46 Fun Facts About Red Dwarf

Red Dwarf was created by which writing duo?

Rob Grant and Doug Naylor wrote the first six series together; Grant left in 1995 and Naylor carried on with new co-writers.

How long was Dave Lister in suspended animation before waking as the last human alive?

Holly kept Lister in stasis for three million years, until the radiation from the leak that killed the crew had fallen to a safe level.

In Red Dwarf's first episode, why is Lister in stasis when the radiation leak kills everyone else aboard?

As punishment for smuggling a pregnant cat on board and refusing to hand her over, Lister was sentenced to 18 months in stasis, which is why he alone survived the leak.

What was the name of Lister's smuggled pregnant cat?

The Cat learned about her at school as 'the holy mother'; her descendants evolved into a race of humanoid felines.

What is Arnold Rimmer's middle name?

His full name is Arnold Judas Rimmer, a middle name that fits a man his crewmates despise; his three brothers all became officers while he never passed the exam.

What symbol on Rimmer's forehead marks him out as a hologram?

A hologram wears an H on the forehead; Rimmer's is soft light through series I to V, unable to touch anything, until an upgrade to hard light in series VI.

Which actor was originally cast as Rimmer before struggling with the concept and being replaced?

Alfred Molina was cast as Rimmer but struggled with the hologram concept and was replaced by impressionist Chris Barrie, whom the writers knew from Spitting Image; Alan Rickman had also auditioned.

Which BBC sitcom starred Chris Barrie as a leisure-centre manager called Gordon?

In The Brittas Empire (1991–97) Barrie played Gordon Brittas, the calamitous manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre; he later played Lara Croft's butler Hillary in the Tomb Raider films.

What was Craig Charles doing for a living when he was cast as Lister?

The Liverpudlian 'punk poet' was first asked whether the Cat character might be seen as racist, then decided to audition for Lister.

Which gladiator-style game show did Craig Charles present from 1998 to 2004?

Charles presented Robot Wars from its second series in 1998 until 2004, after Jeremy Clarkson hosted the first; he also narrated the UK Takeshi's Castle and played Lloyd Mullaney in Coronation Street.

What is Lister's dream for when he gets back to Earth?

Lister's plan was a farm on Fiji, with a few animals and a hot dog and doughnut diner, ideally shared with Kristine Kochanski; his other great love is chicken vindaloo.

What was Lister's rank aboard Red Dwarf?

Lister was a third technician, the lowest rank on the ship, directly under Rimmer, a second technician; their work ran to repairing chicken-soup vending nozzles.

Kryten is named after the butler in a play by which author?

Kryten takes his name from Crichton, the resourceful butler of J. M. Barrie's 1902 play The Admirable Crichton, who becomes leader when his employers are shipwrecked.

Who played Kryten in his one-off first appearance in series II, before Robert Llewellyn took over?

Ross was unavailable when the character became a regular, but later returned to voice Talkie Toaster.

Kryten was rescued from which crashed spaceship?

Kryten was found aboard the crashed Nova 5, faithfully serving its long-dead crew; he is a Series 4000 sanitation mechanoid whom Lister slowly teaches to break his programming.

Kryten believes devoutly in what afterlife?

Silicon Heaven is where all the calculators go; Lister tries and fails to convince Kryten it does not exist.

Which engineering game show did Robert Llewellyn present?

Llewellyn presented Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge for a decade from 1998, watching teams build working machines from junk; he later founded the Fully Charged show about electric vehicles.

Which two actors played the ship's computer Holly?

Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge shared the role; Lovett had auditioned for Rimmer, and the female Holly took over for series III to V.

Red Dwarf grew out of a sketch called 'Dave Hollins: Space Cadet' on which Radio 4 show?

Grant and Naylor's Radio 4 sketch show Son of Cliché (1983–84) ran the 'Dave Hollins: Space Cadet' sketches, with Chris Barrie voicing the ship's computer, Hab.

What did Norman Lovett insist on that changed Holly from a voice-only part?

Holly was written as a voice-only role, but Norman Lovett insisted on appearing on screen, so the computer became a deadpan disembodied face on the ship's monitors.

Which BBC regional centre finally commissioned Red Dwarf in 1986, using a spare budget?

BBC North West in Manchester took it on in 1986 with money set aside for a second series of Happy Families that never happened, after producer Paul Jackson pushed for Red Dwarf instead.

What delayed filming of the first series in early 1987?

An electricians' strike stopped everything; the title sequence had already been shot in January, and filming was remounted in September.

Who wrote and performed the Red Dwarf theme music?

Jenna Russell sang the closing theme, and Goodall himself sang 'The Rimmer Song' in the series VII episode 'Blue'.

Which Red Dwarf song, released by Danny John-Jules as 'The Cat', hit UK number 17 in 1993?

Goodall wrote the music and Grant and Naylor the lyrics for the series II episode 'Parallel Universe'.

Which series VI episode won an International Emmy in 1994?

'Gunmen of the Apocalypse', in which the crew fight the Four Horsemen inside a Wild West simulation, won the 1994 International Emmy for popular arts.

Which episode is the only one to open with a pre-credits warning about its content?

'Polymorph' (series III) opens with a tongue-in-cheek on-screen warning before the titles; its shape-shifting, emotion-draining creature made it one of the show's most admired episodes.

Which character upgraded Rimmer to a 'hard light' hologram in series VI?

Legion, the gestalt entity formed from the crew's minds, gave Rimmer a hard-light drive in the series VI episode of that name, making him tangible and nearly indestructible, though not immune to pain.

In which series VII episode did Rimmer leave the show to become Ace Rimmer?

In 'Stoke Me a Clipper' the dying Ace passes his role to Rimmer, who flies off to become the new Ace; he returned in series VIII as a nanobot-resurrected human with no memory of his hologram years.

Ace Rimmer, the heroic alter ego from a parallel universe, first appeared in which episode?

The two Rimmers diverged at age seven, when one was kept down a year at school and knuckled down.

What is the name of the Cat's dorky alter ego, with the bowl haircut and overbite?

Duane Dibbley, with his bowl haircut, anorak and overbite, first appeared in 'Back to Reality' as the Cat's despised 'real' identity and returned in 'Emohawk: Polymorph II'.

Talkie Toaster is obsessed with steering every conversation towards what?

David Ross, the original Kryten, voiced it in 'White Hole' and again in series XII.

Which actress played Kristine Kochanski in series I, II and VI?

Clare Grogan, singer with Altered Images, played the original Kochanski in series I, II and VI; Chloë Annett took over as an alternate-universe Kochanski from series VII.

The four-year gap between series VI and VII was followed by what change in how the show was made?

Series VII (1997) was shot single-camera and 'filmised' for a cinematic look, with no studio audience; series VIII went back to a live audience, after which the BBC declined a ninth series.

Which channel revived Red Dwarf in 2009 with the miniseries Back to Earth?

Dave aired the three parts over Easter weekend, pulling some of the biggest ratings ever for a non-PSB commission.

In Back to Earth, the crew arrive on Earth in 2009 and discover what?

They learn they are characters in a TV series, Red Dwarf, and track down actor Craig Charles on the Coronation Street set; the story, partly inspired by Blade Runner, turns out to be a squid-ink hallucination.

The 2020 special The Promised Land pits the crew against Rodon, leader of what?

Ray Fearon played Rodon, tyrant leader of the feral cats, who wants every cat to worship him as a god; three cat clerics instead seek out Lister as their creator, Cloister.

What was the title of the first Red Dwarf novel, published in 1989?

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1989), credited to 'Grant Naylor', reworks the early series into one narrative; Chris Barrie read the audiobook.

What were the two alternate sequels to Better Than Life (1990), written separately by its creators?

Doug Naylor wrote Last Human (1995) and Rob Grant wrote Backwards (1996), rival continuations after the partnership ended; neither treats the other as canon.

The show's highest ratings, over eight million viewers, came in which year?

The BBC nonetheless turned down a ninth series, and fans waited a decade for the Dave revival.

Red Dwarf X, the first full series since 1999, aired in which year?

Its finale, 'The Beginning', used material from the long-planned but never-made Red Dwarf movie.

Where was the original series filmed after production moved from Manchester for series IV?

From series IV (1991) production moved to Shepperton Studios in Surrey, after the first three series were recorded at BBC Manchester; the London-based cast had long felt like outsiders at the corporation.

The 1998 remastering of the first three series replaced model shots with what?

The 1998 'Remastered' versions swapped the original model shots for computer graphics, re-filmed Norman Lovett's Holly scenes and trimmed some material; they were later boxed as The Bodysnatcher Collection.

According to the show's own rules, which of these does NOT exist in the Red Dwarf universe?

Every monster the crew meets evolved from Earth life; the creators' original plan banned aliens and robots alike, though Kryten broke the second rule.

Which channel first broadcast the eight original series of Red Dwarf?

BBC Two aired the pilot, 'The End', in 1988 after the script had been rejected three times.

Which original cast member reprised his role in the unaired 1992 American pilot, Red Dwarf USA?

Robert Llewellyn kept Kryten; Craig Bierko played Lister and Chris Eigeman played Rimmer, with Frasier's Jane Leeves as Holly.

After production delays in 1987, on what date did Red Dwarf's first episode finally reach television screens?

15 February 1988 brought more than four million viewers to the pilot, though ratings dipped across the rest of the first series.