Red Dwarf is the cult science fiction comedy classic that just will not die. Birthed – reluctantly – at the BBC in 1988, the show went on to become a ratings monster that the Corporation never really valued or understood. Missing and presumed extinct after its eighth season in 1998, the show eventually migrated to non-terrestrial channel Dave, where it has returned intermittently since its initial revival in 2008 with the mini-series Back to Earth. A new 90-minute special is promised for 2025.
Where the creation and making of most sci-fi shows have been chronicled to death, the history of Red Dwarf – although well-known by its hardcore fans – is a story lost in the mists of time to most of its audience. The immaculately researched new book – entirely unauthorised but commendably comprehensive – tells you everything you might reasonably need to know about how Red Dwarf came to the screen, how it very nearly didn’t and all points between – well, up until Season Six as the show has been around for so long that there’s a second volume planned to bring the story right up to date.
Discovering the TV Series Volume 1 is presented in two dovetailing sections. The most interesting and best-written sections provide useful background context for the creatives – particularly Rob Grant and Doug Naylor – who found themselves in a position to pitch a daring new sitcom to the BBC. Red Dwarf was turned down by the BBC three times and finally found its way, under the aegis of legendary TV producer Paul Jackson, to BBC Manchester, where it appeared to have found a sympathetic home – until industrial action at the BBC torpedoed the planned recording of almost the entire first season. The episodes were remounted, and found an appreciative audience almost immediately. Similar chapters in the section go on to outline how the uneven first season was improved upon and refined in subsequent series and how the show eventually found its groove and became a phenomenon, even if the BBC never quite knew what to do with it. The other sections of the book contain “impressions of” material which investigates and explores every episode in near-microscopic detail, pointing out flaws, continuity errors, classic moments, etc, in a style reminiscent of many of the unauthorised ‘episode guide’ books published about shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Farscape and even Doctor Who. Tom Salinsky is playing to the gallery here, shamelessly displaying his in-depth fan knowledge of the series but, in fairness, also displaying a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the show; no rose-coloured space-specs here, he dishes out the brickbats when they’re needed just as he’s effusive in his praise when the show hits the sweet spot.
It’s tempting to suggest that this is a book aimed squarely at the converted – and it probably is. Beyond the front and back covers, there’s no photographic content here (not even a pic of the titular giant space mining vessel); this is determinedly text-heavy, but that’s because it has a story to tell. But there’s enough interesting behind-the-scenes stuff to intrigue anyone fascinated by the machinations of the notoriously sci-fi-averse BBC in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the army of smegheads amused by the antics of the Red Dwarf crew for an extraordinary 36 years. It seems like there’s plenty of life left in the Boys from the Dwarf yet.
