Red Dwarf: Back to Earth

After almost 10 years away, Red Dwarf, (the cult space-based comedy show of the 90s), returned to UK screens last night.

A new three-part mini-series is being screened over the Easter bank-holiday on the UK digital channel Dave. Taking place nine years after the events of Series VIII, the crew of Red Dwarf are once again attempting to return go earth. Following an encounter with a dimension-migrating octopus, the crew of Red Dwarf attempt once again to return to earth.

The first episode last night pulled in over two million viewers, which is an impressive figure for a digital only channel, (although significantly less than the eight million peak of the last full series and it seems to have been a huge hit.

I received a couple of texts last night during the show, they are as follows:

“Red Dwarf: I’m not impressed so far!”

“Mmmmmm… Thinking they should have left it alone. But will see how it fairs with the other episodes.”

“I barely laughed and I hated the CGI scutters.”

The general mood of Twitter last night suggested that there was a country-wide communal sense of disappointment. I have to agree, which is terribly disappointing to admit, because I like everyone else was indecently excited to hear about the return of Red Dwarf. Now normally when something held in huge regard and affection by the public is revived, (I’m thinking Indiana Jones here, or the recent X-Files movie), the hype is so big that the likelihood of disappointment is almost guaranteed. But the Red Dwarf revival has had relatively little hype in the UK press, and the new episodes were running on the legacy and popularity of the original series.

So what went wrong? Well, the missing laugh track certainly took away an awful lot of the sense of fun from the original series, and changed the feel and dynamic of the show without it. The sets are now green-screen, which works for Sin City, but not for comedy. The downbeat ship’s computer, Holly (played inconsistently by Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge), is missing, which is a real shame as Holly is the source of some of the best lines throughout the shows history.

I am very pleased to see Red Dwarf back, and I am looking forward to tonight’s episode, I am just very disappointed so far. But I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and I will be watching tonight’s and tomorrows concluding episodes, sincerely hoping it picks up.