At least 1.35% of Red Dwarf on BBC Two! News Posted by Ian Symes on 9th August 2023, 20:53 Hot on the tails of Red Dwarf returning to its mother channel’s bosom via iPlayer, today’s weekly release of the television schedules sees the news that The End is to be repeated on BBC Two at 10pm on Friday 25th August. It’s not yet clear whether this is a one-off, or the start of a full repeat run of at least the first series – BBC Two has been giving classic comedies both of these treatments recently. We’ll find out this time next week whether Future Echoes will follow. Either way, it’s nice to see the show getting this treatment in its 35th anniversary year. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we get a full 1994-style run though, including the Dave era? Thanks to cwickham for drawing our attention to this. He’s going to have to update his BBC broadcast guide now.
Be interesting to see if I can add another column to the tables without completely fucking everything up
No, that honour goes to, um, Coronation Street. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/22b5077f38f4495ab64401e4d22df4a8
One episode a week. We could be on Series 2 by early October. Finish Series 6 by April ’24. Finish Series 8 by mid August ’24. Then? Do they do Dave? All of Back to Earth as the Director’s Cut? And then run Series 10 in Aug-Oct ’24, finishing Series 12 in November and December?Then a full length version of Promised Land on 3rd January. And then, of course, Series 14 running from 10th January onwards.Oi! Chat GPT! What would be some good titles for a new series of Red Dwarf? “Polymorph Paradox” “Lister’s Lament” “Kryten’s Conundrum” “Dimensional Drift” “Back to the Future Echo” “Virus of the Mind” PS: These were the six least cringe.
Monday’s airing is listed as being in HD. Will this be the first time Red Dwarf has been shown in HD on the BBC? I’m guessing it’s the upscale done for the Blu Ray set a few years ago.
“Back to the Future Echo” – wonder which Echo Chat GPT would expand to fill a whole episode Scene: Red Dwarf Crew in a Time Machine [The scene opens in the control room of Starbug, with Lister, Rimmer, Cat, and Kryten gathered around a strange-looking console. A holographic display shows various timelines branching out.] Rimmer: (excitedly) Alright, everyone! We’ve managed to cobble together a working time machine using some leftover parts and a toaster. I call it the “Timey-Wimey-O-Matic.” Lister: (skeptical) You sure about this, Rimmer? Messing with time travel could lead to all sorts of paradoxes and disasters. Cat: (enthusiastic) Yeah, man! I don’t wanna end up in a timeline where I’m not the best-looking thing in the universe anymore. Kryten: (calmly) Sirs, while I share your concerns, we do have a pressing mission. The space-time continuum has been ruptured, and the only way to fix it is to go back in time and ensure that Rob Grant remains a political centrist. Lister: (confused) Wait, why do we care about that? Rimmer: (sighs) Because, you smeghead, his centrist views are vital for maintaining the balance of the universe as we know it. Cat: (scratches his head) So, like, if he turns far right, it messes up everything? Kryten: Precisely, sir. If Mr. Grant were to adopt far-right ideologies, it could have catastrophic consequences for the future. Rimmer: (pointing at the console) Alright, then. Let’s get this show on the road. We need to find Grant and make sure he doesn’t veer off course. [The crew members start typing coordinates into the console, and the time machine starts whirring and humming. The room begins to shake as colorful lights play across their faces.] Lister: (nervously) Rimmer, are you sure you wired this thing correctly? Rimmer: (defensively) Of course I did! I used the toaster’s instruction manual as a guide. Kryten: (noticing the console lights flickering) Um, sirs, I believe we may be experiencing some technical difficulties. [The time machine suddenly lurches, and the crew members are thrown to the floor as the lights flash wildly.] Cat: (yelling) I didn’t sign up for this rollercoaster! [The shaking intensifies, and then suddenly, everything comes to a halt. The crew members slowly pick themselves up.] Lister: (dazed) Is everyone alright? Rimmer: (checking the console) Well, it seems we’ve arrived at our destination, but something’s not right. Cat: (looking around) Yeah, man. Everything looks weird. Like, weirder than normal. [Kryten points to a nearby television screen that’s showing a news report.] News Anchor: (on screen) In an astonishing turn of events, famed writer Rob Grant has announced a dramatic shift in his political views, aligning himself with far-right ideologies. [Lister, Rimmer, Cat, and Kryten exchange worried glances.] Lister: (frustrated) Smeg it! We’ve messed up big time. Rimmer: (panicking) What do we do now? We can’t just leave things like this! Kryten: (thoughtful) Perhaps there’s still a way to salvage the situation. If we can find Mr. Grant and convince him to reconsider his stance, we might be able to set things right. Cat: (determined) Let’s do it, dudes! We gotta save the universe from looking ugly. [Lister, Rimmer, Cat, and Kryten exit the time machine, determined to track down Rob Grant and undo the political shift that could unravel the fabric of the universe.] [End of scene.]
Probably best to keep these kind of posts to the ‘AIdea for an episode’ forum thread. Also I really hope you mentioned Rob Grant’s political views in the prompt…
Probably best to keep these kind of posts to the ‘AIdea for an episode’ forum thread. Also I really hope you mentioned Rob Grant’s political views in the prompt… Duly noted!I’m tempted to say “No. I only typed ‘their problematic creator” but the truth is less fun.
This thread has become wonderful, and I hope someone rearranges all the scenes and constructs the entire movie.
Absolute confirmation that Future Echoes is airing on the 1st Sep: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0077lqz
So, uh, anyone actually planning to watch tomorrow? Don’t know if I’ll commit to the whole run but I definitely like the novelty of watching The End on its original channel.
In all seriousness for me watching it live on BBC 2 means watching it live stream on iPlayer which feel somewhat beside the point of watching it air on its original channel May as well just stream it in demand or from my Plex server Also I’ll have a mate over for the weekend so probably not anyway
Hell yeah, this is exactly what I’m paying my licence fee for. Forget DVD, Blu ray and iPlayer, I want to hear those sweet, sweet continuity announcements – preferably muffling the sound of the closing theme to talk about Newsnight. Though maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up after the one for Quarantine last year was just a generic “here’s some more classic comedy” line. Thanks for the reminder, cwickham, because I easily would have forgotten about it.
I’ll tune in, bit of novelty value. Also interested in how many viewers it gets though absolutely no idea what what be considered ‘good’ ratings for a repeat of a 35 year old show in 2023.
The same 8 million people who watched Back in the Red will tune in and then turn it off because there’s no dancing spaceships.
for me watching it live on BBC 2 means watching it live stream on iPlayer which feel somewhat beside the point of watching it air on its original channel Same here. My TV hasn’t been set up to receive actual TV channels, digital or analogue, in over a decade. Football is practically the only thing I watch ‘live’ these days. Streaming a live broadcast via iPlayer when the episode is already sitting there on that platform seems a bit pointless. I guess the romanticism of watching something as it goes out has been sucked from my soul long ago.
I’m intending to watch live, and might tweet along if the mood takes me. I had always wondered what you thought about it.
Had to redo the entire table from scratch because of coding-related issues but THE BBC BROADCASTS GUIDE IS UPDATED
I know that’s how it went down in the novel (the time frame, not the crew count), but it doesn’t really make sense for the TV version. Rimmer would have to have fully recovered from his fainting, been called upon to repair the drive plate, completed the job, have the issues with this work discovered, and been called up to the Captain’s office for a bollocking, all within the span of a few hours.
In fairness, that’s a direct reproduction of the synopsis in the original Radio Times listing, which would’ve been provided by Rob and Doug.
The synopsis might be set during the scene where Lister goes to stasis. Rimmer could have been back in work the following morning, with the explosion taking place at, say, lunch time.
The synopsis is designed to be printed in the TV listings in that day’s paper, and the 24 hours is real time – starting from when you read it – so it’s accurate as the episode will have ended by then.
In fairness, that’s a direct reproduction of the synopsis in the original Radio Times listing, which would’ve been provided by Rob and Doug. Ah, I see. In that case I’ll blame Rob and Doug for writing the synopsis, and just blame the BBC for not coming up with something better. If anything it’s even worse as a first broadcast synopsis, because it spoils the story. If the intention was to preserve TV listings history, then it’s a shame they only used an abridged version. Let’s see Red Dwarf described as an “old tramp steamer mining around the moons of Saturn” and hear its measurements. The synopsis might be set during the scene where Lister goes to stasis. Rimmer could have been back in work the following morning, with the explosion taking place at, say, lunch time. Hmm, yeah, it could be, though that doesn’t tend to be the design behind “Within X amount of time, Y happens” synopses. If the start of the countdown is neither at the beginning nor at a specified time, then saying “within 24 hours” is pretty arbitrary. The synopsis could also be set a week after Lister went into stasis, and the radiation leak occurs a week and 23 hours after. If the time starts when Lister gets frozen, that’s more plausible but it’s still a very rushed timeline, that isn’t implied by the episode itself or any later episodes. Closest we get is Stasis Leak telling us it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks.
There *is* an odd disconnect between the Radio Times listing saying “all but one of them will be dead”, and the BBC trailer which plays down the fact that all the crew die (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bugSGlLDDs) — I guess Rob and Doug weren’t involved in putting together the trailer?
Watching it over the air on a TV like a person from the olden days, one thing, is it just me or does it look really bad? Soft but grainy, really bright highlights. I realise it’s never looked good but this looks particularly bad, so much detail lost.
I think this is the blu-ray transfer, plus the fact that the original is rough anyway Part of it could be the built in upscaling on my TV being put on top of that upscale to be fair to it. I think I definitely prefer the noise and the little bit of extra detail you can make out on the DVD though rather than the softness. Just popped it in to compare. It’s a crying shame there was no better base to start with.
Red Dwarf is tweeting on Twitter in the UK (not that it takes much to achieve that these days) which is always nice to see. There’s a lovely novelty to watching TV live with other people, where even though I could watch this any time I want on any device I want, because it’s on TV that’s really cool.
The End – pretty good, isn’t it? Glad to get that proper bespoke continuity announcement. I thought it was strange that he called it “the Red Dwarf” until I saw on Twitter that that part was in homage to the original 1988 continuity announcement. Very cool. Unfortunately no Newsnight chatter over the credits, but they did plug Craig’s radio show, so that’s almost as good. I think I definitely prefer the noise and the little bit of extra detail you can make out on the DVD though rather than the softness. Just popped it in to compare. Extra detail on the DVD version? Surely there can’t be.
The End – pretty good, isn’t it? Glad to get that proper bespoke continuity announcement. I thought it was strange that he called it “the Red Dwarf” until I saw on Twitter that that part was in homage to the original 1988 continuity announcement. Very cool. Unfortunately no Newsnight chatter over the credits, but they did plug Craig’s radio show, so that’s almost as good. I think I definitely prefer the noise and the little bit of extra detail you can make out on the DVD though rather than the softness. Just popped it in to compare. Extra detail on the DVD version? Surely there can’t be. It’s not a lot extra, but there’s definitely a little bit lost in the upscaling and noise reduction process to my eyes, especially the first series.
Despite my previous comment, I ended up watching live and enjoying muchly. Partly prompted by this message from my 72 year old mum: “BBC 2 is showing the first ever episode of Red Dwarf tonight. I might give it a go to see what it was all about!” This after years of me referencing various elements of pop culture due to their appearance in Dwarf (James Last, Ishtar etc.), to her bafflement. Still to receive a verdict.
The synopsis might be set during the scene where Lister goes to stasis. Rimmer could have been back in work the following morning, with the explosion taking place at, say, lunch time. Maybe half one.
I hate to be very very boring but is there any indication of viewing figures? It would be interesting to know if Red Dwarf still interests the sort of audience they used to attract
I hate to be very very boring but is there any indication of viewing figures? It would be interesting to know if Red Dwarf still interests the sort of audience they used to attract According to ratings_uk on Twitter, “It had around 450k watching”. Assuming that’s the ‘live’ figure, as a comparison BBC2’s top show the week before was Only Connect with 1.3m (adjusted to 2.3m after with Viewing On Same Day As Live and time shifting – https://www.thinkbox.tv/training-and-tools/barb-data/top-programmes-report ) I do stand to be corrected on my assessment of the above though as I’m just trying to put pieces together with no actual knowledge of TV ratings.
Yeah, it will just be the overnight figure at this stage, which is people watching live. It’s a very good rating for a repeat in that time slot on that channel.
I don’t have any particular insights about this, but I watched Balance of Power tonight on BBC Two, and then compared it to a recent broadcast of it from Dave. I was planning to delete the Dave recordings so I could have the episodes on yet another device, and sans-adverts, but I noticed that for whatever reason, the BBC version looked very grey and washed out to my eyes, while the Dave version seemed to be brighter and more colourful. Really made those beiges’ pop against all the greys! Well, I thought it was interesting anyway.
Not sure if there’s anyone else following with this aside from me and about three other people on Twitter, but there’s NO EPISODE tonight, because of a documentary about Coco Chanel. Regular Dwarfing resumes next week.
I am amongst those watching the eps as they go out ont’ Beeb, so I’m a bit peeved that there’s no ep tonight, too. Wonder how the ratings are actually doing? Is it just us devotees enjoying the novelty of being able to watch it going out on terrestrial telly, or are there new viewers tuning in (and keeping with the show) every week? I’d be interested to know.
