Red Dwarf is a British science fiction comedy programme created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, consisting of a sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. The programme follows low-ranking technician Dave Lister, who awakens after being in suspended animation for three million years to find that he is the last living human, and that he is alone on the mining spacecraft Red Dwarf—except for a hologram of his deceased bunkmate Arnold Rimmer and "Cat", a life form which evolved from Lister's pregnant cat.
Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is characterised as a second-class technician and de facto leader of the mining ship Red Dwarf. Portrayed as snobbish, pedantic, and self-centred, Rimmer is unpopular with his crewmates and is often the target of insults and general ridicule.
Douglas Rodger Naylor is an English comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer.
The Cat, or simply Cat, is a fictional character in the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. He is played by Danny John-Jules. He is a descendant of Dave Lister's pregnant pet house cat Frankenstein, whose descendants evolved into a humanoid form over three million years while Lister was in stasis. As a character, he is vain and aloof, and loves to dress in extravagant clothing. He is simply referred to as "Cat" in lieu of a real name.
Andrew Paul Marshall is a British comedy screenwriter, most noted for the domestic sitcom 2point4 children. He was also the inspiration for Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Although he had also previously adapted stories for Agatha Christie's Poirot, in 2002 he made a further move into writing "straight" drama, with the fantasy horror series Strange. He has also written several screenplays.
Kryten is a fictional character in the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. The name Kryten is a reference to the head butler in the J.M. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton. Originally referred to as a Series III mechanoid, he is later described as a 4000 Series, or Series 4000.
Kristine Z. Kochanski is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. Kochanski was the first console officer in the navigation chamber on board the spaceship Red Dwarf. As well as appearing in the television series, she is also a major character in the Red Dwarf novel Last Human. In series 1, 2, and 6 she was played by Clare Grogan and was then played by Chloë Annett for series 7 and 8, and the 2009 special Back to Earth.
Grant Naylor refers to the former writing partnership between Rob Grant and Doug Naylor as well as their Grant Naylor Productions company.
Better Than Life is a science fiction comedy novel by Grant Naylor, the collective name for Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, co-creators and writers of the Red Dwarf television series, on which the novel is based. The main plotline was developed and expanded from the Red Dwarf episode of the same name, as well as the Series 3 and 4 episodes: White Hole, Marooned, Polymorph, and Backwards.
"The End" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, which was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 15 February 1988. The episode introduces the main characters and sets up the story backbone of the series. On the mining ship Red Dwarf, Dave Lister is placed in stasis for refusing to give up the whereabouts of his forbidden pet cat. When he emerges from stasis, three million years later, he discovers that everybody has died from a radiation leak.
"Me2" (pronounced "me, squared") is the sixth and final episode from series one of the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, which was first broadcast on BBC2 on 21 March 1988. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye. The script was written as a late addition to the series following an electricians' strike at the BBC. The episode follows on from the cliffhanger set by "Confidence and Paranoia"—there are now two Rimmers on board Red Dwarf. The episode was remastered, along with the rest of the first three series, in 1998, to bring it up to a standard suitable for international broadcast.
Son of Cliché is a comedy sketch show that ran for two series on BBC Radio 4 between 23 August 1983 and 29 December 1984.
"Quarantine" is the fourth episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series V and the twenty eighth in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 12 March 1992. The episode, fifth to be filmed, was the first one to be solely directed by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. The episode has Rimmer contracting a holo-virus and turning against the rest of the crew.
"Psirens" is the first episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series VI and the 31st in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 7 October 1993. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor and directed by Andy de Emmony. The episode – which involves Psirens who try to lure the crew to them to feast on their brains – had its script published before the episode was broadcast.
"Gunmen of the Apocalypse" is the third episode of the sixth series of the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. It was first broadcast on 21 October 1993, on BBC Two, and went on to win an International Emmy Award. The episode was written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Andy de Emmony. In the episode, the regular cast find themselves in a computer simulation of a Wild West town, facing a gunfight against the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
"Backwards" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series III, and the thirteenth in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel BBC2 on 14 November 1989. Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye, the episode has the crew travel to an alternate Earth where time runs backwards.
British television science fiction refers to programmes in the genre that have been produced by both the BBC and Britain's largest commercial channel, ITV. BBC's Doctor Who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world, and has been called the "most successful" science fiction series of all time.
Quanderhorn is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Andrew Marshall and Rob Grant. The first series was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 2018, and a second in 2020. The series has elements that pastiche Nigel Kneale's Professor Bernard Quatermass.
