Red Dwarf is virtually unique among British sitcoms. It began in 1988 and was still releasing new episodes in 2020, making it one of the longest running sitcoms of all time. Yet, this is a show which nobody wanted to make, and which only barely made it to our screens at all. Tom Salinsky looks at exactly how it came to be; who was considered for the cast but didn't make it; how it was radically reinvented for the third, sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth seasons; how it survived the breakup of its key creative partnership, the loss of the original spaceship models, BBC strikes, the departure of a major cast member, and the seemingly self-defeating rules which the writers imposed on themselves. But this isn't just a behind-the-scenes account. It's also a detailed critical analysis, examining why the best episodes succeed and why the less impressive episodes struggle.