Series VI

Series VI
Series VI DVD Art. The background is the Last Chance Saloon from the Western-themed episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse"
Year first aired	1993
Previous	Series V
Next	Series VII

Series VI of Red Dwarf aired between October and November 1993. It starred Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer, Craig Charles as Dave Lister, Danny John-Jules as Cat and Robert Llewellyn as Kryten.

Summary

Red Dwarf is stolen by entities or lifeforms unknown, and the crew is forced to give chase in Starbug, encountering more adventures with homicidal simulants, an urbane gestalt entity, gunslinging computer viri, alluring and stomach churning GELFs, and a world full of Rimmers along the way. This was the first series to establish an ongoing story arc: the search for Red Dwarf, which would be continued through to its conclusion at the end of the next series, and be the basis of events in the one after. It also ends with one of the most notorious cliff-hangers in the show's history: the crew's showdown with their future selves.

Main Cast

Cast poses with Grant Naylor

• Craig Charles as Dave Lister
• Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer
• Danny John-Jules as Cat
• Robert Llewellyn as Kryten

Episodes

Picture	Title	Original Airdate	Episode #
	Psirens	7 October 1993	31
	Desperate to gain ground on Red Dwarf, the Boys from the Dwarf try to go through an asteroid belt but find that it is inhabited by psirens, strange GELF creatures that use mind control to lure their victims and then suck out their brains.
	Legion	14 October 1993	32
	The crew find an abandoned research station with only one inhabitant, an entity known as Legion, whose charm and hospitality hide a terrible secret.
	Gunmen of the Apocalypse	21 October 1993	33
	In order to fight a simulant-made computer virus, the crew enters a Wild West computer game to assist Kryten's attempt to fight off viral gunslinglers and save the ship.
	Emohawk	28 October 1993	34
	After escaping a forced wedding with a GELF, the crew is stalked by a new polymorph called an emohawk, a terrifying creature that unwittingly unleashes the the universe's most uncool guy and the greatest hero in the galaxy.
	Rimmerworld	4 November 1993	35
	Arnold Rimmer is stranded on a deserted planet alone for 600 years after falling through a wormhole. When the rest of the crew comes to rescue him, they find the planet has been completely taken over by Rimmer clones!
	Out of Time	11 November 1993	36
	After fitting Starbug with a time drive, the crew encounters a future version of themselves, which includes a fat Rimmer a bald Cat and Lister's brain in a jar, complete with attached dreadlocks!

Background Information

• This series was deliberately written with a higher rate of gags, inspired by Cheers, which Rob Grant and Doug Naylor watched while working on the failed Red Dwarf USA project. This also proved to be the last Red Dwarf series co-written by Grant, as he decided to part ways with the show and his co-writer following the effort; also leading to separate sequels from the two to the novel Better Than Life, though both took the setting of Starbug from VI.
• Writing and production of Series VI was rushed compared to other series as the BBC wished to air in among the Spring/Summer schedule. As a result, Grant and Naylor had to abandon their plans to direct the series and instead the show was helmed by Andy de Emmony.
• It was decided prior to the production of this series to write out Holly, since her two characteristics of stupidity and delivering exposition had mostly been moved to the Cat and Kryten anyway (leading to her involvement in the plot already having reduced significantly during Series V).
• The decision to set the show entirely on Starbug was made as a desire of Grant and Naylor's to have a more action-oriented show (as well as allowing them to quickly and easily write out Holly).
• The move to set the show entirely on Starbug was originally controversial among the fan community, despite the high amount of Starbug sequences already in the previous series, although opinion has mostly normalized around the series compared to Series VII-onward.
• The series saw Rimmer being given a hard light bee, which also saw him having a change in costume.