Series XI

Series XI
Red Dwarf XI logo
Year first aired	2016
Previous	Series X
Next	Series XII

Series XI is the eleventh series of Red Dwarf, following on from Series X.

Like Back to Earth and Series X before it, Series XI was produced by UKTV Play. However, Baby Cow Productions owned by Steve Coogan also joined as producers in Series XI.

Filming moved from Shepperton Studios to Pinewood Studios and was undertaken in late 2015 at in front of a live studio audience, compered by Ray Peacock. After a break of three weeks, the cast and crew returned to Pinewood in early 2016 to begin filming Series XII.

Series XI aired on Dave from September to October 2016.

The Series XI DVD artwork is reversible; one side features a starscape with the main characters; and the other side is a more traditional cover and features the blue-tinged cockpit interior of the new Starbug, with the deranged droid Asclepius on the spine.

Series XI had its own mobile phone game released, Red Dwarf XI: The Game.

Announcements

Confirmation of Series XI and XII

Actor Robert Llewellyn posted a blog in October 2013 insisting than "an eleventh series will happen" and that it would be "sometime in 2014". Llewellyn later removed the post and writer Doug Naylor played down suggestions that Series XI was definitely happening.

In January 2014, Danny John-Jules confirmed in an interview to Digital Spy that Doug Naylor was currently in the process of writing Series XI, and that as the show's Series X brought in record ratings for UKTV's Dave channel and the cast have all expressed an interest in returning for Series XI, Naylor was still going ahead with writing XI (although Danny and Robert had been chastised by Doug for revealing secrets too early).

At the April 2014 Sci-Fi Scarborough Festival, during the Red Dwarf cast panel, Danny John-Jules said that Series XI had been green-lighted and commissioned by Dave, and that filming of the eleventh season would commence in October 2014, with an expected broadcast date of Autumn 2015.

It was officially announced 2 May 2015 that two new series of Red Dwarf were commissioned by Dave. These once again featured the main cast of Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, and Robert Llewellyn and were written and directed by Doug Naylor. Recording began for both series in October 2015 in front of a live audience, and the twelve produced episodes were broadcast in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Doug Naylor said of the new series: "Frustratingly it's taken until now to get our ducks in a row and all the boys available at the same time. Now they are, we're all absolutely delighted."

Pre-production

Doug Naylor revealed at Dimension Jump XVII Nottingham that the shooting of Series XII would commence in early 2016, after a break of only three weeks after wrapping up filming Series XI.

Doug Naylor also revealed additional details about Series XI at DJXVII. These included confirmation that the next two series would reuse the sets from Series X, instead of creating new sets (so we're likely to get the same Drive Room and sleeping quarters as those in Series X), since this will then allow the set budget to expand the scope to things like a new Starbug interior (which was not seen in Series X). The overall budget is "enough to tell the stories Doug wants to tell", and filming may be moving from Shepperton Studios (where RD has been filmed since Series III) to Pinewood Studios.

Pre-release images

The following images related to the two upcoming series have been released through the official Red Dwarf website and twitter feeds of cast and crew.

A released Series XI model concept art shot

The new Starbug model for Series XI-XII (crashed as usual)

The new Red Dwarf ship model which will be used for close-ups

Prep for Dave Lister's bunk (London Jets and Mugs Murphy tee-shirts)

More Lister props (Zero Gravity Football and Leopard Lager)

Summary

"Two of the Dwarfers' dreams come true: Rimmer accidentally saves the life of a Space Corps Captain and is promoted to Officer, while Cat takes time off from being in love with himself to fall in love with a female Cat with a secret. Meantime, Lister wakes up to discover a deranged droid has stolen some of his body parts and Kryten has a mid-life crisis and considers leaving the Dwarfers for a younger crew. The posse also find themselves in an alternative America where modern technology is outlawed, making both Kryten and Rimmer illegal."

Source: http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/news/2016/06/24/red-dwarf-xi-coming-soon/

Episodes

Twelve Red Dwarf episodes were commissioned by Dave in total; six episodes for Series XI and a further six episodes for 2017's Series XII.

On 5 August 2016, episode names and episode summaries for the six episodes in Series XI were released by the Official Red Dwarf website.

Episodes of Series XI were made available online on UKTV Play a week prior to their broadcast on Dave.

Picture	Title	Original Airdate	Episode #
	Twentica	15 September 2016 (UKTV Play) 22 September 2016 (Dave)	62
	The old mining ship Red Dwarf is still aimlessly drifting through three million years worth of Deep Space. In their latest attempt to get back to Earth, the boys from the Dwarf find themselves in an alternative version of America. Only here, modern technology is prohibited, making the very existence of the hologram Rimmer and the mechanoid Kryten illegal. The Dwarfers infiltrate the tech savvy underground and try to bring down the authoritarian regime.
	Samsara	23 September 2016 (UKTV Play) 29 September 2016 (Dave)	63
	When the Dwarfers investigate a crashed ship at the bottom of an ocean moon, Dave Lister and Cat become trapped together, and Lister's nightmare begins. Meantime, Rimmer and Kryten discover the ship is controlled by a dark force.
	Give & Take	30 September 2016 (UKTV Play) 6 October 2016 (Dave)	64
	After an altercation with a deranged droid, Lister has his kidneys organ-napped. The only solution is to ask Cat, the most selfish creature in the universe, to give him one of his.
	Officer Rimmer	7 October 2016 (UKTV Play) 13 October 2016 (Dave)	65
	After a scandalous piece of good fortune, Rimmer saves the life of a bio-printed Space Corps Captain and is promoted, fulfilling his life-long dream of becoming an Officer. He immediately opens an Officer's Club, which is out of bounds to the lower orders, and uses the bio-printer to fill it with versions of himself.
	Krysis	14 October 2016 (UKTV Play) 20 October 2016 (Dave)	66
	Kryten has a mid-life crisis, and changes his body cover from Mech grey to Ferrari red. The Dwarfer posse try and show Kryten how much he's achieved in life, by taking him to visit a mechanoid from his old fleet.
	Can of Worms	21 October 2016 (UKTV Play) 27 October 2016 (Dave)	67
	Cat takes time off from being in love with himself, to fall head over heels in love with a lady of his species with a big secret.

Cast

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