Red Dwarf: Discovering the TV Series

Unbelievably, Red Dwarf came back. Its first six series from 1988 to 1993 were quite an achievement, and it’s likely we would still be remembering it fondly if the story had ended there. But it didn’t. Tom Salinsky has been looking at exactly how this show came to be, how it got on the air, and how it stayed there. But in 1993, when Volume I ended, it was thought that Red Dwarf was gone for good. In Volume II, Tom will look at how it was relaunched, rebooted and reconceived in 1997 and again in 1999. And then how it came back from the dead in 2009 with a supposedly one-off mini-series, which instead launched three more series and a feature-length special. Along the way he’ll look at why star Chris Barrie wanted out and then wanted back in again, the perils of having or not having a live studio audience, the wisdom of trying to remake the show in America – or as a movie – and whether or not there’s life left in the show yet. It’s also a detailed critical analysis, examining why the best episodes succeed and why the less impressive episodes struggle, while also finding time to ask whether the rules of time travel really allow JFK to assassinate himself, should you really rock out with Hitler, do you have the universe on speed dial, and of course whether Series IX really deserves its reputation as the best by miles. And we’ll look at Red Dwarf beyond broadcast television and into unmade episodes, novels, computer games and more besides.