Norman Lovett (b. 31 October 1946) is an English actor and stand-up comedian born in Windsor, England. He played the male incarnation of Holly in Series I and II of Red Dwarf and has made several reappearances since as the character.
History
Lovett was born 31 October 1946 in Windsor, England. He portrayed the male incarnations of Holly in Series I, Series II, the final episode of Series VII, Series VIII and the final episode of Series XII.
Lovett did not appear in Series III through V; the role of Holly was played by Hattie Hayridge during these seasons, although in the mid-1990s Lovett participated alongside Hayridge as both played Holly during the music video for Danny John-Jules' single release of "Tongue Tied" and then again in the DVD game Beat the Geek.
He is known to have criticised the eighth series' quality as a comedy which both insulted some fans and pleased others.
Despite this, he was close to having been in the new Back to Earth episodes, but encountered scheduling conflicts, resulting in the character of Holly being described as "off-line".
In the commentary for "Stasis Leak", Craig Charles tells of an incident in which he and Danny John-Jules took Norman down to a pub in the bad parts of Moss Side. Charles goes on to detail an encounter in which a huge Rastafarian with hair down to his behind, red eyes from smoking cannabis, and large fists, came up to Norman, put his fist out and said "Si, mon", and took him under his wing. Jules mentions that he and Charles left for a short time, and when they came back, they expected Norman to be scared out of his wits, but, much to their surprise, he had gotten along with everybody in the club. According to Jules, he "had girls hanging all over him".
In both the Series II and Series VIII commentaries, Norman mentions having a bit of a dislike towards David Ross, the original actor who played Kryten. He claims that this is because during filming for Series II, he and Ross went out to lunch. About halfway through lunch, David Ross looked Norman straight in the eye and said, "Are you legit?". Ross meant "Are you from the theatre?", but Norman took it the wrong way, thinking Ross was asking if his parents were married or if he was born out of wedlock. Norman claimed to be furious and has disliked David Ross ever since.
In 2009, he said he would no longer take part in any further Red Dwarf productions, considering himself to have been mistreated by Grant Naylor Productions. He states that the final straw came when they asked him to keep his diary free for Back to Earth (a three-part special for Dave), and subsequently did not inform him that he would not be required after all when production began. Despite this, Norman is negotiating with Grant Naylor Productions about returning as Holly, should a new series be made which he did eighteen years later by appearing in the show's twelfth season.