Red Dwarf is returning to the BBC for the first time in 15 years.
The broadcaster has acquired every episode of the first nine seasons of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor’s iconic space comedy along with the revived four seasons that aired on UKTV channel Dave plus feature-length special The Promised Land.
Red Dwarf hasn’t aired on the BBC since 2007. The show stars DJ Craig Charles as Dave Lister, a low ranked caretaker on board a city-sized mining ship who finds himself the last remaining human being alive after an accident kills the rest of the crew. He wakes after 3 million years in suspended animation, his only companions the hologram of his pernickety and contemptuous bunkmate Rimmer, a creature that evolved from his pet cat, named Cat, ship’s computer Holly, and Kryten – an android they rescue from a shipwreck.
Red Dwarf drops on BBC iPlayer today along with Kathy Burke’s BBC classic Gimme, Gimme, Gimme and Spencer Jones’ Mister Winner.
Red Dwarf launched on BBC Two 35 years ago and aired for nine seasons before moving to BBC Studios-owned Dave in 2009, running for four seasons plus The Promised Land.
BBC iPlayer Director Dan McGolpin said: “The strangest gang in space are back on the BBC – with classic episodes of Red Dwarf right from the very beginning touching down soon.”