The Official Red Dwarf Companion by Bruce Dessau

The franchise has branched out into different media, including four best-selling novels ( Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Better Than Life, Last Human and Backwards), which take place in an alternate dimension to the television series. Older series of the British television show were remastered in 1998.

A project to get a live-action film underway stalled. Two pilots were made for a new version of the show in the United States in 1992, but the American pilots were unsuccessful in getting an American series made. The television series regularly racked up many millions of views. Twelve series have been made (including the ninth which was a three-part mini-series to 'reboot' the show), and numerous television specials, including numerous ' smeg-ups compilations (or bloopers), Universe Challenge and Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg. Red Dwarf was originally shown on the BBC 2 station, although it is now shown on the 'Dave' channel. Inspiration for Red Dwarf came from a number of sources, including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the prison comedy Porridge, flat share comedy The Odd Couple, and the sci-fi films 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Dark Star.

Naylor and Grant came up with the idea for Red Dwarf in the real-life Aigburth Arms, which would also feature in the fictional stories. The duo had previously written for Spitting Image, and the origins of Red Dwarf were in a comedy science fiction radio sketch they wrote called Son of Cliché. Red Dwarf began as a television series sitcom in 1988 by Grant Naylor Productions ( Grant Naylor being a pseudonym of the writing team composed by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor).

The Official Red Dwarf Companion by Bruce Dessau