watching the 1974 film Dark Star. They changed some elements from the sketches: The seven-trillion-year figure was first changed to seven billion years, and then to three 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. Chris Barrie, one of the voice actors, went on to portray Arnold Rimmer in the Red Dwarf TV show. Episodes of Dave Hollins can be found on the two-disc Red Dwarf DVD sets starting with Series V and ending with Series VIII. ==See also==