Red Dwarf series 10 ramps up for November, wobbly sets and all

We’ve known for some time, thanks to a series of cast interviews, that there were plans for the return of Red Dwarf in the not-too-distant future for a welcomed tenth series. First it was Craig Charles (Lister) who ‘leaked’ the commissioning of the new series by Dave, the home of witty banter in the UK. Enter Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) to calm the universe with a quick re-cap of the events of the day in his Observations of a Happy Old Man Llewblog.

Next up, Craig Charles awkwardly leaking that, after several years layoff, the cast would need a bit of wardrobe altering after too many years of curry. Cue Robert Llewellyn on Twitter taking playful offense citing his own ability to maintain his ‘filming’ weight over the years.

Now, it’s Danny John-Jules getting into the act with, perhaps, the most welcome news about the upcoming series, which begins filming in November. The six, half-hour programs will be filmed in front of a live, studio audience. John-Jules, in a recent interview with CultBox seems to be quite happy about the prospect of the series’ first instant audience reaction opportunity since 1999.

“Everyone missed the studio audience bit, because I do hate when people said ‘why don’t they put canned laughter on the show?’ and I’d say ‘we never put canned laughter on anyway’. Whatever laughs were on Red Dwarf came from the audience that were in there that night.”

“It’s a different play, it’s a different rhythm when you’ve got a studio audience and I like that. Not everyone can do sitcom. It’s like being in the theatre and being in the TV studio at the same time. You get the timing and you get that thing where you can hear the audience waiting for the punchline. Or sometimes you catch them out and it just smacks them in the face. There’s always that bit of fear that you’re going to screw up the best gag in the show in front of the audience. It sorts the men out from the boys, let’s put it that way.”

“The whole industry needs to go back to the basics. The whole reality thing and everyone wanting things to look like the American slick shows. The hardcore Red Dwarf fans want the wobbly sets.”

With filming set to begin next month, wobbly sets, live studio audience and all, Red Dwarf S10 is targeted for a Spring 2012 transmission premiere on Dave in the UK. At this point, a U.S. broadcast is TBA.