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Chapter X: "There's No Kind of Atmosphere"
Part II, Chapter X: "There's No Kind of Atmosphere"
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"Originally, the plan was to just do the first two seasons in 1988, but the success got us an offer to make more should we wish. Craig, Chris and Danny were all on board, so we thought 'why not' and went ahead with it."​


- Doug Naylor, in a 1992 interview.


The first two seasons of Red Dwarf, broadcast in 1988, had been a huge success. While Grant and Naylor’s original plan only lasted for two seasons, plans were made for three more, renewal permitting. 1989 would see the release of the third season, with two major cast changes.

While Craig Charles, Chris Barrie and Danny John-Jules would all stay for the next season, Normal Lovett, who played Holly, was less keen on returning. He was replaced by Hattie Hayridge, who had portrayed the female version of Holly in the Season 2 finale “Parallel Universe”.

The third season would also see Kryten brought from a one off character to a main one. David Ross, who had played Kryten in the one off appearance, was offered the role once more, but was busy with a stage production. The role was then offered to Robert Llewellyn, whom Naylor had seen play a robot in a separate stage show. Llewellyn accepted, rounding off the new cast. [1]


The addition of Kryten to the show gave Grant and Naylor more to work with going forward, as they had found the show to be increasingly difficult to write for. Like the first two seasons, the third season would consist of six episodes.

In addition, there would be more guest stars in the third season. The success of the first two had attracted the eyes of many British actors and actresses, including Graham Chapman. Chapman was cast in a cameo role in the penultimate episode of the season, “Timeslides”, as a television presenter. [2]

List of Episodes of Season 3 of Red Dwarf:
  • Backwards
  • Marooned
  • Polymorph
  • Bodyswap
  • Timeslides
  • The Last Day

The third season would prove to get even better reviews than the first two, resulting in the show being renewed for two more seasons, though the fourth would not be released until 1991.


[1] I kept the main cast the same, as I did last time. The castings were so good that I couldn't imagine better fits, and I need the show to be a success going forward for my plans (you may be able to guess from the year of the interview at the start).
[2] His cancer has been toned down. He still gets the tonsil tumors, but his cancer doesn't spread to his spinal cord, so he's free of cancer now. It's scared him though, so like drinking alcohol, he's given up pipe smoking. We'll be seeing more of Graham Chapman soon enough.

Sorry for the short update. To be honest, there isn't much I'm changing with Red Dwarf as of right now, but doing this now is important for a couple of things going forward. Next update, which I'll start writing tonight, will be out tomorrow hopefully, and covers the production of Season 3 of The Next Generation. I've got a surprise in store for you all as far as casting goes there.
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