In Red Dwarf VI, Rimmer gets to touch things, makes clones of himself, gets locked in a dungeon for 600 years, becomes barefist-fighting 'Dangerous' Dan McGrew; he even ages twenty years, at one point, turns into Ace Rimmer. The man who had to wear an 'H' on his head for all six episodes was Chris Barrie. Jane Killick talked to him about Red Dwarf's latest series just a couple of weeks after filming had been completed
More than a year after the sixth series was made, the Dwarfers were re-united in Red Dwarf VI's first episode, 'Psirens'. "I think we were all finding our feet again after 15 months of not doing the show," says Chris. "so I'll be interested to see how that one comes out. Some great work in it, but not one of my favourite episodes. But a good idea, a good concept."
It is in the first episode when Rimmers hologramatic status causes him problems as his battery runs down and he fades away, leaving only his light bee behind. This was "to remind him that he is a hologram," says Chris, "and the holopack, like a car battery, can sometimes die. A lot of people says there's not enough things that in it, and maybe that's why they introduce things like that, just to keep those people quiet."
There's more fun with Rimmer's hologramatic form in the second episode, 'Legion'. With the gift of a hard-light drive, Rimmer is able to pick things up. The original idea was from the writers was for Rimmer to return to his soft-light drive at the end of the episode, but they liked it so much, it stayed for the rest of the series. "It was a relief to be able to actually behave normally and touch things It's one of those things where you can't imagine Rob and Doug saying 'well how are we going to make Rimmsey touch things? I know get a hard-light drive.' That's the thing with science fiction, you can do anything."
The hard-light drive made a "great scene" possible, with Kryten trying to knock Rimmer unconscious by repeatedly hitting him over the head, but Chris says he would have liked to have spent more time on it. It was filmed late at night, with studio time ticking away by the second. "It would have been so lovely to be able to spend a long time over it, a scene that is tailor made for comedy and performance. And we'd all had a long day, and to try and shoot it, something of such importance [in such a short time, was] difficult and wrong."
With Red Dwarf being such a packed and complicated show, the time was often short during the eight weeks of recording. In the third episode, 'Emohawk - Polymorph II', the scenes in the GELF village were filmed at night after a full-day of filming other inserts in the studio. "That wasn't a bad night, that was tropical compared to the sand bank [in Rimmer World]! But that was a long night, a long day. One of the longest we've ever had, really, but quite fun. The end was in sight by then. Again, some nice performances by the GELFs. It was quite a good story really. The little polymorph came back, brought Duane Dibbly back - hilarious! And Ace came back.
Ace Rimmer is, perhaps, Chris's greatest characterisation in the history of Red Dwarf, but it was hard to live to the success of the original 'Dimension Jump'. "I think I would have like to have the same uniform and everything, and it wasn't the same wig you used last time. You'd be surprised as how much difference that can make. That was a pretty good wig we used, the other wig. But the wig we had in the fourth series was a super wig, it looked like normal hair. With someone like Ace, who's got to look right, if it looks too "wiggy' then it looks like Chris Barrie playing this sort of character, whereas the wig was so good in series four, 'Dimension Jump', that the whole thing really had a magic about it. But it was fun to do the character again."
The episode that tops the Red Dwarf VI charts for Chris Barrie and most of the production team is 'Gunmen of the Apocalypse', where they got the chance to become cowboys for a day. "They were good, the horses, fulfilling your dreams of being a cowboy was wonderful and some good performances by the guest and was a good story. I think everyone rose to the occasion in that one and made the best of what we could do. We had a beautiful day down in the Laredo, with Gerard the stunt-man, a good egg, doing the biz."
They not only had the chance to dress up as cowboys, but they got the pose on horse-back too. "Frightening," Chris admits. "I'd never ridden a horse and the most frightening moment was that last, the fly-past bit. Danny went 'yee-hah!' and the horse knows what that means! And off they bloody-well went! But that was fun. I had a good outfit for that one, I liked that outfit."
'Gunmen' was filmed in a real cowboy village built for tourists. With the Red Dwarf cast famed out for having a laugh and mucking around at every opportunity, there were doubts that all the scenes would get filmed. "I remember everyone saying, 'oh, it's going to be a hell of a day'," Chris says. "We wasted about 45 minutes to start with, but after that everyone was so excited that the weather was so good and everything was how it should be, that everyone was panicking over what they were going to do. But once we got it down, we got it moved pretty quickly and everyone was good. The horses were well behaved. One of them fell over at one point, I don't know why falling asleep on his feet or something, but he just fell over. Quite funny, quite odd. There was a bit of mucking about, but when you get a gun holster in your hand and there's bullets and there's horses and those buildings there, it was just fun."
Rimmer truly has the world at his feet when he is the genesis of a colony on a previously uninhibited planet. His megalomania hits new heights when the population on 'Rimmer World' is based on his personality. Venturing outside to film his first on the planet was an uncomfortable experience for the actor. "It was freezing on that sandbank, that's what I remember of that," he says bluntly. "Bloody freezing! The wind-chill factor, I think, was the extraordinary thing. I had thermals on underneath, but [it was] just a wild, windy day."
Almost as bad as standing naked in an English forest on a cold day in early March? Fortunately, Chris was saved that trial because the newly-born Rimmer who burst from an egg on 'Rimmer World' was a stand-in. "It wasn't me," Chris confirms. "He didn't look anything like me at all, but it will hopefully be a very quick shot He must have been freezing, he looked quite cold, but he was a bit of a commando, he was used to that kind of thing."
There was a good moment, too, when he had to kiss on of the concubines in the Rimmer World Court. In reality, she was an actress, by the magic of editing, she appeared to be another Rimmer clone. "I had to snog myself, which looked really grim," says Chris. "It was cut quite well, it looked quite creepy, but it didn't feel creepy because I was actually kissing the girl."
Like many episodes in the sixth series, Chris feels 'Rimmer World' would have been better if it had had more rehearsal and filming time. "Things were being slightly rushed, I think," he says. "I don't think there was enough time out into the Rimmer World Emperor and those kinds of people. We could have done so many super things with the concubines and all that sort of business I something like 'Rimmer World', maybe it needed the quality, because maybe it might not be as strong in some of the other directions."
The last episode of the series saw another costume for Rimmer, but the one was less flattering as he was aged into a rather unpleasant, fat character. The padding is hot," says Chris, who had to spend a day under the studio lights dresses up as an obese Rimmer. "The novelty of getting laughs and walking around like a fat git wore off It was quite weird seeing the ideas of aging. I'll keep those little photographs and think when I get to 50 or 55 or whatever, and look upon it. I think if I look there facially it'll be all right, but I hope I don't put that much weight on!"
'Out of Time' also gave Chris Barrie the chance to get to grips with some gritty acting with a death scene. "That was enjoyable, all of that," he says. "I had to do a bit of acting there which was quite fun. What happened was exactly right, as someone said. The first death there'll be a bit of a titter [from the studio audience], but you've got to make them believe they could all be out here. I think eventually did believe it, they got into the drama of the occasion, and then the next laugh in the sequence is 'Smeg, I'm a hero'. Again they were almost laughing after the word 'Sm..', it was that kind of an audience. But it was fun using the old bazookoids, I never get to use the bazookoids, but yes, it was a nice ending. And of course, it leaves it all open for the future."
Although Red Dwarf VI is arguably one of the best series since the show began, Chris is critical of the way it was produced this year. When the BBC said they wanted Red Dwarf VI finished by the Spring, the writers were forced into a tight schedule, which meant some of the scripts were close to the deadline. Towards the end of seven weeks of filming, the cast were given little time to learn their lines. "We had a bit of help with the boards and things, which is very sensible, as we saw. Really you should learn them, it's the best way. Mastering the art of using a prompter or a board is very different to acting. It's nice to know the line and act it one hundred percent, but if you get the scripts that late, what can you do?"
Chris believes a lot of the problems could be solved through more resources and having a leading figure in control, like Producers Paul Jackson and Ed Bye in the earlier series. "I'd like to see it having more time and money. I'd like to see one strong person at the helm of the production because I think a lot of direction by committee is not a good way forward and it presents the crews and the artists with a tremendous amount of confusion and ultimately wastes a lot of time. If there's no other way but to have direction by committee, then the actual Director who's on the committee must be someone like Ed Bye who is going to drive the show along, who's got the confidence and the wherewithal and the sensitivity and the general man-management skills required."
And with the science fiction element of the show becoming more complicated, Chris suggests that having a studio audience there is creating bigger problems. "It is getting more and more difficult, it seems, to do it in front of the audience: (a) because of the time factor involved, we haven't enough rehearsals; and (b) because there's visual effects. Then everyone gets in a vaudevillian situation, when you've got two-and-a-half hours of recording time and your doing a show, people get a bit tetchy and adrenaline pumps and you can almost have accidents. So I think it would be good for everyone if there was more time Questions have to be asked about the production."
But Chris acknowledges it is still a mould-breaking programme: "Red Dwarf's right up there, being very esoteric and different and funny, and a work of a genius," he says.
So with discussions about a possible seventh series underway, is Chris keen to come back? "I'm keen to do more Red Dwarf," he says tentatively. "The thing about Red Dwarf, it is an exciting show on paper, the scripts, the stories in many ways makes the struggles worthwhile, but I think the series was, 'well, it's getting a bit difficult this year isn't it? We thought that was maybe because Ed wasn't around, a new Director and then no Director for a few of them. S we thought 'things will get better next year'. Next year has come along and, if anything, things are slightly worse. Now, earlier on I've outlined what I think it is, I think it's if you didn't have an Ed Bye figure, he would get the scripts in early so we'd have enough time to do it properly. When you've got the boys in complete control, there's no one to hurry them along with the scripts, apart from their agent. Then you will always get their style of production, which is by committee and slowly inching forward and sometimes keeping people in the dark. I've said it to them several times over the past two months, to their faces. I've decided if you've got an opinion, just say it these days because at least people will know where you stand. When it affects us, the cast, who sometimes I believe were being taken for granted. So yes I'd like to do another Red Dwarf, but under very different circumstances."