Series III

Series III DVD Art. Note that the background is that of Starbug

Series III of Red Dwarf aired between November and December 1989. It starred Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer, Craig Charles as Dave Lister, Danny John-Jules as the Cat, and introduced Robert Llewellyn as Kryten and Hattie Hayridge as a now female Holly.

Summary

Settling into officer's quarters after Lister concludes his inverse pregnancy, the crew welcomes back a new member and Holly decides to have a head sex change. With no time to get acquainted with their new company and surroundings, the crew are sent into a universe where time runs backwards, are left to starve on an ice moon, face an emotion sucking monster, swap bodies with each other, travel back through photographs, and face the threat of their new crew-member's state-of-the-art replacement.

Episodes

Picture	Title	Original Airdate	Episode #
	Backwards	November 14, 1989	13
	A rift in space and time known infamously as a "timehole" lands the crew in a world where time runs backward.
	Marooned	November 21, 1989	14
	Rimmer and Lister spend a little too much time together when an accident strands them on an ice moon.
	Polymorph	November 28, 1989	15
	A genetically engineered shape-shifting creature terrorizes the crew of the Red Dwarf.
	Bodyswap	December 5, 1989	16
	Lister and Rimmer temporarily switch bodies, only Rimmer does not want to give Lister's body back.
	Timeslides	December 12, 1989	17
	A mutated film developing fluid gives the crew the ability to jump inside photographs, allowing them to possibly change their destinies.
	The Last Day	December 19, 1989	18
	A pod arrives, carrying word of Kryten's testosterone laden replacement. Will Kryten submit to the promise of Silicon Heaven or fight for more life?

Main Cast

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

Background Information

• Norman Lovett left Red Dwarf after Series II and was replaced by Hattie Hayridge, who had previously played Hilly, Holly's female counterpart in the episode "Parallel Universe. Hayridge would remain in the role until Series V, thereafter Holly was lost along with Red Dwarf. Lovett would return to his original role in Series VIII after making a cameo appearance at the end of Series VII.
• Series III marked a change in the visual style of the series, with more colours and varied locations than the previous two years and new specialized costumes for each crew-member designed by Howard Burden. In universe, this is explained as them moving into the officer's deck.
• The original opening episode for the series "Dad" was going to address the resolution of the previous series' cliffhanger in more detail, but was cut after the script development stymied. In its stead, continuity details were explained in a rapid parody of the Star Wars opening crawl.
• This was the first series of Red Dwarf to be released on VHS, with "Byte One: Backwards" containing the first three episodes, and "Byte Two: Timeslides" the remaining three. The latter tape also started something of a trend of tapes being named after more popular and/or significant episodes, instead of the standard BBC practice of naming it after the first episode on the tape. In this case, "Bodyswap" (the actual first episode on Byte Two) was widely considered the worst episode of Series III, and so the more popular "Timeslides" was used instead.
• This series saw Rob Grant and Doug Naylor take over the role of producers while Ed Bye still remained as both producer and director. This was also the final season to feature Paul Jackson as executive producer. 
• Mel Biddy joined the show, and thanks to Alien, the horror film directed by Ridley Scott, he was able to give the show a whole new look set wise. 
• This was the last series to be filmed at BBC Manchester Studios.