Kryten
| Kryten | |
|---|---|
| Red Dwarf character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | "Kryten" |
| Portrayed by |
David Ross (Series II) Robert Llewellyn (Series III–present) |
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 in the show as a 4000 Series, or Series 4000.
In their original plan for the series, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor had specified that there would be no aliens and no robots. Following the success of the first appearance by the Kryten character, Naylor convinced Grant to bring him back.
In the character's first appearance, originally only intended as a one-off, Kryten was played by actor David Ross but the popularity of the character meant that Kryten was introduced as a regular in Series III. The intention was to bring Ross back to play the role, but he was not available at the time and the position was filled by Northampton-born actor Robert Llewellyn, whose performances as Kryten from series III resulted in even greater popularity of the character. David Ross later returned to voice Talkie Toaster in the series IV episode "White Hole".
Kryten (as portrayed by David Ross) first appeared in the Red Dwarf episode "Kryten" (1988), where he is characterised as a service mechanoid on board the Nova 5, a spacecraft originally from Earth. Kryten says that his entire purpose is "to serve and have no regard for [himself]". He sends a distress call which is picked up by the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf, claiming that the male crew died when the Nova 5 crash landed on a planetoid, while the female crew are—according to Kryten himself—"stable, but injured". The female crew have actually been dead for "centuries"—Kryten apparently not realising this, and continuing to feed and serve them. Because there is no-one else on board the Nova 5, Kryten starts a new life on Red Dwarf with the hologram Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie) as his new master. Dave Lister (Craig Charles) persuades Kryten to rebel against Rimmer (which includes showing him the movies Rebel Without a Cause and Easy Rider) and to become independent. Kryten changes the portrait of Rimmer he paints to make it appear as though he was sitting on the toilet, and then pours soup onto Rimmer's bed sheets. Kryten takes Lister's space-bike and goes out to find a planet with an atmosphere where he can grow a garden, which had always been a dream of his. This episode also marks a 'first' in science-fiction history in which an android deliberately gives a human being the 'finger'.
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