History Trivia / RedDwarf

* OldShame: ''Everybody'' involved in the production of the Remastered episodes regrets making them, and Doug Naylor has admitted he probably should have resisted doing them at the time (they were done because he was looking to sell the show internationally to help with funding for the Red Dwarf movie, but the first series were considered by BBC Worldwide to be too dated).

** Grant and Naylor originally imagined Lister as 41 years old and white: in their words, like an "English version of Creator/ChristopherLloyd as Reverend Jim on ''Film/{{Taxi}}''." When they sent the script to Creator/CraigCharles (23 years old at the time and mixed-race), asking if he thought the part of the Cat was racist, he said it wasn't and also asked to audition for Lister. He got the part.

* FakeAmerican: Most every American in the series, to the point that Captain Hollister's actor, [=Mac McDonald=], was mainly chosen for being genuinely American.

** Kryten, the mechanoid, was a one-off character in Series II played by David Ross. When he became a regular in Series III, Ross was unavailable and Robert Llewellyn replaced him for the rest of the show's run.
** Talkie Toaster (ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) was voiced by John Lenahan in Series I and II (although his scenes were cut for the latter.) When the character resurfaced briefly in a Series IV episode ("[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVWhiteHole White Hole]]"), not only was he voiced by David Ross (the original Kryten) but the original prop had been replaced as well. when the character returned for "Mechocracy" Ross reprised the role.

* ThePeteBest: Kryten first appeared in a one-off appearance in Season 2 where he was played by David Ross. The character proved popular and opened up more storytelling possibilities, so Grant and Naylor decided to bring him back as a regular -- Ross was unable to take the role due to scheduling commitments, however, so he was replaced by Robert Llewellyn (with a HandWave about how his appearance and personality was now different). Llewellyn proceeded to make the part his own, and even co-write the episode "Beyond A Joke".

** As an example of You ''Sound'' Familiar, in the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVWhiteHole White Hole]]" Talkie Toaster was voiced by David Ross, who was the original actor for Kryten.

** Stand Up Comedian Tony Slattery (probably best known for the UK run of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'') had a few small parts in Series 1 before coming back as the Vending Machine that Rimmer cons in ''Only The Good...''.

** Tony Hawks, who plays the in-game guide to ''Better than Life'' later appears in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIIBackwards Backwards]]", introducing the Sensational Reverse Brothers. He had also previously been the voice of the vending machines in the first series and later played Caligula in the fourth. The cast referred to him as "The Fifth Dwarfer" during the first two series. The show also contains a deliberate example; between Series II and III, the change in actor for Holly is explained away as him having fallen in love with his mirror universe counterpart Hilly, to the extent that he decided he wanted to ''become'' her - hence Creator/HattieHayridge playing both characters.

** Grant addresses the "She's not JailBait, she's seventeen" line from "Gunmen Of The Apocalypse" by having Lister say it after being de-aged to fifteen and note that the AR game character is technically older than him.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page The Tongue Tied Red Dwarf Wiki]], and another [[http://red-dwarf.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Dwarf_Wiki Red Dwarf Wiki]].

** Holly was envisaged as a woman but Creator/NormanLovett was cast.

* TropeNamer:
** CrapolaTech: A reference to Crapola Inc, the company responsible for manufacturing Talkie Toaster.
** EverybodysDeadDave: Repeated to OverlyLongGag levels in the first episode.
** HardLight: Rimmer when his hologram is upgraded.
** MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Rimmer described the Polymorph like this.

** Series II's first episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIKryten Kryten]]" was intended as the fourth episode, with the remaining episodes in the series corresponding to the filming order aside from "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIQueeg Queeg]]", which was made sixth. Though "Kryten" was intended as a one-off episode, the titular character was revived for Series III. As the last episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIParallelUniverse Parallel Universe]]" is the only one with any actual continuity (the introduction of the character Hilly replacing Holly), it is entirely possible to watch "Kryten" as the penultimate episode of that series, and assume Kryten is being reprogrammed during "Parallel Universe". Interestingly, though it was filmed third, "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIStasisLeak Statis Leak]]" is the only one of the series to use flashbacks to the original Red Dwarf in the manner of the first series - suggesting that it itself might have been a candidate for first episode at some point.

** Attempted by Creator/ChrisBarrie when he auditioned for Lister after voicing his precursor in the ''[[Radio/SonOfCliche Dave Hollins: Space Cadet]]'' sketches but got cast as Rimmer instead.

** Rimmer's actor, Creator/ChrisBarrie had voiced the Lister precursor in the original ''Dave Hollins: Space Cadet'' radio sketches.

* ActorInspiredElement: Holly was originally intended to simply be a voice-over role, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness as can be seen in some scenes in Series I]], and was turned into a face on a screen at the request of actor Creator/NormanLovett.

* AmateurCast: The original cast had all ''appeared'' on TV and/or film before, but none of them were "proper actors": Creator/ChrisBarrie was an impressionist and voice actor, Creator/CraigCharles was a poet, Creator/DannyJohnJules was a dancer, and Creator/NormanLovett was a stand-up comedian. Clare Grogan did have some acting credits, including a role in ''Film/GregorysGirl'', but she was primarily known as the lead singer of the new wave band Altered Images before ''Red Dwarf''. Likewise, Creator/HattieHayridge was also a stand-up comedian before joining the cast in Series III; however, Creator/RobertLlewellyn and Creator/ChloeAnnett (who joined the cast in Series III and VII respectively) were both "legit" actors.

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/ChloeAnnett had her long light brown hair cut short and dyed dark brown so that she'd look more like her predecessor Clare Grogan when she took the role in Series VII. In Series VIII, she had her own natural hair (despite the fact that the series premiere took place a matter of minutes after the previous series' finale - the change in appearance was never commented on).

** Kristine Kochanski was a guest character in Series I, II and VI, and played by Clare Grogan. When the character became a main character in Series VII, Grogan was unavailable and Creator/ChloeAnnett replaced her.

** Alexandra Pigg was originally cast in the role of Kochanski in the pilot episode but was unavailable for new recording dates following an electricians' strike, so the part then went to Clare Grogan.

** In "The First Three Million Years" documentary series, Craig Charles noted that he'd had a huge crush on Clare Grogan, something he'd never told her, somewhat mirroring the original pre-RetCon nature of Lister and Kochanski's (lack of) relationship.

* AmateurCast: The original cast had all ''appeared'' on TV and/or film before, but none of them were "proper actors": Creator/ChrisBarrie was an impressionist and voice actor, Creator/CraigCharles was a poet, Creator/DannyJohnJules was a dancer, and Creator/NormanLovett was a stand-up comedian. Clare Grogan did have some acting credits, including a role in ''Film/GregorysGirl'', but she was primarily known as the lead singer of the new wave band Altered Images before ''Red Dwarf''. Likewise, Creator/HattieHayridge was also a stand-up comedian before joining the cast in Series III; however, Creator/RobertLlewellyn and Chloë Annett (who joined the cast in Series III and VII respectively) were both "legit" actors.

* DyeingForYourArt: Chloe Annett had her long light brown hair cut short and dyed dark brown so that she'd look more like her predecessor Clare Grogan when she took the role in Series VII. In Series VIII, she had her own natural hair (despite the fact that the series premiere took place a matter of minutes after the previous series' finale - the change in appearance was never commented on).

** Kristine Kochanski was a guest character in Series I, II and VI, and played by Clare Grogan. When the character became a main character in Series VII, Grogan was unavailable and Chloë Annett replaced her.

** An unproduced Series VIII episode entitled "Phwoaarr" would've had the crew encounter powerful pheromones that ultimately cause people to succumb to DeathBySex. The episode was scrapped because it was too lewd, and because the pheromones were too similar to the sexual-magnetism virus; the concept of Rimmer having sex with Kochanski was transferred to the episode "Cassandra". "Krytie TV" was made instead.

* AmateurCast: The original cast had all ''appeared'' on TV and/or film before, but none of them were "proper actors": Creator/ChrisBarrie was an impressionist and voice actor, Creator/CraigCharles was a poet, Creator/DannyJohnJules was a dancer, and Creator/NormanLovett was a stand-up comedian. Clare Grogan did have some acting credits, including a role in ''Film/GregorysGirl'', but she was primarily known as the lead singer of the new wave band Altered Images before ''Red Dwarf''. Likewise, Hattie Hayridge was also a stand-up comedian before joining the cast in Series III; however, Creator/RobertLlewellyn and Chloë Annett (who joined the cast in Series III and VII respectively) were both "legit" actors.

** Holly, the ship's computer and most notable example, was played by Creator/NormanLovett for Series I-II and was replaced by Hattie Hayridge for Series III-V before being PutOnABus in Series VI. When the character returned for Series VIII (and the Series VII finale), Holly was once again played by Lovett.

** Tony Hawks, who plays the in-game guide to ''Better than Life'' later appears in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIIBackwards Backwards]]", introducing the Sensational Reverse Brothers. He had also previously been the voice of the vending machines in the first series and later played Caligula in the fourth. The cast referred to him as "The Fifth Dwarfer" during the first two series. The show also contains a deliberate example; between Series II and III, the change in actor for Holly is explained away as him having fallen in love with his mirror universe counterpart Hilly, to the extent that he decided he wanted to ''become'' her - hence Hattie Hayridge playing both characters.