Red Dwarf characters
Character descriptions and casting details for the Red Dwarf BBC sitcom and series of novels by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.
Red Dwarf is a British science fiction sitcom ("Britcom" in the U.S.), created and originally written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.
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Major characters
David Lister
See Dave Lister for the main article on this character
David Lister is portrayed by Craig Charles in the television series.
The most important thing to know about Dave Lister is that he's the last human man in the known universe. The second most important thing to know is that his best clothes have only two curry stains down the front.
Arnold Rimmer
See Arnold Rimmer for the main article on this character
Arnold Judas Rimmer BSC, SSC, who sometimes goes by Arnold Jonathan Rimmer is played by Chris Barrie in the television series. He is instantly recognisable by both the permanent sneer on his lips and the "H" (hologram) symbol on his forehead.
The Cat
See The Cat for the main article on this character
The Cat is played by Danny John-Jules in the television series.
The character has no name besides, "The Cat." He is the humanoid descendant of a modern house cat called Frankenstein, which had been Dave Lister's pet cat. He is believed to be the last remaining member of his species, Felis sapiens.
Kryten
See Kryten for the main article on this character
Kryten is played by Northampton-born actor Robert Llewellyn in the television series.
Kryten (full name, "Kryten 2X4B-523P") is a Series 4000 mechanoid or "slave 'noid"—a robotic servant—and is quite neurotic. He is very humanoid, with the exception of the flat cubic planes visible on his face and head. Once the personal servant of three attractive female crew members of the Nova 5, he is now reduced to serving the slobbish Dave Lister, the only surviving human crew member on Red Dwarf.
Holly
See Holly for the main article on this character
Holly is an intelligent computer. Holly's user interface appears on ship screens as a disembodied human head on a black background, and can also be downloaded into a watch worn by Lister. As a male he appeared as around 50 years old with receding brown hair (completely bald on top as of series 8), and as a female she appears as a woman of ambiguous age but probably 30-ish with long blond hair. In series 1 he was pixelated but this idea was dropped in series 2.
Kristine Kochanski
See Kristine Kochanski for the main article on this character
Kristine Kochanski is Red Dwarf's Navigation Officer, and the ex-girlfriend of Dave Lister before she was killed by a radiation leak. In the first episode (before the accident) she was played by Clare Grogan. who reprised the role in the episode Balance of Power, both in flashback and as a hologram. She also featured in the Series 2 time travel episode Stasis Leak, and made a brief appearance as a hallucination in the Series 6 episode Psirens. In the seventh season an alternate universe version played by Chloë Annett became a permanent member of the crew after Arnold Rimmer left.
Alter egos
Ace Rimmer
Ace Rimmer is played by Chris Barrie in the television series. He is an alter ego of Arnold Rimmer.
Ace's full name is Commander Arnold Judas Rimmer – he is an alternate version of the Rimmer character who features more regularly in the series, from a parallel dimension. Ace first appears in the episode "Dimension Jump", the 5th episode in series 4 of Red Dwarf.
Rimmer has a number of nicknames for himself, none of which have been used by any other character (save for his clone in the episode "Me Squared"): these include Ironballs, I.B. (a derivative of the former) and Ace. Ace Rimmer became known as Ace at school, when he was kept back a year at the age of 7. He says that being a clear foot taller than the rest of his class inspired him to buckle down and work hard, and it is this which makes him so different from the regular Rimmer.
While Rimmer is a snivelling coward, Ace is a hero who travels from planet to planet wearing a gold, fur-lined flight suit and saving the lives of beautiful women. He was originally a test pilot for the Space Corps in his own universe, when he was offered the chance to pilot a brand-new kind of spacecraft, one that can cross dimensions. The first dimension he encountered happened to be the one in which Red Dwarf is set. There are alternative versions of the other characters as well, Dave Lister is Spanners, the Cat is Padre and Kryten is Bongo, who has a gay crush on Ace although married.
Since then, he went on an adventure through the universe, adventuring, being a hero, and meeting all the many alternate versions of himself. When he finally became unable to carry on, he passed his wig and his legacy on to another version of himself, who became the new Ace. Previous Ace Rimmers are sent, when they finally die, to orbit a planet in an unknown location, and by the time Red Dwarf's Rimmer takes on the mantle, the billions of Ace Rimmers who have come before him have formed a ring around the planet.
His catchphrase is, "Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!" and it is a running joke in the series that everyone who comes into contact with Ace Rimmer exclaims "What a guy!" Unlike Rimmer, who complains that his short, curly hair is "unmanageable", Ace wears a blonde blow-dried wig.
Rimmer himself is the only one who refuses to see Ace as a hero, and he makes frequent references to Ace being gay or Ace and Lister being in love. However, in the episode "Stoke Me a Clipper" in series 7, Rimmer has to overcome both this jealousy of Ace's success and his own fear when Ace confides in him that he is a hard-light hologram, and that he is dying. Ace recruits Rimmer to be the next Ace, and with a little encouragement from Lister, Rimmer leaves. However, he still manages to mess up the catchphrase – before taking off (or trying to – he hits the ejector seat instead) the new Ace Rimmer's last words are "Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas!" ...followed by, as he realises his mistake, "Whatever." It is unknown how this edition of Ace Rimmer fared. The new Ace Rimmer makes a cameo appearance in the seventh season episode "Blue" in which he appears in a distubingly romantic dream of Lister's.
Duane Dibbley
Duane Dibbley is the dorky alter-ego of The Cat, played by Danny John-Jules with pudding basin haircut and big overbite. He first appeared in the series 5 episode Back To Reality, as part of a hallucinogenic experience, designed to cause despair in the Dwarfers. His second appearance was in the series 6 episode Emohawk – Polymorph II, and was caused by a polymorph absorbing the Cat's cool. In Can't Smeg Wont Smeg he inexplicably appears after The Cat refuses to take part in the show.
In series 8 episode Back In The Red, The Cat, Lister, Kochanski, and Kryten disguised themselves as "The Dibbley Family" by wearing mop head on their heads and large false teeth.
The character's brief appearances have proved very popular. John-Jules explanation for this was "No-one's ever written a black nerd before."
The Dog
The Dog is a minor character played by Matthew Devitt. He is an alternate version of the Cat from a parallel universe. His origins are presumably similar to the Cat, except that Deb Lister (Dave Lister's duplicate) brought a dog on board the ship, rather than a cat.
The Dog speaks in a Texan drawl. He is dirty and smelly. He likes to offer his bottom for strangers to smell. He is thrown into a panic by the word "bath" and insists it be spelt so that he can't understand it. He seems to be the last remaining member of his species (probably canis sapiens). He is also hopeless at dancing. The Dog suffers from separation anxiety when the others leave him alone.
The Cat was thrilled when he thought he'd meet a female cat only to be horrified to find a creature that might eat him. They didn't get on very well.
Shipboard robots
The Skutters
The skutters are service robots.
They have bodies similar to K9 from Doctor Who and a single limb extending from this. The limb ends in a three-clawed hand with an elecronic eye.
The duties of the skutters are to perform basic tasks around the ship. Lister claims they outrank himself and Rimmer, due to having a better union.
The skutters are unable to speak, but can usually make their feelings clear. Their hands are particularly well designed for giving V-signs to Rimmer.
It was originally implied there were only two skutters ("Pinky and smegging Perky" after the pig marionettes in the 1960s British television programme Pinky and Perky although this could have just been an insult to the skutters), but later episodes suggest these were simply the skutters assigned to Rimmer, and there are many more, as befits a ship the size of a city. In the book, the two Rimmers accidently crushed dozens of Skutters.
Kryten referred to a skutter as "Bob" in the episode The Last Day. Series 8 also featured a skutter named Bob, presumably the same one, along with his wife Madge.
Rimmer's skutters, if not all of them, are fans of John Wayne and strongly dislike Rimmer.
Skutters were not programmed to believe in Silicon Heaven, to keep the cost down. They find the concept ridiculous.
Queeg 500
Queeg 500 is a "back-up" computer played by Charles Augins in the television series.
Queeg is actually a practical joke implemented by Holly.
In the episode Queeg of Season 2, A back up computer known as Queeg 500 replaces Holly on Red Dwarf view screens when Holly accidentally gives Lister bad advice, resulting in minor injury. Queeg claims to be a backup system, and is keenly aware of Holly's senility. Queeg claims that Holly's IQ is not 6000 but 6. Holly is very upset and exclaims "6? Do me a lemon! That's a poor IQ for a glass of water". He also claims that Holly gets his information from a children's science book and has been going around in circles. Holly is outraged and claims that it's a "load of Tottenham. A steaming pile of Hotspur." He is demoted to nightwatch man and Queeg takes over the ship. Queeg makes the crew's lives hell. Rimmer is pleased at first but when Queeg takes over his body and makes him sprint several miles is angered. The Cat is horrified that he has to do the 'W' word (work) and has no supply of food. Lister feels awful for not sticking up for Holly.
Then Holly challenges Queeg to a game of his choice and agrees that the loser gets deleted. Unfortunately it is chess. Holly is hopeless at this and gets it confused with poker, and refers to the knights as "horsies" and pawns as "prawns". Holly loses the game and wishes everyone good luck with their lives and says farewell. Much to the horror of the crew Queeg changed into Holly who grinned smugly and claimed that his prank was "the jape of the decade", "wheeze of the week" and an "April, May, June, July and August fool".
On screen, Queeg 500 is a bald African American man of middle age, with the tone and mannerisims of a US Marine drill sergeant. Holly is a balding Caucasian man, and later a Caucasian woman. Holly, in the process of the television show, underwent a "head sex change".
The name Queeg comes from the similarly "by-the-book" Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny.
See also: computer senility, Britcom, Norman Lovett, Hattie Hayridge
Talkie Toaster
Talkie Toaster is a minor character, a monomaniacal toaster that tries to steer every conversation to the subject of toast.
Owned by Dave Lister, Talkie Toaster is a toaster with Artificial Intelligence who is completely obsessed with making toast and annoys everyone on board. He appears in series 1 (and in a deleted scene in series 2) with a stainless-steel cover and a circular light on the side which flashes as he speaks. He appears in series 4, and is described in the book, as a red toaster made of plastic, with his name "Talkie Toaster" emblazoned on the side and rather more flashing lights, although they have nothing to do with when he speaks, which is indicated by the press-down handle that would usually be used to start bread toasting. In series 1 he is voiced by John Lenahan, and in series 4 by David Ross.
In the TV show, the Toaster would keep interjecting in conversations in surprisingly and annoyingly smart ways, and whenever possible would try eventually to steer the conversation towards toast. Eventually this became too much for Lister who smashed the Toaster into 3000 separate pieces with a 14lb lump hammer.
Kryten eventually repaired the Toaster in order to use him as a guinea-pig for "intelligence compression" – restoring his former intelligence (his AI chips were very badly damaged) at the cost of reducing his operational lifespan. After it worked with him Kryten tried it on Holly, but a miscalculation made her twice as smart as she used to be and left her with only three-and-a-half minutes to live. Later on by blocking up a "white hole" (opposite of a black hole, and which spews out time) time was reset to before the Toaster was repaired so he didn't end up repaired after all. The Toaster's repaired personality was somewhat different to his original one: it now had a different voice and no longer tried to hide its obsession with toast. Where before, the Toaster would cut into a conversation, insult someone, and then make some reference to toast, the new Toaster was barely able to go more than two sentences without asking if someone would like a cooked bread product.
In the book, the Toaster helped Holly double his original IQ but shortened his life to three and a half minutes. He won seven hundred and ninety three chess games against Holly. During this time, the Toaster also saved the crew from death: while Holly was a genius, he explained to the Toaster how to escape from a black hole, information which later came in useful when the crew encountered one. The Toaster did not, however, merely volunteer this information: it forced the crew to eat ridiculous amounts of toast before talking. When the crew were attacked by a polymorph, and the crew lost a certain emotion, (Rimmer loses his anger, Lister loses his fear, The Cat loses his vanity and Kryten loses his guilt), the Toaster is destroyed by Kryten. After getting his guilt back, Kryten rebuilt the Toaster. Unfortunately the Toaster thinks he's a moose.
The Toaster was apparently manufactured by a Taiwanese company named "Crapola Inc."
Other Red Dwarf crew
Captain Frank Hollister
Captain Frank Hollister is played by American actor Mac MacDonald in the television series.
Hollister is the overweight captain of the interplanetary mining vessel Red Dwarf. He is seen in the first episode, in which he sentences Dave Lister to eighteen months in stasis for bringing a cat on board. When Lister is released Hollister, along with the rest of the crew, has been radioactive dust for three million years.
Hollister was briefly seen in the final episode of the season in Arnold Rimmer's video of his own death, (although the credits only list him as "The Captain"). He has just enough time to blame Rimmer for the accident which is about to wipe out the crew before the initial explosion hits.
He had a more substantial role in the second season episode, Stasis Leak, in which the regulars travel back in time. He is seen once more upbraiding Lister, this time for slipping hallucinogens into Rimmer's breakfast, and later in a chicken outfit for a fancy-dress party, being assaulted by Rimmer who believes him to be a hallucination.
In Season 8, with the crew resurrected by nanobots, Hollister became a main character. While his main purpose still seemed to be railing at Lister and Rimmer, we learnt some more about him, most notably that his wife's name is Martha; that his weight is at least partially due to his love of orange ice-pops, mint choc chip ice cream, cola, and Martha's muffins; and, most interestingly, that he gained his position through blackmail and is really Dennis the Doughnut Boy. He now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after an incident with a baby T Rex. According to Rimmer, Hollister won the "Mr Fat Bastard 2044" award.
Olaf Petersen
Olaf Petersen is played by Mark Williams in the television series. He is a Danish catering officer on the Red Dwarf mining vessel.
First appearing in the pilot episode, Petersen was the best friend of Dave Lister. He, Lister, Selby and Chen spent most of their free time getting drunk. Rimmer considered him to be "a Danish moron". When Petersen went to have a mind scan for his hologrammatic programme, the machine crashed three times claiming a non human life form was aboard the ship.
Like the rest of the crew Petersen was killed in the radiation leak. His remains were found in the Drive Room as a white powder that Lister tasted. However he subsequently appeared in two other episodes: in a first season flashback to before the accident in Balance of Power and when Lister and The Cat travelled back in time to before the accident in the second season episode Stasis Leak. Also in Balance of Power, an error with the ships hologram generation unit resulted in Rimmer being given his arm.
Petersen was resurrected along with the rest of the crew in series 8, but was not seen, although he was often referred to.
The novel Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers reveals that Petersen was aboard Red Dwarf in order to make his way to the dome colony on Triton, where he had bought an extravagant house for only two thousand dollarpounds – the cheapness being because the colony's oxygen atmosphere had not been installed yet. It also explains that he was not chosen to keep Lister company as a hologram despite being his best friend, because "The only thing you had in common was consuming ridiculous amounts of alcohol." and that he couldn't keep himself sane let alone others. In the novel Backwards a Petersen from an alternate reality where the radiation leak never happened makes an appearance – he explains that he is still aboard Red Dwarf and not living in his house on Triton because alcohol was prohibited. He also bought a Marilyn Monroe droid on Callisto, which turned out to be a load of rubbish (apart to other androids).
Selby and Chen
Selby and Chen are played by David Gillespie and Paul Bradley, respectively. Chen works in the ship's kitchens and is always drunk. Selby is always drunk, too. They both have a crush on Kochanski.
First appearing in the pilot episode, they spent most of their free time with Lister and Petersen getting drunk. Their motto was "Skive hard, play hard."
Like the rest of the crew they were killed in the radiation leak. However they subsequently appeared in a flashback to before the accident in the first series episode Balance of Power.
When the crew were resurrected in Series 8, Selby and Chen were the first crewmembers the regular characters encountered. They have not been seen subsequently. An unbroadcast scene would have revealed that they would have done everything in their power to prevent Lister being sent to the Tank (the ship prison), but the pub was open.
Chen came up with the theory that everyone has two people inside themselves, Confidence and Paranoia when it comes to meeting women. When Lister contracts a mutated form of pneumonia, his hallucinations of his Confidence and his Paranoia become real.
George McIntyre
George McIntyre was a minor character in the first Red Dwarf book.
McIntyre was an officer on Red Dwarf who was severly depressed due to growing debt problems. After a horrifying experience in the hands of thugs (he was force fed his own nose), McIntyre committed suicide. He was brought back as a hologram and replaced the ship's first hologram, Frank Saunders. Saunders was extremly upset as he'd only died a couple of weeks before his own death. McIntyre came back at his "Welcome Back Reception" and thanked everyone for flowers and turning up at his funeral. His choice of music at the funeral was "See Ya Later Alligator" as his ashes was blasted into space. He was presumably switched off during the radioactive disaster for Rimmer to replace him to keep Lister sane.
Frank Todhunter
Frank Todhunter appeared in the first episode only. He was played by Robert Bathurst.
Todhunter's job title was never explained. He was in charge of the stasis booth and tried to describe how it worked to anyone who went there. He was also an examinator. When Rimmer took his exam, he panicked and did his Full Rimmer salute to Todhunter, then fainted.
Rimmer described Todhunter as a "total gimp". He also claimed Todhunter's success was due to a privileged background, speculating that he had been breastfed on chilled champagne and gazpacho soup.
In the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Rimmer attempted to pass himself off as "Christopher Todhunter" when, on their first meeting, Lister attempted to blackmail him about his visit to an android brothel. Whether this was a reference to a genuine Red Dwarf crewmember, or a made-up name is unclear; Todhunter's role later in the story was taken by First Technician Petrovich.
Warden Ackerman
Warden Ackermen is played by Graham McTavish.
He is a stereotypically sadistic warden, enjoying his power over the inmates in Floor 13 (Red Dwarf's brig). He has a glass eye, which at one point is stolen from him. Prone to overreaction, he is a victim of pranks from the inmates on more than one occasion. After having sodium pentothal put into his inhaler as a prank, it is revealed that he has a fetish for dressing up as Batman.
Kill Crazy
Kill Crazy is a minor character played by Jake Wood in the television series.
Kill Crazy is a psychopathic inmate who is obsessed with killing things. He isn't very bright, thinking that he could fight a Tyrannosaurus Rex using his fists. His fighting buddy is Baxter.
Others
The Polymorph
A polymorph is a shapeshifting organism that can change into anything it pleases and lives by draining a person of a negative emotion.
It was designed to be the perfect warrior, blending into any background, but mutated into something terrifying. When it boarded Red Dwarf, in the episode Polymorph it drained Lister of his fear, the Cat of his vanity, Kryten of his guilt and Rimmer of his anger. The crew managed to defeat the monster.
In the book, Better Than Life, the polymorph has similar effects, except that the shock of regaining his fear kills Lister (who at this time is in his 60s, due to time dilation). The crew then takes Lister's body to a backwards universe, where they will pick him up in 36 years time, when he has de-aged to his "normal" age. In Backwards he stays for half a century.
According to the placid Rimmer, the polymorph in his true form may be "an armour plated alien killing machine that salivates unspeakable slobber."
The Emohawk in the episode Emohawk: Polymorph II is a domesticated variant. It drained Rimmer of his bitterness and Cat of his cool, turning them into Ace Rimmer and Duane Dibbley.
The Cat Priest
The Cat Priest was the only member of the species felis sapiens seen on the television show Red Dwarf apart from The Cat.
The Cat Priest was blind. He was the Cat's teacher and guardian after his parents died, but Cat was never really interested and preferred to go off investigating. The Cat Priest was once a devout follower of the Cat religion, but over time as the Cat race died he lost his faith.
When the Cat Priest was dying, Lister appeared and told him that he was the Cat god Cloister (the Priest believing him, being blind). The Priest apologised for losing his faith, saying "You tested me, and I failed you." Lister assured him that had not failed, and he would get into Fuchal. The Cat Priest's last words before he died were "This is the happiest day of my..."
In the remastered version of the episode in which he appeared, the Cat Priest's body was cremated and the ashes jettisoned into space.
Mr. Flibble
Mr. Flibble is a malevolent fluffy penguin hand puppet. In the episode Quarantine, Mr. Flibble and Rimmer together terrorize the rest of the crew. Rimmer had been infected by the Hex virus which gave him extra mental powers and made him completely insane. Both Mr. Flibble and Rimmer demonstrate the dreaded power of Hex vision. When they use this power, their eyes glow red, and then a deadly beam of energy is discharged from their eyes.
External links
Duane Dibbley appearances
Queeg 500
Categories: Red Dwarf characters