Blue

Series VII, Episode 5
Recorded: May-Aug 1996, Shepperton Studios
First Broadcast: 14.02.1997 (BBC 2)
VHS Release: 01.10.1999 (BBCV 6790)
DVD Release: 07.11.2005 (BBCDVD 1692)
Blu-ray Release: 14.01.2019 (BBCBD 0441)

Written by Kim Fuller & Doug Naylor
Directed by Ed Bye

Synopsis

Lister finds himself missing Rimmer - until Kryten takes him on "The Rimmer Experience", a virtual reality ride featuring highlights of the departed crewmember's much-loathed life.

Cast

Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Chloe Annett (Kochanski)

Did You Know?

Not for the first time, we hear Howard Goodall's voice in an episode - as he overdubs for Chris Barrie during the famous "Rimmer Experience" sequence.

This episode had the working title Heartache.

The Rimmer-Lister kiss was the culmination of a long-running behind-the-scenes joke - after Craig had complained about the amount of "action" Rimmer had written for him in Series V, Rob and Doug responded by giving him kisses with multiple unpleasant creatures in Series VI. And for Series VII, Doug went one better...

While Rimmer had departed the ship in Stoke Me A Clipper, it's Blue that has the distinction of being Chris Barrie's last ever episode of Red Dwarf. Well, it had the distinction until Series VIII started filming, anyway.

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