Red Dwarf: Backwards [1989]

Country of Origin: UK
Date(s) of Broadcast: 14 November 1989
Running Time: 25 mins
Format: colour
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Company: BBC / Paul Jackson Productions
Executive Producer: Paul Jackson
Producer: Ed Bye, Rob Grant, Doug Naylor
Assistant Producer: Gilly Archer
Production Manager: Mike Agnew
Unit Manager: Janet Smith

SCRIPT
Script: Rob Grant, Doug Naylor

DIRECTION
Director: Ed Bye

PHOTOGRAPHY
Lighting Director: John Pomphrey
Camera Supervisor: Dave Fox

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Vision Mixer: Sonia Lovett
Videotape Editor: Ed Wooden

MUSIC
Music: Howard Goodall

SOUND
Sound Supervisor: Tony Worthington

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Designer: Bethan Jones
Costume Designer: Howard Burden

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects Designer: Peter Wragg

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Mel Bibby
Prop Buyer: Stella McIntyre
Graphic Designer: Mark Allen

MISCELLANEOUS
Technical Co-Ordinator: Tony Smith
Assistant Floor Manager: Dona DiStefano

CAST
Craig Charles [Dave Lister]
Chris Barrie [Arnold Rimmer]
Danny John Jules [Cat]
Robert Llewellyn [Kryten]
Hatty Hayridge [Holly]
Maria Friedman [waitress]
Tony Hawks [compere]
Anna Palmer [customer in cafe]
Arthur Smith [pub manager]

While out giving Kryten a driving test aboard the Red Dwarf's shuttle Starbug, Rimmer and the mechanoid disappear down a time-hole ["an orange swirly thing in space"] and arrive in a 1993 London where time is running backwards. Finding success as The Fabulous Reverse Brothers, a tawdry variety act, Rimmer and Kryten are initially miffed when Lister and The Cat eventually catch up with them, offering to take them back to the Dwarf. A spectacular brawl results in the Reverse Brothers getting the sack and reluctantly returning to their own time.

A cracking season opener, Backwards gently eased regular viewers into a new look and introduced the newly streamlined Kryten. The new elements [including a 'new' Holly] are well integrated into the existing format and the "bar-room tidy" is fabulous. The final scene, of Cat discovering to his dismay the perils of trying to take a leak in the bushes in a world where everything is in reverse is an absolute gem.

UK
Television Distributor: BBC
Video Distributor: BBC

1989
November
14: UK - television broadcast [on BBC2]

2001
August
11: UK - television broadcast [on UK Gold]

BOOKS

Red Dwarf Programme Guide [3rd edition] pp.88-90
review, synopsis

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

spaceships; cryogenics; cats; holograms; computers; dream-recorders; alternate-universes