Cult BBC science fiction comedy Red Dwarf is coming back. No, really. No, honest, this time it is, stop laughing… For those unfamiliar with Dwarfing the show has been the subject of more definite resurrections and comebacks than Lazarus and John Travolta’s career combined. In fact I remember doing events with two of the actors from the show during which both told the audience that the show was due back soon (this was about seven years ago!), a new series had been written, dates pencilled in, then it was a movie version, then on hold, then it was back on… So you can understand why so many Dwarfers are more than a little cynical when they hear that the show is going to return. Smeg off and take your shape-changing Emohawk with you, we normally say, laughing derisively.
(Robert Llewellyn, Danny John Jules, Chris Barrie and Craig Charles as Kryten, Cat, Rimmer and Lister in Red Dwarf, (c) BBC/Grant Naylor)
But according to the BBC site digital channel Dave (which airs constant repeats of the BAFTA and Emmy winning show, albeit annoyingly cut to fit adverts in) will be transmitting brand new Red Dwarf over the Easter holiday weekend. Red Dwarf: Back to Earth will be a special two-parter written and directed by co-creator Doug Naylor (Rob Grant having left the show some years back, although he has been entertaining us with some clever and biting humorous SF novels since then) and will, as the title suggests, see the ramshackle crew who have been marooned three million years into the future following an accident finally return to Earth. According to the Beeb article the new two-parter will be followed by a special episode without sets, autocues or effects and the weekend celebrations of all things Dwarf will culminate in a behind the scenes look at the making of the new episodes. The new episodes air on Friday 10th of April; the Dave blog will be offering updates and more information as the transmission dates nears.
Tue, Jan 27, 2009
Film, TV and radio