Writers: Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. (Spitting image writers)
Director Ed Bye.

Firstly, a bit of history about the show and how it came about…
Initially the show was penned by Grant and Doug in 1983 and it then took three years to convince the BBC that this show would be worth airing, mainly due to the fact the BBC never thought a sci-fi sit-com would not be well received, (then it took another two years to finally get the show on the screen due to unforeseen circumstances). But once aired it didn’t take long before this show was soon creating a massive stir on the comedy front and soon had its own ’cult’ following.

The concept for the show combines Grant and Naylor idea of a BBC show from radio 4 called ’Son of Cliché and a few ideas from such movies as Silent running and the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

The first series, including the Pilot episode, was first aired on the BBC in 1988 and released on DVD in 2002

** WHAT IS RED DWARF THEN..?

Red Dwarf is a mining ship about the size of a small village which is manned by several hundred crew members. Unfortunately, due to a mistake by some over enthusiastic member of the maintenance department, the Red Dwarf mining ship takes a serious fall in personnel, leaving only a crew member and a couple of oddities to run the ship under the guidance of a rather strange computerized head.

**CHARACTERS…

Dave Lister, (Craig Charles), the lowest ranking officer on Red Dwarf is a liverpudlian with a very snobbish attitude. He loves his currys, especially a good Chicken vindaloo, although most of it ends up on his shirt rather than in his mouth.
He comes across as hating Rimmer, his superior officer, but deep down there is a little bit of respect for the arrogant man with an H attached to his forehead.

Arnold J. Rimmer, Bsc, Ssc (Chris Barrie), - the J stands for Judas, the Bsc and Ssc stand for bronze and silver swimming certificates- is a very cowardly and ever so arrogant technician whose love of the rule book seems to annoy everyone he meets, especially Lister.

Cat, (Danny John-Jules) is the descendent of Listers pet cat Frankenstein. Cats only has a few concerns in life and they are eating fine food, sleeping and making himself look good for the lady cats, (even if there are no lady cats around), and he has an ego which is almost as big as the ship he travels in.

Holly, (Norman Lovett) is the ships computer, with an apparent IQ of over 6000, although millions of years alone has seriously sent his hard drive into chaos. Only his head appears on the monitors around the ship and sometimes even on wrist communicators. He has a weird sense of humour, probably down to boredom, and enjoys nothing more than having a laugh at the crews expense.

** SERIES ONE…
Episode…

1) The End
There’s trouble on the Jupiter mining ship ’Red Dwarf’ when Dave Lister, a technician-third class, with the IQ of a mutated toad in a heat wave, smuggles a feline friend aboard the ship.
For his refusal to give up the where about of the illegal feline he is placed in ‘Stasis’ (suspended animation) for 18 months, but when he awakens from the ’stasis’ he soon realises that he has been in there for a lot longer than a year and a half.
As he searches for other crew members, with the help of the ships computer, Holly, a head inside a television screen, he soon uncovers the truth about what happened on the ship, but things get surprisingly worse for the curry eating slob when he finds only one other crew member, Arnold Rimmer, although Rimmer, Listers superior technician, is not all he once was.
Other surprises soon emerge when Lister discovers the descendent of his beloved cat, only this new feline is a little more than a fur ball spluttering wad of wool chaser.
With Lister feeling home sick he decides that they remaining crew, if you can call them that, should head back to Earth, even if it has been quite a few years since they left the green grass of home.
So Holly plots a course for Earth and away they go… but can they get back without any trouble on route.

2) Future echoes
As Holly pilots Red Dwarf back to earth he has to break light speed, due to the fact that the ship has been gaining speed for 3 million years, but the lightening speed causes the crew to begin seeing visions of there own future, much to Listers horror, and Rimmers humour, as he sees how he dies in horrifically circumstances.
But when more visions of the future emerge it is not long before Lister realises that all is not quite what it seems

(featuring John Lenahan and Tony Hawks as voices of the Toaster and vending machine)

3) Balance of Power
Lister is missing a certain member of the Red Dwarf crew, namely a Kristine Kochanski (Clare Grogan), but when Rimmer realise that the intensions are to switch him off in order to switch Kochanski on he is not happy.
Rimmers refusal to cooperate leaves Lister with only one option, to try and pass a chefs exam so as to become Rimmers superior, therefore forcing the arrogant hologram to obey his orders.
But Rimmer I still not keen on the idea and will do anything to foil Listers plans of a reconciliation with Kochanski.

4) Waiting for God
Rimmer is in his element when Holly brings a ‘pod’ on board and places it into quarantine, but when Lister discovers the true contents of the ’pod’ he decides to have a bit of a giggle with the foolish hologram.
Meanwhile, Lister discovers where cat has been disappearing to for the passed few days and soon realises that the cats history surrounds more of Lister than he ever new.

(featuring Noel Coleman as Cat Priest)

5) Confidence and Paranoia
Lister falls ill and some how creates some rather strange visions on Red Dwarf, but when his visions become reality it is not long before his confidence and Paranoia are fighting between themselves

(featuring Lee Cornes as Paranoia and Craig Ferguson as Confidence).

6 Me 2
There’s trouble on Red Dwarf when Rimmer creates a perfect carbon copy of himself, especially when he realise that he is quite a difficult person to live with.
But the troubles esculate when he tries to get rid of his double, forcing a duel to the death between the two holograms.

** IN CONLUSION…

In one word… Brilliant
I remember hearing about the series when it first came out back in the late eighties, and I recall watching the first episode in anticipation, wondering whether this new type of sci-fi sit-com would get off the ground. But what I watched surprised even me as I sat laughing out loud at the many antics of the remainder of the Red Dwarf crew and a very dry witted computer head inside a monitor screen.

Right from the start there is just so much great side splitting comedy that you just want to carry on watching the show right to the death.
Once the show gets going, which is about two minutes into the pilot episode, the stories just role out with some astounding ideas, including such feisty plots as battling mind games, fighting holograms, strange and frightening news from the future and a very unlikely god, plus a lot more to boot…
As for the acting, well, what can be said about the excellently chosen main characters..? What a fantastic choice the casting couch made when selecting the fab four to pull off the comical characters for the show, and the way that they managed to bring four totally different personalities and make them all live together in the hope of surviving.
Charles as Lister, the beer swilling, curry eating, Rimmer annoying, utter slob seems to have been an easy choice, either that or Charles is one hell of an actor. His utterly scruffy attitude and the way he can annoy everyone with the scent of his socks is outstanding.
And what a choice Barrie is as Rimmer, his ability to bring out the best in the uptight, rule obeying hologram, seeming to fit perfectly in with his cowardly ways.
Then there’s John-Jules who is utterly fantastic as the very smarmy and totally selfish Cat, bringing many laughs into what is already a fun filled sit-com. (although, when watching certain ’smeg-ups’ I realise that John-Jules really does take his part seriously indeed, watching as he seems to get quite infuriated when he makes a mistake, which is amusing in itself as you watch his reaction).
And finally, for this series, is Lovett as Holly, the computer with more intelligence than Stephen Hawkings tutor, his dry attitude and quick comments really will crack you up.

In fact, the combination of the four is shear genius, each character having something that will entertain even the most stone faced viewer.

As I said, the story lines are outstanding, especially when the main characters, Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Holly, begin to run the show on there own, bringing a rather new kind of sit-com to the small screen, (and eventually to video and DVD).

In all, this is one of them series which will have you in stitches right form the start and no doubt throughout as you begin to understand each character.

If you want to get the first series of Red Dwarf on DVD then head off to www.amazon.co.uk and grab a copy for as little as £4.98, which will give you a two disc set containing nearly three hours of space-tastic fun and a vast array of cracking one liners.

PLUS… Extras on the DVD set include…
Smeg-ups (filming mistakes which were edited from the final cut)
Deleted scenes
Futurities
Easter Eggs
Documentary on the launching of Red Dwarf.
The original BBC Trialer
And more…

Which for less than a fiver is money well spent.