This episode was called 'The End' and was just a taste of what was to come...
'This is a SOS distress call from the mining ship Red Dwarf. The crew are dead, killed by a radiation leak, the only survivors were Dave Lister who was in suspended animation during the disaster and his pregnant cat who was safely sealed in the hold. Revived 3 million years later, Lister's only companions are a life form who evolved from his cat and Arnold Rimmer a hologram simulation of one of the dead crew. There was enough food to last 30,000 years but only one After Eight mint and everyone was too polite to take it.'
The new and possibly final series of Red Dwarf (VIII) has finished showing on BBC2. It was a worthy addition to the saga, explored some new ideas, but I feel it could still have been better. Hopefully there will be another series that will really finish the saga in style.
The cast of Red Dwarf are now all well known stars, but when the show started 10 years ago the casting of a Poet, Comedian, Dancer and Impressionist rather more than raised a few eyebrows, as did the idea of attempting to do a comedy SF series. This was the impossible concept that had never been done even remotely successfully, until Red Dwarf not only did it but bought the franchise.
Red Dwarf the movie is finally in production - all the movie news is on the Official Red Dwarf website