Red Dwarf (TV series)

Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf logo (1992–99)
Genre	Sitcom, Science fiction
Created by	Grant Naylor (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor)
Based on	Dave Hollins: Space Cadet by Rob Grant Doug Naylor
Directed by	Ed Bye (1988–91, 1997–99) Juliet May (1992) Grant Naylor (1992) Andy de Emmony (1993) Doug Naylor (2009, 2012-)
Starring	Chris Barrie Craig Charles Danny John-Jules Robert Llewellyn Chloë Annett Norman Lovett Hattie Hayridge
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	11
No. of episodes	67 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paul Jackson (1988–90) Doug Naylor Rob Grant Henry Normal (2016-)
Producer(s)	Ed Bye (1988–91, 1997–99) Hilary Bevan-Jones (1992) Justin Judd (1993) Jo Howard and Helen Norman (2009) Richard Naylor (co-producer; 2012-)
Camera setup	Tape (1988-93, 1997-99); Digital (2009, 2012-) Multi-camera (Series 1-6, 8, 10-), Single-camera (Series 7, Back to Earth)
Running time	28 - 30 minutes (Series 1-8, 10-) 25 minutes (per part) (Back to Earth)
Production company(s)	Grant Naylor Baby Cow Productions (2016-)
Release
Original network	BBC Two (1988-93, 1997-99) Dave (2009, 2012-) Dave HD (2012-)
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV) (1988-93, 1997-99) 576i (16:9 SDTV) (2009, 2012-) 1080i (16:9 HDTV) (2009, 2012-)
Original release	Original run: 15 February 1988 - 5 April 1999 Revival special: April 2009 Current run: 4 October 2012 – present
External links
Official website

Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eleven series (the ninth being a mini-series) of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1993 and from 1997 to 1999, and on Dave in 2009 and 2012, gaining a cult following. In May 2015, it was announced that Series XI and XII would film back-to-back later in 2015 and would air exclusively on the Dave channel in 2016 and 2017. The first episode of Red Dwarf XI aired at 9 p.m. on Thursday 22 September 2016 on Dave and has been available via streaming service UKTV Play from Thursday 15 September 2016.

The series was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. In addition to the television episodes, there are four novels, two pilot episodes for an American version of the show, a radio version produced for BBC Radio 7, tie-in books, magazines and other merchandise.

Despite the pastiche of science fiction used as a backdrop, Red Dwarf is primarily a character-driven comedy, with science fiction elements used as complementary plot devices. In the early episodes, a recurring source of comedy was the Odd Couple-style relationship between the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other yet are trapped together deep in space. The main characters are Dave Lister, the last known human alive, and Arnold Rimmer, a hologram of Lister's dead bunkmate. The other regular characters are Cat, a lifeform which evolved from the descendants of Lister's pregnant pet cat Frankenstein; Holly, Red Dwarf's computer; Kryten, a service mechanoid; and, from Series VII through VIII, Kristine Kochanski, an alternative-reality version of Lister's long-lost love.