Red Dwarf II is the second series of the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. It consisted of six episodes and was broadcast on UK television channel BBC2 between 6 September and 11 October 1988.
The series follows the life of technician Dave Lister (Craig Charles), who is the only survivor of an accident on the spaceship Red Dwarf, and the last survivor of the human race, three million years in the future, and his shipmates, a holographic reproduction of his dead bunkmate and boss, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), a sapient Cat (Danny John-Jules) who is a result of three million years' evolution, and the ship's computer Holly (Norman Lovett).
Production Red Dwarf II was ordered while the first series was being aired. The first series had been shot entirely at New Broadcasting House, Manchester and show creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor were keen to broaden out stories by doing some location shooting.
Locations used included a beach in Rhyl, standing in for a tropical paradise in "Better Than Life", a landfill site used for a moon in "Thanks for the Memory", and the Midland Hotel, Manchester playing the role of Ganymede Holiday Inn in "Stasis Leak".
A small shuttle ship, Blue Midget, was brought in to ferry the crew to and from different locations.
Cast
The mechanoid Kryten appears in the first episode, "Kryten", played by David Ross. The writers had resisted using robot characters as they had considered the practice a sci-fi cliché. "Better Than Life", which is about a virtual reality simulation, features John Abineri as Rimmer's father, Gordon Salkilld as Gordon, another ship's computer, and regular warm-up man Tony Hawks as an in-game guide.
Some of the pre-accident supporting cast reappear in "Stasis Leak" — specifically Mac McDonald as Captain Hollister, C. P. Grogan as Kristine Kochanski and Mark Williams as Olaf Petersen.
The episode "Queeg" features Charles Augins as the eponymous Queeg, an alternate version of the ship's computer. Augins also provided choreography for the opening dance number "Tongue Tied", in "Parallel Universe".
"Parallel Universe" itself contains alternate versions of the main characters; the alternate Lister was played by Angela Bruce and the alternate Rimmer was played by Suzanne Bertish. The alternate version of Holly, Hilly, was played by Hattie Hayridge. Hayridge would take over the role of Holly in series III.
Reception Writing in 2015, Den of Geek ranked Red Dwarf II the third best of the then nine full seasons of the show, saying that "It's hard to dispute that its second run was an improvement upon its first. The writing is tighter, the actors are more settled in their roles, and the characters' dynamics have deepened", and highlighted "Better Than Life" and "Queeg" as highlights.
Sophie Davies, writing in 2017 for CultBox, noted the expansion of the range of characters and locations, and was "pleasantly surprised" at the gender politics in "Parallel Universe".
Episodes
Home media release The series was released in March 1992 on VHS, and on DVD in 2003. A remastered edition, with revised visual effects and other changes, was released on VHS in 1998.
References