Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech was Lister's GELF bride.
History
Origin
When Starbug crashed on a GELF moon while escaping a Space Corps enforcement probe, their auto-repair system was unable to fix the oxy-generation unit. They had to trade for a new one with the local GELF tribe, the Kinitawowi.
The Dwarfers offered the Kinitawowi many small gifts in trade, but the chief had other ideas. He was willing to give them an OG unit, but only if Lister married his best-looking daughter, Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech.
Lister was far from enthusiastic, describing her as less attractive than his own armpit after twenty games of table tennis. She was an enormous yeti lookalike with warty skin and orange fur. He thought her name sounded like a footballer clearing his nose and claimed that a relationship was impossible because they were both the same star sign - Aries.
Unfortunately, a wedding was the only option. After a short ceremony, Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech picked Lister up like a soft toy and carried him to her hut for their wedding night. After trying to put her off by claiming to be tired, Lister chose to execute Plan B and ran out of the village as fast as he could.
Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech was devastated by her husband's betrayal and declared all men to be bastards. Her father was adamant that no-one stole from his tribe and sent his Emohawk to attack them. The Dwarfers were able to escape both the moon and the Emohawk (RD: Emohawk).
Months later, Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech was aboard a Kinitawowi battle cruiser that caught up with Starbug. They demanded that Lister return to his bride, since separation was illegal under GELF law. Starbug managed to shake the cruiser twice and escape the GELFs again when it crashed. (RD: Ouroboros).
Novels
Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech also appeared in the third Red Dwarf novel Last Human, marrying Lister in a trade. He escaped her until she caught up with Starbug, demanding his return. Lister's alternate universe counterpart insisted that Kryten gave the GELFs whatever they wanted, so Ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech-ech punched him unconscious and took him to the airlock. He still managed to overpower the GELFs and kill them to escape.
The actor who played her, Steven Wickham, would later play the BEGG Chief eighteen years later in the Series X episode "Entangled".