Let’s Talk About The Nether Regions News Posted by Ian Symes on 24th October 2019, 20:37 Ooh, that sounds a bit rude, doesn’t it! Nevertheless, the time has come to not only hear new comedy material from one of Red Dwarf‘s co-creators, but to hear it in his own voice. Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall have written *and* performed Radio 4’s The Nether Regions, also starring Helen Cripps, Edward Rowett and Holly Morgan, and it airs tonight at 11pm on BBC Radio 4. It will also be available thereafter on BBC Sounds and the programme page, for those too sleepy. This broadcast pilot, which was produced by Hudzen 10, marks a return to sketch comedy from two of its most distinguished exponents, and we’re very much looking forward to it. Do let us know what you reckon. And if you haven’t already, why not warm up by listening to our interview with the pair of writer-performers?
E-Norm-ous Casting News News Posted by Ian Symes on 23rd October 2019, 15:27 Today, a readthrough is taking place for the forthcoming Red Dwarf special. Dave have already tweeted a photo of the front page of the script, and now Baby Cow Productions have posted a lovely little cast photo on Instagram. The guys are all there, there’s Danny, Craig, Chris, Robert and… oh wait… We were already aware that Norman’s presence in the special was a possibility after Richard Naylor responded in the affirmative to a question about plans to involve Holly, but I guess this confirms it. Norman Lovett will appear for a second consecutive episode of Red Dwarf. Thanks to Joey Newsome for the heads-up.
DwarfCast 103 – Rob Grant & Andrew Marshall Interview DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 22nd October 2019, 11:14 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes No, really. Ahead of their new sketch show pilot The Nether Regions airing on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 24th October at 11pm, Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall invited your intrepid DwarfCast team of Ian Symes, Danny Stephenson and Jo Sharples for a big old chat at Rob's kitchen table. We touched upon the "terrifying" experience of performing in front of an audience, the intricacies of their writing process, the sketches and characters that didn't make the final cut, their "bloody magnificent" producer Gordon Kennedy, and also got the latest on Quanderhorn Series 2. And yes, we also discussed another show that Rob co-created, covering his experiences at Dimension Jump, being back on set for the first time since the 90s, and the possibility of him ever writing for Red Dwarf again. All this, plus 2point4 Children, Son of Cliché, Strange, Week Ending and how Rob's The Strangerers caused unexpected problems for one of Andrew's series. We also grill Andrew about his connection to Marvin The Paranoid Android, get Rob's thoughts on the proposed return of Spitting Image, his friendship with Martin Kemp, and how he pissed off Billy Ocean when they were both on Top of the Pops. A huge, huge thank you to Rob and Andrew for their candid, thoughtful and hilarious interview. Read more →
OFFICIAL: Red Dwarf Special Announced! News Posted by Ian Symes on 18th October 2019, 00:03 After the merest Morse-based mumblings on Thursday afternoon, the news we've all been waiting for dropped in the very early hours of Friday morning. It's quite late at night and we've got work in the morning, so here's the short version: NEW FEATURE LENGTH SPECIAL! THREE-PART RETROSPECTIVE DOCUMENTARY! LIVE AUDIENCE! RECORDING IN DECEMBER! AIRING NEXT YEAR! TOS, of course, has some finer details, and here are our initial bleary-eyed thoughts... Read more →
DwarfCast 102 – Series XII Retrospective Byte Two DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 12th October 2019, 15:22 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Following last week's celebration of Series XII's second anniversary, we're back to celebrate Series XII's second second anniversary, with what's possibly the happiest and most overall positive DwarfCast we've ever done on the subject of Dave-era Red Dwarf. It's Byte Two of our series retrospective, with John Hoare, Tanya Jones, Danny Stephenson and Ian Symes returning to ruminate on Mechocracy, M-Corp and Skipper, as well as assessing the series, and indeed the XI and XII production block, as a whole. Along the way we discuss alternative pronunciations of "Mechocracy", how episodes of Red Dwarf are in fact cobbled together from CCTV footage, invisible dildos, the logistics of owning planets, why Mr Rat is a fried egg chilli chutney sandwich face, and alternative pronunciations of the word "grimace". Because this was recorded several months ago, there's also speculation that Skipper might be the last ever episode of Red Dwarf, which seems increasingly less likely after the events of the last few days, but never mind. Read more →
Give me an R, give me an E, give me a D, give me a Red Dwarf… Special? News Posted by Ian Symes on 10th October 2019, 12:49 There has been an increased amount of rumblings about the possibility of new Red Dwarf recently, and as usual we've been kind of ignoring it until something more concrete came along. Most notably, Robert tweeted in a reply to someone the other week that "we start making Red Dwarf XIII in November", which seemed a little too tight a turnaround to be true. But once again following the usual pattern of these things, a cast member has now posted something that reveals perhaps a little more than they intended, and we can't ignore it any more. The cast member on this occasion is Danny, who has shared a snap of the other three at what appears to be a readthrough of something... ...and that sheet of paper on the table is very intriguing indeed if you blow it up and rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise... Read more →
G&TV: Robert Llewellyn on Denton Quickies Posted by John Hoare on 9th October 2019, 21:08 This month on G&TV, we go back in time to 1994, and take a look at Robert Llewellyn on Australian talk show Denton. Or, considering that the person who uploaded this video thinks that Llewellyn played a character called “Kryton”, we should say we’re going to take a look at Ribbed Sue Ellen on Australian talk show Dented. Unfortunately, the above shitassery may come back to bite me, as while I might know my Krytons from my Krytens, I have never heard of either Denton, or indeed Andrew Denton himself. This piece has a bit of background on both him and the show; it seems like it really was rather good. And sure enough, the Llewellyn segment is pretty entertaining. A few thoughts. Robert saying that it’s “rather tragic” that Andrew Denton knows the difference between R2D2 and C3PO is an interesting reminder that this stuff wasn’t front-centre of popular culture in 1994. I have to admit, I winced at the Douglas Bader funny walks section. Somehow, reading that bit in The Man In The Rubber Mask never seemed particularly troubling. Once you combine it with the visual, it becomes a bit of a different thing. (Though the fact that he combines this with the story about Doug Naylor’s prosthetic leg – where Robert himself becomes the butt of the joke – kinda helps.) Hearing the anecdote again about Robert getting an electric shock by the cigarette lighter in his finger reminds me of when that footage of his first day of recording finally showed up on The Bodysnatcher Collection. Did someone at GNP have to sit through watching multiple takes of Robert screaming in pain to find the usable take? The moment towards the end of the interview where Robert talks about his girlfriend sleeping with somebody else makes me grateful my job doesn’t involve bearing my soul on national television. The ending I won’t spoil. But it’s very funny. Anyway, the whole thing is well worth a watch. And as for Andrew Denton himself? In August this year he finished another talk show called Andrew Denton’s Interview. Or possibly Argue Dental’s IOU or something, I’m going to leave now, bye.
DwarfCast 101 – Series XII Retrospective Byte One DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 5th October 2019, 14:56 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes We published the first part of our Series X semi-retrospective two months after the first episode aired. For Series XI, we waited five months. Today is the second anniversary of Series XII launching on UKTV Play, so I guess it's time to admit that we no longer have a "semi" on our hands. Yes, having finally given up on the plan to get all five of us together in one room, join 80% of the G&T team - namely John Hoare, Tanya Jones, Danny Stephenson and Ian Symes - as we look back on Cured, Siliconia and Timewave. Revisiting the episodes with fresh eyes and ears, we analyse how they stand up now that they're no longer brand new, and track how our opinions have changed since our initial instant reactions. Spoilers: we're still not keen on Timewave. Along the way we discuss Doug's obsession with castration, Uncle Frank's questionable true nature, the purpose of James Buckley, a surfeit of MILFs, how annoying it is to have coffee poured on one's bollocks, and how to fix the "spit on her wrist" joke with one simple word substitution. Read more →
Scrumping for Sets Quickies Posted by John Hoare on 29th September 2019, 01:31 I sometimes wonder what is wrong with me. Come back in time 30 years with me, to Manchester. (I’ll have to use the Series VII Time Drive rather than the VI version, unless I’m willing to take the bus up there.) Red Dwarf Series 2 finished shooting on the 3rd July 1988, with Queeg. The first audience recording session for Series III was on the 5th September 1989 – although there must have been location shooting before this date. Regardless – in the 13 months between those dates, Red Dwarf underwent a great number of changes. Some of those changes we still don’t really know an awful lot about. For instance, Rob and Doug became producers on the show, but the conversations which lead to that remain largely a mystery. Still, one of the most immediately obvious changes came from the ousting of Paul Montague as production designer… and the instatement of Mel Bibby. And the on-screen effect this had on the show has been endlessly talked about, at least. But my mind keeps wandering. Because those sets for Series 1 and 2 would surely have been put into storage for any potential Series 3. And once Series III was finally commissioned, and Mel Bibby joined the team… there came the decision made to create entirely new sets. And believe me, I’ve stared at those sets long enough to know that they really were entirely new. Which means: those Series 1 and 2 sets would be surplus to requirements… and dumped. Exactly where, and exactly when, I have absolutely no idea. But at some point between July 1988 and September 1989, they were gone. Possibly sitting in a skip outside BBC North West. And just imagine. Imagine if you had loved those first two series at the time. And imagine you found out exactly where and exactly when those sets were dumped. And imagine you could have gone and rescued those sets. And imagine that suddenly, you owned that famous grey bunkroom. Because you’d be the owner of one of the most amazing pieces of Red Dwarf memorabilia in existence. And – give it a few years, maybe – one of the most valuable. If only you’d known exactly what day to go scouting around a certain bit of Manchester. If only you’d known. You could have made thousands of pounds from it in the mid-nineties. Or – if you’re more sentimental – you could pop down to your garage any time you wanted, and lie on Lister’s bunk. All you needed to know is the date, and the place. It was there for the taking. If only you’d known. I sometimes wonder what is wrong with me.
G&TV Special: Smegheads In Seattle Features Posted by Ian Symes on 22nd September 2019, 15:24 Here's an incredible find that was first brought to our attention by Tom Selway on Twitter at the start of August, just a few days after it surfaced on YouTube. We immediately sprung in to action, opening our to-do list and pencilling it in for September's G&TV. Which would have been fine if things like TORDFC's newsletter and reddwarf.co.uk didn't exist, both of which have featured it in the meantime. Nevertheless, it's well worth sharing in case those two passed any of you by, as it's not every day you get to see a fully-fledged broadcast programme all about Red Dwarf. Before Comedy Connections and The Making of Back To Earth, but after Red Dwarf Night, there was Smegheads in Seattle. Produced and broadcast by KCTS, a local PBS affiliate serving Seattle and Tacoma in Washington, it features Craig Charles and Danny John-Jules on a visit to the eponymous city in May 1998. It's a compilation of material from various sources: one main interview by KCTS's Ken Vincent, another interview with Danny solo, viewer Q&As from two separate pledge drives for the station, at least two different convention appearances, plus a couple of specially-shot sections, which we'll come to. After it initially aired, it did the rounds as a bootleg VHS for a while, along with another show from the same station, Swirly Thing Alert, but then disappeared and slipped from the memory, until now. Read more →
