Red Dwarf Xfollowed in 2012, andRed Dwarf XIin 2016.
So this series was ordered, written and shot at the same time as the last one.
How did that come about?
Did that come from Dave, or was it from you guys?
DN:Craig was inCorrie.
Craig Charles:Yeah.
DN:We wanted to get him out.
CC:I said, Im not coming out for fucking six episodes.
[Lots of laughter from everyone.]
DN:And he said, Come on, making twelve, surely thats got to be cheaper?
[Lots of agreement in the room.]
DN:And, you know, Twelve, Doug, you could do twelve.
CC:I said, Look at them!
[gestures to his co-stars]
DN:Look at them!
CC:While we still can!
While theyve still got their own teeth!
[Lots of laughter]
RL:[pulling at his teeth] Well, some of them.
CC:None of them got their own hair.
[More LOLs]
DN:So thats how it came about.
RL:Yeah it was availability, as well, wasnt it?
Squashing it in made it a lot easier to fit everything else in.
Chris Barrie:Cost efficient.
DN:Cost efficient, and youve got Danny gallivanting off to the Caribbean [forDeath In Paradise].
CC:See, he didnt give up his job.
I gave up my job!
RL:You had to give it all up.
CC:But the thing about it was, its difficult to get us all in the room together.
So if youre going to get us in the room together, lets try and make it count.
DN:Lets get a few in.
DN:And of course, thats what UKTV wanted, you know.
CC:Chris is off farming his land, and you know…
RL:Shooting people.
[Laughter from Chris Barrie]
CC:Shooting grouse.
RL:You say shooting grouse.
CC:He calls them grouse.
CB:Other people call them hikers.
Was it challenging, Doug, to write two series at once?
DN:Yeah, well, but you just have to…
I have a schedule.
I had to deliver.
There were four blocks of threes.
So it was just: do the first three, dont worry about anything else.
And provided you hit the deadlines, youll be okay.
So its sort of like walking across the tightrope, and dont look down.
And this time it was fine, actually.
RL:It was.
CC:He gets better with age, doesnt he?
RL:He does.
Because, had we got all of them before we even started?
Yeah, we had.
DN:Yeah yeah.
All twelve were done.
[Laughter, mainly from me]
DN:Back in the day.
RL:I think its fair to say that.
DN: they were coming in, youd rehearse, and there were scenes coming in during the week.
And then we were back getting our call, Ready on four!
And, Yeah, were all ready.
And then I see my lines disappearing [on the autocue] and then being rewritten.
Because Dougs on the autocue.
[Lots of laughter, Doug starts trying to protest.]
RL:Its fucking true!
You were on the autocue!
CC:Its a great scene forRed Dwarf, that.
RL:We did that scene in one take, thats what I always remember.
It was a quite long wordy scene, and they were freshly minted words.
You know, stuff like that.
CB:Its an art in itself, I think.
DN:It is.
So in the first episode of series 12, youve got Lister getting quite chummy with Hitler.
Were you worried, Craig, when you read that, about how people would react?
CC:I just thought, one off me bucket list.
[Laughter] The concept of it is just so outlandish.
CC:Throughout that episode, you start actually feeling sorry for Hitler.
How can you say that?
DN:When we cut it, they went, awww.
CC:The audience went awww.
[Laughter] But no, I wasnt.
I thought the concept of it was hilarious actually, and quite thought-provoking.
And I just thought it would be such a really cool scene to play.
And then when we got the tune sorted out.
DN:Ohhh my god.
CC:[Sings] I like to go a-wandering!
Which we sang because I used to sing it in fucking Boy Scouts.
DN:Did you?
CC:I did, yeah.
DN:Because we couldnt get permission.
No one would give us permission.
CC:To use a song.
DN:To use any song.
CC:We were gonna do Toto,Africa, werent we?
CC:Yeah, ging gang goolie.
DN:It was a perfect choice, actually.
RL:Yeah it worked really well.
CC:But it works well with that soft rock connotation, doesnt it?
And the back-to-back stuff.
So no, I was chuffed.
I was really happy to play that.
And he played it brilliantly, you know.
RL:It wasnt a lot of fun, to be honest.
I mean, I felt for them.
And the extras as well, all had the mask on.
Oh god, whats happened!
But I thought they did amazingly well to cope with that the first time.
Because thats what I remember most clearly.
The first day I was on the set, in that mask, going, I cant do this.
Why did I say yes?
This is fucking horrendous.
And Ive got used to it, so, it really isnt fair.
You compare it to that first day, but not to the normal days now that I do.
CC:I found it really unpleasant.
RL:It was very tough on them.
CB:It was.
RL:And they were brilliant in it.
And it just looks amazing.
So its an amazing episode.
And the other actors that were in the therapy group, its just extraordinary.
The guy who was the facilitator.
Ive met him in a mens group in Stratford East in 1977.
[Puts on a northern accent] Now lets all get together and be more gentle.
Its just that kind of way.
RL:Whos that lovely painter?
CC:David Hockney?
I just loved the way he did that.
How much better is it filming with an audience?
Obviously you didBack To Earthand some of the earlier episodes without that.
RL:I mean, we all love it, I think.
RL:It is harder to do it.
CC:Theres been a big move away from laugh track sort of sitcoms.
CC:In the teenies.
RL:We raise our game, basically, when theres an audience in.
It just lifts you.
You just kind of do a show there.
DN:And also it does tell you whether theyre enjoying it.
DN:If they think its funny or not.
And it is single camera, you dont know how that will play to an audience.
CC:And you are very much at the mercy of the edit, then.
DN:Yeah, exactly right.
CC:It gives you your timing.
You wait for the laugh to die before you [carry on].
DN:And you’re able to prolong things.
RL:And historically, weve all come out of a live performing background, in some form.
Theres not really any way of practising that.
You need an audience.
DN:You need an audience.
Its funny, weve all come up that way.
RL:So yes, its vital.
Its an absolutely classic episode, and I think people are gonna completely love it.
Was that a fun one for you, Chris?
CB:Well, it was fun, yeah.
I mean, you know, the sort of back in time business.
And obviously the highlight jot down thing was meeting Holly again, you know?
And that will go down as probably the longest riding of a laugh Ive ever done.
Obviously, on the show, you might not get that, but yeah, it was great fun.
It was slightly weird, to start with, doing it.
I look forward to seeing that.
DN:Theres a great energy as well, to that episode.
CC:And they keep popping everywhere, yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
CB:Im really interested in this interview.
[More laughter]
DN:Its really good, just that opening sequence, I think.
DJJ:Do you know what, I saw the card game, just the clip.
RL:Oh what, the poker face scene?
DJJ:And I actually just sat there.
I actually did actually sit there, watching it like I was watching the episode.
And then it stopped, I went, Oh shit, I just realised I wasnt watching the episode.
And you take a scene as simple as that: playing cards.
And youve got to deal the cards, which is boring and not funny, and that whole thing.
And you look up.
Everyone makes a contribution, team-wise.
DJJ:I actually brace myself on the table.
[Grabs hold off the table and does the head move.]
DJJ:Its so subtle.
But I go further, [leans back further] literally on the level of the table.
And then I come back and my head goes ridiculously to the left.
CC:I was gonna do that, but I couldnt.
[Lots of laughter]
CB:You wouldnt have got back up.
CC:Wouldnt have got back up.
You think that was an easy bit.
That was the toughest part of the scene.
DN:Yeah no, but its really interesting.
Youre all really contributing, you know?
The thing is, its… thats whats the most extraordinary experience about it, is that scene…
I do remember doing that.
I dont know what Im doing.
I dont really understand cards.
Its all a bit odd.
Im making the cake, or whatever it is.
What was in that bowl?
But you get sucked in, and I think thats the chemistry of it.
You dont have to go, Ooh, what I am doing?
I never think, What am I doing in this scene?
DN:Ah, thats interesting.
RL:Its absolutely natural, isnt it?
There isnt a kind of effort in it where youre thinking, Ooh, I should be robot-ish.
How do you do that?
It does just take over.
That was certainly the experience when we hadnt done it for a while.
Eleven years or something?
When we were all on set.
This was forBack To Earth.
Its like wed been doing this constantly.
It was just instantly back there, wasnt it?
CC:Yeah, that was quite weird for me, that one.
Just being on set ofCoronation Streetso Ive got two worlds colliding.
Him walking down the cobbles.
[Mimes a Kryten walk.]
CB:That was weird.
DJJ:That was some weird shit.
The worst bit was when we actually saw Simon, on the street.
CC:AndRed Dwarfin the Rovers.
DJJ:No but you coming in twice.
DN:That was basically because it was a free set.
RL:It was amazing.
DN:We didnt have many sets.
We had this massive studio…
RL:With some black curtains.
DN:On the first day, it was like one tiny set that was half built.
And thats all that was there.
CC:Yeah, that was it.
RL:We had some lovely black curtains.
They werent little ones.
RL:Yeah that was done on a shoestring.
DN:And favours.
Before that was the long gap, and you were trying to get the movie going.
CC:I dont know.
I mean there might be a new appetite for it.
DN:Oh yeah.
DJJ:It would be a William Shatner scenario: all of us in girdles and wigs.
CC:Oh yeah.
And its like, there seems to be a momentum.
A sort of impetus.
CC:But I do enjoy making it as a sitcom.
CC:Because I think its perfectly ideally suited to that.
Its as simple as that.
Why would they make it if there were fifteen other sitcoms kicking arse?
They wouldnt wanna make it.
Do you think, really, that they would make it if they had five sitcoms kicking arse?
Because theres nothing else that can match it really.
And thats not because Im in it, you know.
Weve been running for thirty years and weve still got to make it.
RL:Thats a good point well made.
CC:Hes right, its not cause hes in it.
[Lots of laughter]
DJJ:Thats right.
Listen mate, Im riding that Craig Charles donkey all the way.
[Lots of laughter] Keep getting that Twitter media going, baby!
And lets ride this donkey all the way home!
In fact, I got a new saddle when he gotThe Gadget Show.
He got another show!
This time, a leather one!
[Lots more laughter]
CC:Wheres that going?
CB:Im confused.
DJJ:Im sure you could work it out.
I used to watch it when I was little.
And I said, Well, the new series starts next week.
And he went, Oh.
I used to love it anyway.
It was brilliant when you used to do thatRed Dwarfthing.
That was brilliant, innit?
And I went, Next week, anyway, dont worry about it.
And hes gone and got his phone.
And hes going, Its on next week!
Youve got a new series?!
Which Id just told him!
[Lots of laughter] I cant believe it!
He was so made up.
I had to do another three selfies.
It was so weird that me saying it to him, it didnt register.
DN:They dont know its on.
CC:When we first started out, guys, there were only four channels.
So youd know if it was on even if you didnt want to watch it.
DN:Even if you didnt want to watch it, youd find it.
Youd go, Oh right.
CC:There were only four channels and now theres like four hundred.
RL:Four million, yeah.
DN:You cant even navigate through them.
DJJ: But mate, also, weve had the great pretenders come and go.
You know,Hyperdrive, and now weve got Seth McFarlane.
But its still inspiring.
And its still out there.
And what do they have to do with the sitcoms?
So youve got this withPorridge.
All that stuff, they have to go backwards.
CC:I feel like Michael Caine at the moment.
Theyre remaking all my old TV series, but giving them to someone fucking else.
[Lots of laughter]
DJJ:Younger?
CC:Not necessarily younger, either.
[More laughter]
DN:[still laughing] Thats really got to piss you off.
RL:Older and whiter?
CC:Older and whiter!
[Laughter continues] I dont know whose briefcase Ive pissed in.
CB:What else are they remaking?
CC:Theyre makingTakeshis Castle, and Jonathan Ross is doing the commentary.
You cant do that!
CB:Captain Butler?
CC:No, notCaptain Butler.
They madeRobot Warswith Dara O Briain.Takeshis Castlewith Jonathan Ross.
CB:They will.
Next time itll beCaptain Butler.
CC:You know how they madeAlfiewith fucking Jude Law.
And they made…
DN:They rarely work, though, these things.
RL:The Italian Job.
CC:The Italian Job, with Sylvester Stallone.
CB:They dont work.
DN:They rarely work.
DJJ:Because theyre of an era, those shows.
DN:Of the time.
Just before Im ushered out, whats the current status of the shows future?
Does it depend on how these ones get on?
DN:No, no.
CB:Even if no one watches, well do more.
[Laughter]
CC:Out of spite!
And everyones very happy.
RL:Wed love to do more.
DN:So yeah, its all good.
CC:I mean, why wouldnt ya?
Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, Danny John-Jules and Doug Naylor, thank you very much!
