The End (Red Dwarf)

The episode was written in 1983 during a stay at a cottage in Wales belonging to Doug Naylor's father. Almost a mile up a mountain the writing duo team of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor spent day and night writing.[3] Almost finished, the pair had a near fatal accident during nightfall when their car veered perilously near the edge of a cliff. The script was not finished as expected as they spent the next day rescuing the car.[3]

Grant and Naylor passed the completed script to their agent Paul Jackson, whom they had worked for on Three of a Kind and Carrot's Lib, and John Lloyd, whom they worked with on Spitting Image. They both came back saying that they loved it, with even talk of them doing a co-production for the series.[4] However, the task of dealing with the production rested with Jackson who had trouble convincing the BBC who went on to reject the script three times. Grant and Naylor were keen to have the series done on the BBC as they felt the extra 3 minutes of non-commercial time would be invaluable. It would take another three years before the series was accepted by BBC North West.[5]

When casting auditions started Norman Lovett was the first member of the cast selected, but had originally auditioned for Rimmer. Grant and Naylor thought otherwise and offered him the role of Holly, who at this stage was just a voice-over part. Danny John-Jules auditioned successfully for the Cat. Craig Charles was sent the script for his opinion as there were concerns over the Cat character coming across as racist. Charles was also being considered for the role.[6] However it was later decided that Craig would be better suited auditioning for the role of Lister, who was initially described in the script as in his early forties.[7] Chris Barrie later auditioned for both the Lister and Rimmer roles. A previous collaborator with Grant and Naylor, Chris had worked on their radio show Son of Cliché.[6] Bigger named actors like Alan Rickman and Alfred Molina had also auditioned but were not considered as they would be unlikely to stay for a series run.[8][9] Paul Jackson's initial plan was for the show to run for two series only, like The Young Ones.[6]

The character of the first hologram seen on screen, George McIntyre, was intended to be Australian to fit into the idea that the ship was international, but the actor, Robert McCulley had problems with the accent and decided to make the character Welsh instead.[8] The episode featured a host of guest stars and extras, most uncredited. As well as featuring Mac McDonald as Captain Hollister and Clare Grogan (she changed her name to C. P. Grogan because of an Equity clash with another person with the same name) as Kristine Kochanski, Robert Bathurst appeared as Todhunter, Mark Williams as Petersen, Paul Bradley as Chen, and David Gillespie as Selby.

Lister ejects the crew canisters into space. One of the scenes cut from the original shoot

The episode, and the series, almost never happened due to an electricians strike at the BBC in 1987 which prevented filming and the project was shelved.[10] Filming eventually went ahead after the industrial action was resolved.[11] Filming a scene with the Frankenstein cat caused problems when it came to trying to get the right shot. The cat would not stay still long enough, would not look at the photo of Fiji, and kept scratching Craig Charles' leg and running away. Charles' genitals were also visible in some takes; Grant and Naylor later considered digitally editing them out, but went for an inferior take instead.[8]

The opening theme tune was written by musician Howard Goodall. With its classical music style it parodied Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.[12] Goodall also wrote the lyrics for the end credits theme tune, which was sung by Jenna Russell. The intention was to match the lyrics to Lister's desire to go to Fiji, especially regarding the "goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes" line.[13]

For the opening credits and exterior shots a Red Dwarf model ship had to be built from scratch. Peter Wragg was the visual effects designer of Red Dwarf; Wragg also had a large part in set building and was the chief model maker. Wragg had previously filled a similar role in British television series such as Thunderbirds Are GO, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Doctor Who. The opening effects shot features a dissolve from Lister painting the ship to a full model shot of the city-sized vessel traveling through space. Originally it was supposed to be one long take but it proved too difficult to mesh together with a small budget and lowly special effects of the day. The model of Red Dwarf itself measured about 8 feet (2.4 m) long from scoop to engine.[14]

With a seventh episode slot left over at the end of production, Grant and Naylor decided to go back and re-shoot certain scenes and drop others that they felt did not work.[15] Scenes removed include Lister ejecting the crew members' canisters into space and Rimmer conducting his own eulogy. One of the more drastic changes was the ship's computer, Holly. Initially shot as a voice over, Norman Lovett had convinced the creators to have a disembodied head on screen. The Holly scenes from the first three episodes were re-edited to feature the newly shot lines with the head of Holly.[16] Altogether, approximately two-thirds of the broadcast episode was composed of reshoot footage.

Set designer Paul Montague gave the ship interiors a grey submarine look. Walls, floors, bunks, cans and even cigarette packets were coloured grey. The "Welcome Back George McIntyre" reception featured bright red plastic chairs, which had to be covered up with jackets to avoid harsh clashes of colour.[17]