New RED DWARF Episodes Due Next Year

Craig Charles, the actor who portrays Dave Lister on Red Dwarf, said in a radio interview that a new season will be produced late this year or early next year, according to The Daily Mail.  In a discussion about the 2009 three part special "Back On Earth", Charles said that the special was an unexpected success for them and prompted them to do another season.  But he sounds like they weren't trying all that hard with "Back on Earth".

Speaking on Real Radio's breakfast show this week, Charles told presenters Ditchy and Salty: 'It did really well which was really quite weird because we all thought we were just doing it for a laugh.

'It got more viewers than BBC2 and Channel 4 combined on the night which is really good!'

'So they've just commissioned another series of Red Dwarf. We're gonna film at the end of November, December and January.'

He also wants to set the bar high content-wise.

Asked whether he thinks Red Dwarf still has a place on our screens, Charles said: 'Well yes only if it's still as funny as it used to be.

'We've gotta recapture the highlights like series 5 series six, that kind of stuff. If we can hit that mark then brilliant. There's no point doing it if it's a bit so-so.'

Robert Llewellyn, better known to Red Dwarf viewers as Kryten, confirmed on his blog.  He had been sworn to secrecy on the matter and was suddenly bombarded with tweets about Charles' spilling the beans to the media.

"I’ve just spoken to Craig, he was as usual gloriously funny about it. He said, and I quote.

‘I did a radio interview and it just sort of slipped out.’

So yes, we are making a new series, commissioned by Dave, not a special or a movie or a one off dooberry. A full 6 half hour episodes of a brand new series.

The previous Red Dwarf Back to Earth Dave specials were incredibly successful. For a Channel like Dave to get viewing figures which beat BBC 2 and Channel 4 combined was an unprecedented achievement which has never happened before or since."

Llewellyn also mentions that they'd like to attempt to shoot the new episodes in front of a live audience, which could be problematic due to the various media tools such as smart phones now in the hands of the common folk and the various platforms available such as Twitter to quickly spoil plot points when hundreds of people are present for the show's taping.

"Now, this is a complicated issue. The last time we recorded a show in front of an audience was in 1998. Anyone remember 1998? 

No YouTube, no Facebook, no Twitter, no broadband, no HD video cameras in mobile phones. Okay, a few people had e-mail. I had a crude web page already, but it really was basic.

So when the audience came in the producers would ask them politely not to reveal any spoilers ‘on the world wide web’ as we referred to it then. I’m sure some people did, but so few people would have seen anything it really didn’t matter.

The fear among the producers now is that it’s impossible to imagine an audience of around 400 people at the recording of a TV show like Red Dwarf, where nobody does a bit of a hint on Twitter, or sneaks a picture on Facebook or posts a bit of badly shot video on YouTube.

It’s just too tempting, it’s too easy.

The producers are very worried and I can see why. The gap between recording a show and it’s eventual broadcast is quite long, especially on Red Dwarf. It’s a show which uses a lot of post production time. Special effects, tweaking shots, CGI, even, dare I hope for it, model shots, all take time.

By the time the shows are released on Dave in 2012, half the potential bloody viewers could know an enormous amount about it.

If we do record in front of an audience, what clever piece of social media manipulation can we create which will minimize the spoiler spread, What, or how, can we threaten/cajole/convince members of the audience to keep quiet for a few months until the shows are aired.

And just for the record, the laughter track on Red Dwarf was never ‘canned’ as so many people assume. Only on series 7 did we play the tapes to an audience after we shot the shows and recorded the laughter. Every other show was shot in front of an audience and it was great."

I found "Back On Earth" to be sort of fun, but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be; it's nice to learn that they were basically just goofing off.  I'm glad they are taking what's next a lot more seriously.  I wish them well.  I'd love to hear others' thoughts on the matter.  Luckily, there's a comments section below for such things.