More terrible news, I’m afraid. As reported by filmmaker and producer Courtney Baker-Oliver on Instagram, the peerless Charles Augins passed away yesterday, aged 81.

Charles was a legend in the world of musical theatre, as an actor, dancer and choreographer. His work in Broadway, the West End and beyond was much-admired, and his plaudits included the NAACP Award, the L.A. Theatre Ovation Award and the coveted Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer, for his work on Five Guys Named Moe. In his later years, he was the chair of the dance department at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, sharing his gifts with the next generation.

Beyond theatre, he also appeared in Blake’s 7, Revenge of the Pink Panther and The Tall Guy, while his best known work – except for possibly the Babycham advert – was probably on Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. He choreographed David Bowie for the Magic Dance sequence, as well as Chilly Down in which he also appeared as a Fiery alongside Danny John-Jules. It was this connection that brought him into our world. Danny invited Charles along as a guest to the wrap party for Series 1, and he stole the show. Rob and Doug wrote the role of Queeg with him in mind, and to say he made his mark would be an understatement. It’s not just one of, but perhaps the greatest guest performance in Red Dwarf history. We certainly thought so when producing our top ten list; to quote myself from eleven years ago:

If Charles Augins hadn’t been such a good dancer, he would have been a brilliant drill sergeant. Authoritarian, menacing and borderline psychotic: all the necessary ingredients for portrayal of a truly sadistic bastard. But it’s the little nuances that elevate the performance to the top spot, such as the hints of joy when waking Rimmer up at the time he asked for, or the casual indifference to the fact that he fainted during his enforced exercise. All this from a character that, it turns out, doesn’t actually exist. How Dwarfy is that?

As if that performance wasn’t enough, Charles also choreographed the iconic Tongue Tied routine for the following episode, and even returned to the show a decade later to work on Back in the Red‘s Blue Midget dance. He was clearly adored by the Red Dwarf community, as evidenced by the reaction when his video message was played in at Dimension Jump XX. I’ll never forget the tingle of excitement when I first saw it. Of all the dozens of people who kindly contributed their time to those messages, getting Charles was the biggest coup. He was a truly special man, and it’s an honour that Red Dwarf was blessed with his presence. Rest in peace, pilgrim. You will be missed.