Red Dwarf's return is sorely needed – imperfections and all
A comeback is on the horizon – but it's had its complications.
Since its inception in 1988, Red Dwarf has provided comfort to its fans with its weird, gutsy, and even slightly naff British nature.
Despite apparent recent complications with its planned comeback, it sorely needs to return for them.
For those not in the know, the beloved BBC comedy followed slobbish Dave Lister (Craig Charles) as he wakes up on a mining vessel 3 million years after the radiation leak that wiped out the crew.
The last human in the universe, his only mates are stiff with supposed refinement hologram Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), perpetually miffed yet Messiah-like ship’s computer Holly (Norman Lovett and, subsequently, Hattie Hayridge), and a humanoid descendent of Lister’s pet cat (Danny John-Jules).
Once Robert Llewellyn joined as pernickety mechanoid Kryten, it was such a gifted cast that you believed in every mythical and mundane element, even if you could’ve sworn you saw the sellotape and spit holding it all together – so handcrafted you could see the handprints.
In the midst of the glossy TV landscape of today, it would be refreshing to see Red Dwarf return with that same level of care, gutsily marking its place amid the multi-million dollar streamer releases.
With Red Dwarf, Doug Naylor and Rob Grant meticulously crafted a lived-in, curry-stained universe with a sharp sense of self-awareness, not allowing budgets to act as a break on a good old time.
The ideas Red Dwarf explored were compelling and, for the time, often far-fetched and even groundbreaking – from the possible consequences of AI to the Pleasure GELF, talking toasters to gazpacho soup to Mr Flibble and Ace Rimmer.
Its humour came from the innate melancholy and odd-couple dynamic central to all great sitcoms – it was lad banter but with a flicker of the emotional and complex. A strange creature of a thing: kids being allowed to play grown-up for a while.
Red Dwarf is at its best when it focuses on Lister and Rimmer and their dynamic. As in the season 1 episode Balance of Power, Rimmer is on a power trip thanks to his new role as the most senior officer on board, while Lister is disheartened at the prospect of being stuck with him forever.
It’s an episode which allows the comedy to emerge just from their strained interactions. It’s beautifully simple.
I watched it as a child, barely knowing what any of it meant, hardly caring. My mind would catch on a funny word or phrase – a smirking smile.
When I had major surgery years later, I watched Red Dwarf on DVD from my year-long sickbed; a line from Rimmer I hardly remember was the first time I laughed in two months.
I owe a lot to Red Dwarf, and it’s down to that unapologetic imperfection of the human touch.
Other TV shows taught me the importance of being brave and never giving up on perfection. Red Dwarf taught me the value of accepting that we’re all a bit snarky and snide and imperfect, and that’s OK.
Think of the episode exploring Rimmer’s psyche, Terrorform, when he and Kryten encounter an artificial planetoid that transforms into the manifestation of an individual’s consciousness, proving that Rimmer’s mind is a hellish place ruled by all his worst qualities.
He is a prisoner and victim of his own personality, and in the season 5 episode Quarantine, Rimmer imprisons Lister, Cat and Kryten inside the ship quarantine, and the strain between the trio is all too honest – and accurate.
Red Dwarf is sci-fi that has unapologetically unappealing bits. As fans, we feel like we own it because those could be our smudged fingerprints on its sets, scripts and special effects.
It still feels like a cult sitcom in a niche genre, even with an International Emmy. Outsiders might look in and not quite get it, but it’s survived many issues and disagreements for more than 35 years.
After all of that, now feels like the right time for its comeback – even with Craig Charles, Lister, saying that it might not return, as he stated exclusively to RadioTimes.com: "It’s not that we don’t want to do it, it’s a case of we’re trying to get it done... [it’s] happening in television all the time at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be that much money around."
But for a show that has always been about its characters and their close-quarters relationships, a stripped-back approach seems fitting. If you ask me, four actors in an ocean or military grey room would be more than enough for fans.
The actors are clearly on board, and the new episodes seem to recapture the essence of Dwarf, as Charles reflects on the new script and Lister coming face-to-face with his younger self.
There’s been distaste over the idea of a finale from those involved in Red Dwarf; as Charles observes, "We always said we’d never do a last episode. We’d just not make it anymore – and we might be at that point now."
But letting Red Dwarf just fade away feels wrong, and it’s clear from Charles’s warm words that he believes this script is worth it.
And, as people who still have our guts in the game, we owe something to Red Dwarf – so whether it’s a stripped-back version of the show, or the version that the creators have been dreaming of, we’re willing to wait to see the new episodes realised.
But we’ll be safe in the knowledge that if and when Red Dwarf does return, it’ll be in the gutsy and unapologetic manner we’ve loved so much.
Red Dwarf is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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