One of the animated idents used on BBC Two
On 14 February 1998, the night before the tenth anniversary of the first episode of Red Dwarf's first broadcast, BBC2 devoted an evening of special programming to the series, under the banner of Red Dwarf Night. The evening consisted of a mixture of new, specially-recorded content and existing material and was introduced and linked by famed actor and fan Patrick Stewart.
In addition, a series of special take-offs on the famous BBC2 idents, featuring the female viridian "2" logo with the antenna top on her head falling in love with a male skutter, were used. The night began with "Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg", a spoof of the popular cookery programme Can't Cook, Won't Cook, presented by the original show's host Ainsley Harriott who had himself appeared as a GELF in the episode "Emohawk: Polymorph II". Taking place outside the continuity of the series, two teams (Kryten and Lister versus Rimmer and Cat, although Cat quickly departs to be replaced by alter ego Duane Dibbley) were challenged to make the best chicken vindaloo.
After a compilation bloopers show, featuring out-takes, the next programme was "Universe Challenge", a spoof of University Challenge. Hosted by original University Challenge presenter Bamber Gascoigne. The show had a team of knowledgeable Dwarfers square up against a team consisting of Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Robert Llewellyn, Chloë Annett, and Danny John-Jules.
This was followed by "The Red Dwarf A-Z", a half-hour documentary that chose a different aspect of the show to focus on for each letter of the alphabet. Talking heads on the episode included Stephen Hawking, Terry Pratchett, original producer Paul Jackson, and Patrick Stewart.
Finally, the night ended with a showing of the Emmy award-winning episode from 1993, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".
During Easter 2009, the TV channel Dave did a similar event, featuring the new Back to Earth specials, replaying classic episodes and even replaying material from the original "Red Dwarf Night". The year 2009 marked the twenty-first anniversary of the show and the tenth anniversary of the ending of the last series.
DVD Releases[]
Several of the segments from Red Dwarf Night have been released to DVD, with "The Red Dwarf A-Z" appearing in the Series II set, "Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg" unusually appearing in the Series IV set and BBC2's five special idents from 1998 featuring the "2" and the Skutter making love affairs, it was also appeared in the Series V set, even though it features the cast of Series VII. The smeg ups featured during the special have been distributed among the various DVD releases.