It is hard to believe it is just over twenty years since 'Red Dwarf' blasted onto our screens. I watched the first episode for two reasons; firstly, it was the work of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, writers I knew from their work on 'Carrott's Lib' and 'Spitting Image', and secondly, it combined two life-long interests of mine - comedy and science fiction.<br /><br />The premise is this - mining ship 'Red Dwarf' has suffered a disaster in space, meaning that most of its crew are dead. The only survivor is Dave Lister ( Craig Charles ), a slob who loves getting drunk and eating curry. Also around are a life form descended from a cat he smuggled on board, called 'Cat' ( Danny John-Jules ), who acts like James Brown, and Arnold Rimmer ( Chris Barrie ), a hologram of an unpopular technician. There's also a talking computer called 'Holly', played first by Norman Lovett and then Hattie Hayridge.<br /><br />I was disappointed by the opening episode, so like the Smeghead that I am did not bother with the show again until it reached its third season. 'Backwards' opened with a hilarious conversation between Lister and Cat in which the former expressed a secret desire for Wilma Flintstone. It convinced me that the show had changed for the better ( I later caught up with the ones I had missed, and found they were not bad either ). The same episode brought in as a regular 'Kryten' ( David Ross, then Robert Llewelyn ), a robot who speaks in a Canadian accent and who by his own admission looks like Herman Munster's stunt double.<br /><br />The show could have been called 'Lads In Space'. The cast were superb, particularly Barrie as the conceited 'Rimmer', the scripts cleverly exploited the fine line between comedy and sci-fi, and for my money it was one of the best sitcoms of the '90's, alongside 'I'm Alan Partridge' and 'Father Ted'. Among the many first-rate episodes were 'Demons & Angels' ( the boys meet evil versions of themselves ), 'Gunmen Of The Apocalypse' ( the boys in a space western ), 'Timeslides' ( Rimmer tries to change the course of his own history ), 'D.N.A.' ( Kryten learns what it is like to be human ), 'Dimension Jump' ( Rimmer meets a heroic version of himself - 'Ace' Rimmer ). Best of all was 'Back To Reality' in which the boys think that their 'Dwarf' experiences have all been part of a Virtual Reality game. Cat's cries of 'Dwayne Dibbley!' were hilarious! With such a strong cast and production crew, the show attained a peak of perfection unseen in British comedy for years previously - and some would say, not since. It was also a hit in America, and they attempted their own version, from all accounts it was not very good.<br /><br />Sadly, Naylor and Grant parted company, and the seventh season was written by Naylor and other writers such as Kim Fuller. Robert Llewelyn himself co-wrote one. The absence of Grant, plus a move onto film, and Chris Barrie only appearing in a handful of episodes, resulted in Season Seven looking a bit patchy. The inclusion of a new female character - 'Kochanski' ( Chloe Annett ) made things worse. She was to the boys from the Dwarf what Zeppo had been to the Marx Bros.<br /><br />Things perked up a bit in Season Eight. Rimmer came back full-time, Norman Lovett returned as 'Holly', and Naylor wrote every episode alone, ensuring the comedy was more consistent. Bringing back the entire crew, including the Captain, was a mistake though ( as was the retaining of Kochanski ). The show simply did not need them.<br /><br />And that sadly is where the 'Red Dwarf' story ends. It is now ten years since the transmission of Season Eight. Naylor has tried to get a 'Dwarf' feature film made but without success. I wish he had instead devoted the time to writing more television episodes. <br /><br />'Sky Television' have announced a pair of specials for transmission sometime in the year. Hopefully they will feature the original cast. The idea of a bunch of nobodies as 'Rimmer', 'Cat', 'Lister' et al does not exactly thrill me.