Though its original series run ended 11 years ago in 1999, tremendous fan response from last year’s 3 episode Holiday Special “Back To Earth” has resulted in the renewal of the long dead series for two new series (seasons).
The news has been confirmed by series star Craig Charles, the actor who portrays the last surviving crew-member of the mining ship Red Dwarf.
With two more series of cult sci-fi comedy getting filmed in the near future, long-time fans of the British interstellar sitcom will have a lot to look forward to.
I myself grew up watching the show in elementary school, and now in my mid-twenties am absolutely tickled by the news. Only in the internet age can fan response bring a show that had been dead for over a decade back for not only a holiday special, but a complete renewal.
As a matter of fact, last year’s Easter special “Back to Earth” gained record ratings for the Dave digital channel.
The news came as Craig Charles guest hosted on Janice Long’s Radio 2 show:
“I can now announce we are going to be doing two more series of it starting in January next year…I got the call today. They said ‘Craig can you do it?’, I said ‘I’ll sort it out’. So I will be able to do it in January.”
Shortly after, Chris Barrie who plays the hologram Arnold Rimmer, confirmed the plans for the renewal and said a bit about his hopes and thoughts:
“I find it very hard to call it a tenth series, because that obviously means we’re calling the Easter special from last year the ninth series…But yes, certainly, I would say some more new Red Dwarf product. There are plans afoot to get that into gear…I think of Back To Earth as a sort of 21-year celebration, really, as a proper three-part special. But yes, it would be nice to do, and hopefully we will, another six half hours…I don’t really know anything more than I’m saying, believe me. I do know plans are afoot, but that’s all I can say. In terms of the direction of the show, I don’t really want to see it change that much. I just want more strong storylines, probably in a half-hour format.”
Personally, I loved the “Back To Earth” special last year. It returned the series to its heyday and style of seasons 5 and 6 (which were the best). It disregarded the entire series 8 (and most of 7) which were terrible and showed us that the boys still have it.
In fact, the cast looks amazing considering how much time has passed since the show started in 1988. The one thing they need to bring back is the live studio audience and laugh track. The actors always fed off of the laughs of its audience and it gave the show a much richer feel.
Anyways, I think of all the hilarious Red Dwarf moments, this one in which the crew must justify their existence sums up the surprising news the best:
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