Doug Naylor makes science-fiction comedy worth watching for the people doing the quarrelling. We recommend Red Dwarf, with a substantial caveat: its strongest comic exchanges are more dependable than the standard across its long run.
Fi1m perspective
The pleasure of Red Dwarf (1988) is often waiting for Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer to annoy each other again. Craig Charles and Chris Barrie make that prospect more inviting than it ought to be. We laughed at their petty quarrelling because the extraordinary surroundings did nothing to make either man more tolerable. Naylor and co-creator Rob Grant keep incompatible personalities together, then let their grievances survive whatever science-fiction complication arrives. It is a sound comic premise, and the strongest stretches need little persuasion to get us back.
That shared authorship matters when judging Naylor: the programme's foundations were laid with Grant, who left after series VI. Naylor then wrote or co-wrote most of the subsequent episodes, keeping the four-character ensemble at the centre. His later work also put him behind the camera, including Back to Earth (2009), series X–XII and Red Dwarf: The Promised Land (2020). This is a career largely spent returning to the same programme, but we would not mistake that persistence for a shortage of comic possibilities.
As a director, Naylor has mixed practical effects, greenscreen and post-production to achieve more film-like results on television schedules. Back to Earth returned the programme after a decade and used new camera technology. That is resourcefulness worth respecting, particularly in a series whose early production and lighting could look constrained. But a more convincing setting can only do so much for a sitcom: Charles and Barrie's exchanges give us the stronger reason to keep watching.
The caveat is that Red Dwarf is uneven, and a fondness for the characters does not make every stretch equally rewarding. We recommend it without asking anyone to be faithful to the entire run. Naylor has sustained this character comedy over decades, but that is no reason to overlook the weaker stretches. Begin with Red Dwarf for Charles and Barrie, rather than with any obligation to see everything Naylor has made.
Biography
Doug Naylor is an English writer, director and television producer, best known as co-creator with Rob Grant of the science-fiction comedy series Red Dwarf (1988). He has written or co-written every episode of the series and served as director and producer on numerous episodes.
Naylor was born in Manchester on 31 December 1955 and briefly studied at the University of Liverpool. With Grant he contributed to BBC radio sketch shows including Cliché and Son of Cliché, and worked on Spitting Image. He later created the ITV series The 10%ers (1994–1996). Naylor has also written Red Dwarf novels including Last Human (1995). His son Richard Naylor has worked as a producer on the series.
