Begin Again... Again

Red Dwarf XII goes into production.

Well, this is nice. Last time around, we had to wait nearly four years for Red Dwarf to go back into production. This time, it's barely been four weeks. Not since 1988 - when the second series was filmed just six months or so after the first - have two full sets of Red Dwarf been filmed so close together.

Yes, the crew are back, and as of this week full production and shooting has resumed on the six episodes that we're referring to for the moment as Red Dwarf XII - but we should perhaps warn you that as per Doug's recent interview with SFX magazine, it's still distinctly possible that some of the episodes filmed in 2015 could be part of the twelfth series, and some of the ones yet to be filmed could find themselves in the eleventh. But it's definitely easier for now to just call this production block "Series XII", so that's what we're doing.

Today is 1st shooting day on Red Dwarf XII. It's going to be a massive smegfest. — Robert Llewellyn (@bobbyllew) January 20, 2016

Even in the bizarre and space weird universe Red Dwarf exists in, today is hyper-bizarre and giga-weird. Truly — Robert Llewellyn (@bobbyllew) January 20, 2016

As before, production has begun with some advance location shooting, before moving back into the studios at Pinewood next week. The live audience filming sessions resume on Friday 29th January, and run for the following five Fridays until the final date on 4th March. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, if you're keen on getting tickets to see the shows and don't have one, keep your eye on Lost in TV's Twitter feed, as you may have a chance of getting in on "standby".

And if you are going to see the shows recorded, then please remember to stick to the "no spoilers on social media" policy that's so far been admirably adhered to by the three thousand or so fans who've already seen episodes filmed since 2011 - you wouldn't want to ruin things for everyone this far in, would you?

Of course, once the episodes have been filmed, the question of when we'll all actually get to see them will doubtless rear its head. As you can probably imagine, we don't yet have any firm news on that score - but the likelihood, as ever, is that Red Dwarf XI will air later in 2016, with Red Dwarf XII to follow some time in 2017. And all of this just before our thirtieth anniversary, too - it's definitely going to be a pretty epic few years.

But if you can't wait until then to see some Red Dwarf on Dave - well, stay tuned, as we could very well have some cool news for you on that front this time next week...

New Red Dwarf will land on Dave later this year! Follow us on Twitter for all the latest news.

All Red Dwarf XI/XII news: