Red Dwarf IV is the fourth series of the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. It consisted of six episodes and was broadcast on UK television channel BBC2 between 14 February and 21 March 1991.
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, sanitation droid Kryten (Robert Llewellyn), and the ship's computer Holly (Hattie Hayridge).
Production and writing Due to the old studio in Manchester undergoing refurbishment, the recording of Series IV moved to Shepperton Studios in Surrey. This meant that rehearsals could take place on set, rather than at the off-site television rehearsal rooms in Acton. Outside locations used included Kempton Park Steam Engines for a space station in "Justice".
Grant Naylor Productions took over production of the show from Paul Jackson Productions. Paul Jackson retained a minority share in GNP. The episodes were directed by Ed Bye, with Jackon standing in uncredited as director for the audience record of "White Hole" due to the unavailability of Bye.
The episodes were all written by Grant and Naylor. Portions of the episode "White Hole" were derived from parts of the Red Dwarf novel Better Than Life.
Casting The opening episode, "Camille" features a character, Camille, who appears as a desirable partner for each member of the crew. Two of the regular cast's real-life partners — Judy Pascoe and Suzanne Rhatigan — were used as the versions seen by Kryten and Lister respectively. The version that Rimmer sees is played by Francesca Folan.
"Meltdown" is set on a planet hosting a wax droid theme park, and many wax droids of celebrities make appearances, including warm-up man Tony Hawks playing Caligua; and Clayton Mark, an Elvis impersonator,
Broadcast and reception
The broadcast was not as originally intended; the BBC had decided to start off with the romantic story of "Camille" for Valentine's Day, while the outbreak of the Gulf War affected the series' running order, thus both the anti-war "Meltdown" and heroic Ace Rimmer's "Dimension Jump" were almost postponed.
William Thomas, reviewing the series for its DVD release in 2004 for Empire, gave it 4 out of 5 stars and said: "Cherish this DVD, for Red Dwarf virtually pole-vaulted the shark immediately after this fourth series."
Writing in 2015, Den of Geek ranked Red Dwarf IV the fifth best of the then nine full seasons of the show, saying that "Though series four lacks for really iconic episodes, it does contain several of the moments that propelled Dwarf fully to cult status", mentioning Ace Rimmer in "Dimension Jump" and scenes in "DNA", "Meltdown" and "White Hole".
In 2017, Sophie Davies, writing for CultBox, noted that the Red Dwarf IV is the endpoint of a move from character comedy based focused on Lister and Rimmer to a broader ensemble comedy. She wrote "This is by no means a bad thing, as it's possibly the most gag-packed series so far, but if you were a fan of the bleak, lonely atmosphere of early Red Dwarf you might feel like the show has lost something during its change of style."
Episodes
Home media release The series was released in October and November 1992 on VHS, and on DVD in 2004. The home video releases use the broadcast order of the episodes rather than the originally intended order.
References