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Background
==========
Red Dwarf is the longest running BBC2 sit-com in the UK. The first episode
was originally transmitted on the 15th February 1988. Since then, seven
series have been made, totalling 44 episodes to date (1997). The show is
set on a large ship (the "Red Dwarf" [1]) in space, three million years,
give or take a day, from Earth. The whole of the crew has been wiped out,
except for David Lister, now the last human alive; Arnold Rimmer, a
hologrammatic simulation of a dead crew member; The Cat, a humanoid
creature that evolved from Lister's pet cat; and, in the later series,
Kryten, a service mechanoid.
Red Dwarf was, up until recently, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. The
TV show was developed from a sketch on a radio show called "Son of Cliche".
The sketch was called "Dave Hollins - Space Cadet." Dave Hollins, like
Lister, was the last human alive, and his only partner was the ship's
computer, Hab (later to become 'Holly' in the TV series). Hab was voiced
by Chris Barrie, who was to play the part of Arnold Rimmer in the TV show.
The sketch series was a parody of "2001 A Space Odyssey", the name "Hab"
being a take-off of "Hal" and "Dave Hollins" replacing "Dave Bowman".
The idea for the pilot script germinated on a beer mat and was born in a
Welsh mountain cottage. The first series was viewed by many as being a
shambles, full of unfunny actors trying desperately to get laughs out of
characters that had not been established yet. This was mostly true. The
set was a headache inducing grey and had looked like it had been assembled
in about five minutes in a submarine [2].
The Plot
========
The reasons for David Lister becoming the last human alive are not in the
slightest bit unclear. Lister was placed in suspended animation (described
as "stasis" [3]) because of his blatant refusal to hand over, or indeed
admit to the existence of, his cat Frankenstein. The cat was discovered
after Lister sent a picture of it and himself to be processed in the ship's
lab.
Whilst in stasis, there was a deadly nuclear leak from a drive plate that
was improperly fixed by Rimmer. The whole of the crew died, except Lister
because he was safely sealed from the accident. Three million years later,
he was released from his stasis imprisonment, which was supposed to be just
18 months. The information on Rimmer was used to create a holographic
companion for Lister, and the Cat, a last generation product of "The Holy
Mother" Frankenstein's long line of descendants, was discovered while
skulking around the ship, after the hold had been opened.
The crew decide to start the long trek back to Earth. The scene is now set
for the following 43 episodes involving, among other things, curry
monsters, alternative realities and 6-month-old underwear.
The Characters
==============
David Lister; Played By Craig Charles
-------------------------------------
The last human alive was born in the twenty third century, and joined the
crew of the Red Dwarf after spending ten years as a supermarket trolley
attendant, a job which he left because he didn't want to get tied down to a
career.
As a baby, he was found under a pool table in a pub, and adopted. His
stepfather died when Lister was 6 years old. At the time, he was too
young to comprehend what had happened and he was told that his stepfather
had "gone to the same place as his goldfish". Consequently Lister was
found reading the football results with his head down the toilet. He
joined Red Dwarf as a lowly Third Technician and stayed at that rank. He
might have enjoyed this job, or indeed progressed, if it were not for his
superior, and bunk-mate, Arnold J Rimmer. The love of Lister's life is a
navigational officer called Kochanski who makes a welcome return in series
seven.
We know that David Lister is in no danger of premature death; in fact, he
will live to the grand old age of 171, as predicted in an episode in series
two.
Arnold Judas Rimmer BSc SSc; Played By Chris Barrie
---------------------------------------------------
Arnold Rimmer (bronze swimming certificate, silver swimming certificate)
wanted to go places. "Up, up, up the ziggurat lickety-split!" he would
say; this was not to be. Rimmer claimed a lot of things about himself,
none of which were true. He claimed that his nick-name at school was
"Ace", but it was in fact "Bonehead". After every exam he took, he always
told his mother that he had passed when he had failed. Consequently, she
believed him to be an Admiral, though he never got any further than a
Second Class Technician.
As a leader of "Z-Shift", the lowliest shift, he had to co-ordinate the
cleaning of chicken soup dispenser nozzles about the ship. Rimmer's three
brothers, Jon, Howard and Frank, were all high flyers in the space corps.
Rimmer claims that his career was cut short by his death.
The Cat; Played By Danny John-Jules
------------------------------------
The Cat is a self-centred sex machine with a taste for "Krispies". As the
last of a species that evolved from the domestic cat, he is obviously
concerned with his own welfare and dress-sense, and is as about as
intelligent as his own ancestors. There is little more to say except that
he has a special ability in keeping his cool about him at all times.
Kryten 2X4B 523P; Played By Robert Llewellyn
---------------------------------------------
Constructed in the 24th century by Diva-Droid International, the series
4000 mechanoid, Kryten, was originally supplied to the Nova 5 but was
adopted by the crew of the Red Dwarf, after the Nova 5 crashed (Kryten was
the only survivor). Kryten rebelled against Arnold Rimmer's slave-driving
and took Lister's space bike. He did not return until series three, when
we are informed that he was rescued by the crew after being involved in a
crash. He was to take a permanent role from series three and is now a
vital member of the crew. Well who else would iron Mr Lister's underpants?
Kryten's only self-indulgences are "down-time" (android sleep) and his
favourite soap opera, "Androids". Kryten was originally played by David
Ross in the second series.
Holly; Played By Norman Lovett And Hattie Hayridge
---------------------------------------------------
Holly is a tenth-generation AI holographic computer with an IQ of 6000.
Pretty intelligent you might think? Wrong! During the three million years
he spent alone in deep space waiting for the dangerous levels of radiation
to subside, he became bored. Holly read and re-read everything that had
ever been written. If it was not for his collection of "Singing Potatoes"
he would have surely gone insane. Holly busied himself by decimalising
music into a form called "Hol Rock" and compiling his comprehensive A-Z of
the universe, but he still felt no better about himself. Holly resented
the implication by the small crew that, one way or another, he was a senile
gibbering wreck only useful for telling the time.
Holly changed sex between series two and three, departed the TV show when
Lister lost Red Dwarf between series five and six, and is due to return in
series seven, with the original male actor.
Kristine Kochanski; Played By C.P. Grogan and Chloe Annett
----------------------------------------------------------
Kochanski was a navigation officer aboard Red Dwarf and, at the time, the
love of Lister's life. After the radiation leak, Lister tried to persuade
Rimmer to give up his life as a hologram in place of Kochanski's. Needless
to say, Rimmer refused. Throughout the first six series, Kochanski made a
couple of fleeting appearances and in series seven became a semi-regular,
after Rimmer left.
The Future
==========
Red Dwarf has a massive following world-wide. From Australia to America,
viewers tune in to see the show. The fan club's members include such well
known names as Madonna, Oasis and Leonard Nimoy! Rob Grant and Doug Naylor
already have four best selling novels under their belts about Red Dwarf
(below), and the writers have been approached a number of times about
making a Red Dwarf film.
The following novels are available:
1) Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers; by Grant/Naylor
2) Better Than Life; by Grant/Naylor
3) The Last Human; by Doug Naylor
4) Backwards; by Rob Grant
Red Dwarf is set to continue until the crew get fed up of trekking through
space.
There was an aborted attempt to launch an American version of the series.
An initial pilot was made, followed by a promotional mini-pilot, but the
whole thing fell through, and has since been described as "rubbish".
[1] It is certainly red, but hardly a dwarf. Also, it's worth noting that
the whole of series six, and most of series seven, are set on the
transport ship, "Starbug", which is green.
[2] Which was almost the truth. The sets were kept to a minimum
because that was the only way the writers believed the BBC would fund
the programme. From series three, the sets and effects improved
enormously, but surprisingly enough with no more money.
[3] While in a stasis room, you are not affected by time. You are a
non-event mass with a quantum probability of zero.