Don't worry smegheads, Red Dwarf is returning for a 12th series later this year, and we now have our first official images from the show, and it's rather disturbing.

The cast have long been teasing an episode in which all the Dwarfers turn into mechanoids just like Kryten, and we now have proof. Behold this monstrosity:

Dave

After years and years of Robert Llewellyn enduring (and no doubt complaining) about his hours and hours of make-up, the rest of the main cast finally found out just how uncomfortable it is.

Danny John-Jules (Cat) said: "It was quite disturbing. The thing was we could only see your eyes, scary it actually looks like you in the mask. We ended up in the scenes, kind of staring at each other.

"The problem was, the sweat sort of collects under the mask but outside it was about -5 degrees, so we'd run out to get fresh air and then nearly die of pneumonia!"

Craig Charles (Lister) said: "It was so uncomfortable, so hot, I thought I was crying at one point but I wasn't, I was sweating through my eyes! Chris got ill wearing it."

Chris Barrie (Rimmer) added: "It was brilliant in the morning, wasn't it, but over lunch, sitting in it and waiting is always the hardest bit. When you're working I'm not bothered about it, but when you're having to wait, and you're in the mask and you can't do anything, you're thinking, 'Is this going to come off?!'"

Dave

On being mean to Robert all this time, Danny added: "28 years of guilt, of calling him a big wuss. We literally went out bowing to [Rob], because it was amazing."

Robert said: "It was just the weirdest thing, they were absolutely them but they were all mechanoid versions of them, there's no way of describing it."

Red Dwarf will return for its 12th series on Dave this autumn. Speaking to Digital Spy earlier this year, Craig said that he expects it to keep going after that.

"I'm sure we'll be doing more, having done these two series," he said. "Because it's right back to where we should be, it's won comedy awards, so a lot of people appreciated what we did, and we're really grateful for that.

"Because when you go and mess with a legacy like Red Dwarf, you've got to get it right. I think people were disappointed with series 9, but I quite liked it.

UKTV

"People always go on about, 'You've got to make the Red Dwarf movie', that was what a Red Dwarf movie would be like. So I say, let's forget about the movie, let's focus on Red Dwarf the sitcom, because it's a sitcom."

Craig also promised fans that series 12 will be even better than the last. He said: "12 is stunning. It's like saving the best till last, there. We're really happy with the way it went, and it's definitely back on form.

"There's a lot of energy, and a lot of great ideas. Doug Naylor is a genius writer. There's that chemistry between the cast, that you can't teach.

"Some people say the secret of comedy is timing, it's not. It's energy. The energy was there, the energy was right. And we haven't grown up, which is really important. We haven't become world weary. We're still enjoying it."

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