Life During Dwarf Time

Celebrating 30 years of Red Dwarf fandom!

15 February, 2018

Thirty

When Red Dwarf returned for a full tenth series on Dave in 2012, it was as if it had never been away. This wasn't a nostalgia trip - it was simply yet more episodes of the show everyone loved, whether they'd discovered it twenty years previously or two. One thing that was different, however, was that it was now possible for people who had been fans back in the early days to have become bona fide industry professionals - and to get to work on their favourite show themselves.

"Series IV was the first one I saw transmitted live," says actor Ryan Gage. "My best mate had the VHS of II and III, and I would go round to his house after school and watch them endlessly. I bought the Smegazine, I had the Smeg Ups videos... my mum wouldn't let me have the 'Let's Get Out There and Twat It' t-shirt, though!"

Having then become an actor in adulthood, Ryan "never thought I'd appear in the show. It didn't even seem like a show to me as a kid! I knew it wasn't real, but I knew the characters so well, I didn't think about it as a TV show that I could be in." But a chance decision to contact the creators to "say thank you for the joy they brought me over the years" ultimately led to a Twitter conversation with Richard Naylor - and eventually, Ryan's casting as Hitler in Series XII.

"It was everything I could have hoped it would be. Being on set was incredible. Working with Doug and Richard and all the crew was a joy from start to finish, and jamming with Lister probably is one of my proudest achievements in life. If my childhood self had known he would grow up and do that one day it would have blown his tiny mind!"

What's more, the unique position Red Dwarf occupies in British television lore has meant that it has continued to have a positive effect on the careers and lives of actors who appear in it. Mark Dexter, who played Howard Rimmer in Series X's Trojan, had already experienced life as a sci-fi guest star courtesy of Doctor Who. But it took Red Dwarf to show him that he could have a fanbase of his own, when he guested for the first time at Dimension Jump in 2017.

"Red Dwarf has changed things for me in lots of ways really," says Mark. "It has helped to smuggle me into the wonderful and utterly bonkers world of comic/sci-fi/pop culture conventions, which has been tremendous fun. It was an awesome job to do, and something of an honour for a pre-existing fan."

"The Dwarfers online are an absolutely cracking bunch. I was pleased to see that the reaction to Howard was so positive - and pretty darned relieved, too, as he was helping to kick off the new Dave era and therefore carrying quite a bit of weight on his puny shoulders!"

"But perhaps most significantly of all, Red Dwarf has taught me that I must in some way resemble Mr Chris Barrie. So in that respect the show has wrecked my life."

Red Dwarf's contribution to the growth and success of UKTV and Dave over the last decade can't be understated, either. Since Back to Earth, the channel has greatly expanded its original programming output, with further success stories such as Modern Life Is Good(ish) and Taskmaster marking it out as one of the few places in the UK continuing to commission original and inventive comedy. And Red Dwarf played a huge part in giving Dave a greater platform to do that.

"I think what Red Dwarf's success did was that it gave us that credibility," says Steve North. "It helped us when we started having conversations with producers about other shows - we were able to point to Red Dwarf as an example of a show where we were collaborating with people, and garnering success."

"It was also an example of how we were able to support those shows - there was a lot of marketing behind it, lots of really exciting publicity, and that showed people the extent to which we would support our shows. And that's really important to producers and talent - the idea that you're not just going to spend money on a show, but also that you're going to help support it being a success."

"With other shows that we've done - with people like Dave Gorman and Dara O'Briain - we've worked with talent, to make the shows that they believe in. And Red Dwarf is a show that Doug Naylor and the cast really believe in, that comes through really powerfully. There's no doubt that it's been really important in setting us out on that route in original production."

The now-well-established online and social media fandom was a huge factor in making new Red Dwarf one of the most talked-about British TV shows of the 2010s. This continued through to the eleventh and twelfth series, filmed back-to-back for the first time - with an even greater than before pressure to somehow keep story twists, character reveals and best gags under wraps in the long period between filming and production.

But the lucky few thousand fans who got through the mind-bogglingly huge ballots to see Series X, XI and XII recorded justified the decision to allow a studio audience in, by honouring Doug's request to keep schtum about the details in an era when most genre TV productions have every detail scrutinised in advance in online set reports.

And that really sums up the relationship that Red Dwarf has with its fanbase: the idea that we're all in this together. Without that fandom, and without that relationship, it's possible that the show might still have existed for thirty years and counting - but it would be a surprise. Red Dwarf isn't just a show that people have enjoyed for three decades - but one that has actively changed lives. It's spawned friendships, marriages and even careers across every level of fandom, and continues to do so.

"We started to get a sense of that sort of thing during the book signings," recalls Doug. "I remember one particular guy - and I've met far more since - saying 'My wife had left me, I was in a really bad place, and then I turned on Red Dwarf and within minutes I was laughing my head off. I can't tell you how much it helped me.' And some people do, in a way, use it as a kind of therapy - which does just make you so bloody humbled, that it means that much to people."

"We're only here because the fans are still here. People ask what the secret to the longevity is, but there's no secret, really - other than the fact that the guys love working together, and they're prepared to come back and make it; and that people continue to watch it. And that's truly the only way the TV stations measure it - they don't measure it on awards or whatever, it's bums on seats, and we've always been very fortunate in that regard."

"We're all hugely grateful to the fans, and hopefully you'll keep watching for the next thirty years!"

With thanks to Doug Naylor, Steve North, James Bull, Jo Sharples, Ben Duncan, Ryan Gage and Mark Dexter. Share your own memories of Red Dwarf fandom with us over on Twitter - #RedDwarf30!

Previous Page