RED DWARF’S GRAND FINALE?
Red Dwarf’s feature-length special episode is escapism on a cosmic scale – but will it really be the last we see of Lister and co?
Red Dwarf fans have had a long wait for a film-length special. The closest Doug Naylor, co-creator of the space comedy, got to making one was a three-part mini-series for the show’s 2009 revival after it was axed by BBC2 ten years earlier. It garnered record ratings for the Dave channel, and three subsequent series followed.
But Red Dwarf: The Promised
Land is a full 90 minutes of escapism and it couldn’t come at a better time. So what can we expect?
For starters, the gang are all back: Craig Charles plays Lister, the last human in the universe, stuck on a spaceship with a hologram of the man he hates most – Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie); Danny JohnJules is Cat, a half-feline hybrid; and Robert Llewellyn is annoying android Kryten.
The story refers back to the show’s beginnings three million years before when Lister, a vending machine repairman, was sentenced to 18 months in suspended animation for smuggling his pregnant cat aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf.
A radiation leak killed the crew – but Lister survived and the cats, safely sealed in the hold, evolved into humanoids who now roam deep space. Lister is worshipped, so the ruthless cat leader (Ray Fearon) tries to take him and his crew down.
‘It rounds off a lot of the backstory,’ says Robert Llewellyn. ‘There’s one tragic moment where Kryten feels he’s been accepted when everyone can see they’re just putting up with him! That’s the genius of Doug: he weaves threads of the real relationships between cast members into the plot.’
Among the laughs are poignant scenes, made even more so by the fact Robert contracted sepsis during the first week of filming. ‘The recovery from it was slow and grim so it really did delay things. But I’m lucky to be here.’
Craig Charles adds, ‘We think every episode of Red Dwarf is going to be the last, but this one felt like it might be – we found time to smell the roses and just enjoy it. It was filmed in front of a live audience too, so it’s different.’
So do they all hope there’ll be more Red Dwarf outings? ‘It gets more challenging as every year passes,’ admits Robert. ‘The mask is tough and the hours are long. So can we do it soon please? I’m getting knackered!’
Craig laughs, ‘I’d love to do more. It’d be a shame to mess up the legacy of what we’ve done by turning out inferior work, but I think we’re on our game.’
Red Dwarf: The Promised Land airs on Thursday at 9pm on Dave.