Our final monthly trip into the television archives this year is somewhat of an unusual one, in that it's not something that's very deep in the archives, and it isn't strictly speaking television. Nevertheless, given that the Red Dwarf connection is so niche, and the specific subject matter so esoteric, we'd probably have chosen to highlight it even if it wasn't us that was sort-of responsible for it happening in the first place. Let us explain.

Whenever we see journalist and broadcaster James O'Brien, which has happened increasingly often in the last few years since he's become the foremost non-racist phone-in host on British radio and found social media fame for his polite but ruthless take-downs of the Brexiteers who ring him up, the first thing we think of is his appearance in the Red Dwarf A-Z back in 1998. Specifically, his assertion that Data from Star Trek wouldn't have existed without Kryten, the chronological impossibility of which we've been talking about since at least 2003. So when we saw that James was an upcoming guest on the excellent RHLSTP (rhlstp!), we sent host Richard Herring a request. Then we forgot all about it, and then the episode came out, and it's safe to say our request was noted.

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