Red Dwarf is a British science fiction comedy franchise, the primary form of which comprises eight series of a television sitcom that ran on BBC2 between 1988 and 1999, and has achieved a global cult following. It was created and written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. The show's origins come from a recurring sketch, Dave Hollins: Space Cadet, in the mid-1980s BBC Radio 4 comedy show Son of Cliché, also scripted by Grant and Naylor. In addition to the television series, there have also been four bestselling novels, two pilot episodes for an American version of the show, and tie-in books, magazines and other merchandise.

Despite the pastiche of science fiction used as a backdrop, Red Dwarf is primarily a character driven comedy, with off-the-wall science fiction elements used as complementary plot devices. In the early series episodes, a recurring source of comedy was the "odd couple" relationship between Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer, the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other but are trapped together deep in space.

The show's highest accolade came in 1994, when an episode from the sixth series, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", won an International Emmy Award in the Popular Arts category. In the same year the show was also awarded 'Best BBC Comedy series' at the British Comedy Awards. and attracted its highest ratings — of over eight million viewers — by the eighth series in 1999.

The current state of the franchise remains uncertain. The series is unlikely to return to the BBC, after they turned down proposals for a ninth series and a big screen version of the show has often been promised, but has struggled to secure sufficient funding.

Three million years ago, a radiation leak killed the crew of the mining ship, Red Dwarf. The only survivor was Dave Lister, the chicken soup machine repairman. He spends his time on the ship with a holographic projection of Arnold Rimmer (his dead bunkmate), Cat (a life-form that evolved from Dave's cat), Holly (the ship's senile computer), and Kryten (a service mechanoid). Written by Garrett Hobbs

The year is 2077. Dave Lister is a Liverpudlian caretaker working on-board "Red Dwarf" a gigantic space freighter traveling to Earth, the ship is commanded by Captain Ed Hollister. Lister is obsessed with eating curries and he irritates his pompous and cowardly boss and bunk-mate Arnold "Judas" Rimmer. Lister is sentenced to 6-months in suspended animation for smuggling his pet cat Frankenstine on-board. Lister awakes from suspended animation, only to find the crew have been wiped out in a radioactive disaster, he has been frozen for 3 million years and Red Dwarf is lost in the middle of deep space. But Lister is not alone on-board Red Dwarf. Also on-board Red Dwarf is: Holly, the ship's computer who has lost his intelligence after not being used for so long, A hologram simulation of Rimmer (A electronic ghost), The Cat, a humanoid that evolved from Lister's pet cat Frankenstine and Kryten, robot butler rescued from the American space cruiser 'Nova 5'. Written by Daniel Williamson

After a massive radiation leak wipes out the entire population of a mining ship in space, chicken soup machine repairman Dave Lister is the only living person in the universe after coming out of suspended animation after 3,000,000 years. Written by Scott Dawson

On board the mining ship Red Dwarf, the slovenly and lazy Third Technician Dave Lister is sentenced to eighteen months in stasis for smuggling an unquarantined cat on board. Three million years later, he is revived to discover he is the sole surviving crew member on board the ship following a nuclear disaster, and very probably the last human being alive in the universe. But he is not alone. Also on board is HOLLY, the senile computer powering the ship; an intangible hologrammatic version of Second Technician Arnold Rimmer, his pompous and cowardly immediate superior; The Cat, a humanoid evolved from Lister's pet cat; and Kryten, a neurotic android. And so this motley crew goes where no one has gone before, in search of adventure, women, and a really good vindaloo... Written by Scott Nisbet