On the 15th February 1988, the first episode of Red Dwarf aired on BBC2. I had no idea about it.
On the 7th January 1994, the first episode of Red Dwarf aired on BBC2 for the second time. I became obsessed with it.
On the 25th August 2023, the first episode of Red Dwarf aired on BBC2 for the seventh time.1 I prepped it for TX.
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I don’t write much about my job on here, directing the BBC’s domestic channels. The reason for this is simple: confidentiality. Much of what would be interesting to talk about, I simply can’t. You might all be fascinated with various things I could reveal about life in BBC pres, but my arse would be booted out the door before you could say “obit procedures”.
But I can discuss the following, because it involves nothing internal or secret at all. This is only about what actually transmitted.
Sitting quietly on YouTube is a load of Red Dwarf continuity, often from its original BBC2 broadcasts. This includes the very first episode “The End” on the 15th February 1988, and the voice you hear introducing that first episode is Rosanne Macmillan:
For years, at the back of my head, I’ve always thought: “If BBC2 ever repeat Red Dwarf, surely we can come up with something fun.” But it seemed like it would never really happen. There was a single repeat of “Marooned” in 2014, when I’d only been in the job five months. And BBC Four showed “Quarantine” in October 2022, but for various boring reasons I couldn’t do much with that.
And then suddenly, all of Red Dwarf appeared on iPlayer in June this year. I held my breath. Would the series return to its home channel as well?
It did. On the 25th August 2023. And ladies and gentlemen, with the help of your friendly continuity announcer Duncan Newmarch, we were ready.
Sure, the above is a silly piece of nonsense. Vanishingly few people would have realised what we had done. But silly though it may be, I also find it weirdly emotional too. Joining the dots across 35 years on the channel feels like it means something. An awareness of the history of the channel, and of the show, rather than just blasting out another 30 minutes of content.
Television could perhaps do with a bit more of that.
* * *
Oh, and one final little treat for you. In case you wondered how the same announcement went in BBC2 Wales and Northern Ireland, here you go.2 Your announcer in Cardiff is Eleanor Williams, and in Belfast you have Paul Buckle.
The scripts for the nations can vary wildly, as they absolutely should; sometimes they hew quite close to network, and other times they’re entirely different. But I love that, with the odd mild difference, everyone joined in on the fun for this one.
I usually write BBC2 for the channel pre-1997, and BBC Two for the channel post-1997, as per the branding guidelines. But that got really irritating swapping between the two with this article, so I’ve stuck to BBC2 for everything here. ↩
BBC2 Scotland no longer exists, having been replaced with the BBC Scotland channel in 2019. ↩
11 comments
Paul Filipczyk on 27 August 2023 @ 12pm
Thanks John. Starting reading your article and immediately motivated to rewatch here in Australia (admittedly projected on the wall as no access to BBC) to feel part of this occasion.
Greg on 27 August 2023 @ 1pm
I absolutely love this!
Rob on 27 August 2023 @ 7pm
Typo? You have 15th February 1988 in the list, 15th January 1988 before the first video…
Otherwise, I love this! Really good to see the regions joined in too!
Ben Paddon on 27 August 2023 @ 8pm
Well, this is marvelous. America doesn’t really do continuity announcers – not even on BBC America. I’d almost written them off as a relic of my childhood. Seeing that they still happen, and that occasionally things like this occur, has put a big smile on my face.
thekelvingreen on 27 August 2023 @ 9pm
This is glorious.
Malc Leary on 27 August 2023 @ 10pm
Really love this John! Thanks.
P.S. Everybody’s dead, Dave.
John J. Hoare on 28 August 2023 @ 11am
Yes, or braino, or whatever you want to call it. Corrected, thanks!
I get frustrated with these, because all it takes is one person accidentally getting a date wrong, and the error can spread like wildfire. Unlikely to happen with Red Dwarf, but it happens all the time with less-known dates.
John J. Hoare on 28 August 2023 @ 11am
Oh, and thanks for the kind words, everyone.
The other thing that still surprises people is that the vast majority of BBC announcements are still done live. All three of the announcements in the bottom video are live, for instance. This also includes end credit squeezes, full frame menus, and even some trails pointing iPlayer programmes.
I spend a large part of my life sitting in a room, with an announcer visible through the window, rehearsing junctions to make sure they go OK when we do them for real. And there are sometimes some VERY last-minute script changes, particularly when it comes to Cricket being rained off, as happened to me the other day…
Martin Fenton on 28 August 2023 @ 6pm
I keep meaning to rewatch Red Dwarf. Now they’re on iPlayer, there’s really no reason not to.
My memory of series 1 is of watching it surrounded by an ever-increasing pile of boxes. We were in the process of moving house.
Bill on 12 September 2023 @ 7pm
Brilliant – this site is one of the very best things on the internet. As a fan of Red Dwarf from the first broadcast, it’s quite a surprise to be reminded the show originated in the ‘pastel’ era of BBC2.
One thing that has me clutching for my pills, and I am sure you have heard enough on the subject already, is credit squeezes. I mention now only because, while watching Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em repeats, it dawned on me that if more shows had credits that scrolled in the bottom part of the screen, the top part could be used for rude interruptions, chivvying, hectoring and endorsements without disturbing the viewer’s opportunity to note cast and crew, etc.
Thanks for an excellent website/blog or whatever they’re called.
John J. Hoare on 13 September 2023 @ 9am
Here’s the interesting thing about credit squeezes: on the BBC, they haven’t actually *shrunk* the credits for over a decade now. They merely shift them to the side.
So in fact, your ability to read the cast and crew is not impeded, at least on the Beeb!
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