Red Dwarf characters

Character descriptions and casting details for the Red Dwarf BBC sitcom and series of novels by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.

Other Red Dwarf crew

Captain Frank Hollister

Captain Frank Hollister is played by American actor Mac MacDonald in the television series.

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Hollister is the overweight captain of the interplanetary mining vessel Red Dwarf. He is seen in the first episode, in which he sentences Dave Lister to eighteen months in stasis for bringing a cat on board. When Lister is released Hollister, along with the rest of the crew, has been radioactive dust for three million years.

Related Topics:
Overweight - Red Dwarf - Dave Lister - Stasis

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In the first episode, Hollister was introduced giving a speech at the funeral of a crewmember, who was the ship's hologram for about three scenes. Later in that episode he confronted Lister about the existence of Lister's pet cat, Frankenstein, giving him a choice between either giving the cat up for extermination or going into stasis. He was also briefly seen in the final episode of the season in Arnold Rimmer's video of his own death. He has just enough time to blame Rimmer for the accident which is about to wipe out the crew before the initial explosion hits. The credits for this season only list him as "The Captain".

Related Topics:
Hologram - Lister - Arnold Rimmer

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He had a more substantial role in the second season episode, Stasis Leak, in which the regulars travel back in time. He is seen once more upbraiding Lister, this time for slipping hallucinogenic mushrooms into Rimmer's breakfast, and later in a chicken outfit for a costume party, being attacked by Rimmer who believes him to be a hallucination.

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In Season 8, with the crew resurrected by nanobots, Hollister became a main character. While his main purpose still seemed to be railing at Lister and Rimmer, we learned some more about him, most notably that his wife's name is Martha; that his weight problem is at least partially due to his love of orange popsicles, mint-choc ice cream, Coca-Cola, and Martha's muffins; and, most interestingly, that he gained his position through blackmail and is really "Dennis the Doughnut Boy". He now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after an incident with a baby T Rex. According to Rimmer, Hollister won the "Mr. Fat Bastard 2044" award.

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Olaf Petersen

Olaf Petersen is played by Mark Williams in the television series. He is a Danish catering officer on the Red Dwarf mining vessel.

Related Topics:
Mark Williams - Danish

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First appearing in the pilot episode, Petersen was the best friend of Dave Lister. He, Lister, Selby and Chen spent most of their free time getting drunk. Rimmer considered him to be "a Danish moron". When Petersen went to have a mind scan for his hologrammatic programme, the machine crashed three times claiming a non human life form was aboard the ship.

Related Topics:
Dave Lister - Selby and Chen - Rimmer

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Like the rest of the crew Petersen was killed in the radiation leak. His remains were found in the Drive Room as a white powder that Lister tasted. However he subsequently appeared in two other episodes: in a first season flashback to before the accident in Balance of Power and when Lister and The Cat travelled back in time to before the accident in the second season episode Stasis Leak. Also in Balance of Power, an error with the ships hologram generation unit resulted in Rimmer being given his arm.

Related Topics:
The Cat - Hologram

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Petersen was resurrected along with the rest of the crew in series 8, but was not seen, although he was often referred to.

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The novel ' reveals that Petersen was aboard Red Dwarf in order to make his way to the dome colony on Triton, where he had bought an extravagant house for only two thousand dollarpounds - the cheapness being because the colony's oxygen atmosphere had not been installed yet. It also explains that he was not chosen to keep Lister company as a hologram despite being his best friend, because according to Holly, "The only thing you had in common was consuming ridiculous amounts of alcohol, and he couldn't keep himself sane let alone others." In the novel Backwards a Petersen from an alternate reality where the radiation leak never happened makes an appearance - he explains that he is still aboard Red Dwarf and not living in his house on Triton because alcohol was prohibited. He also bought a Marilyn Monroe droid on Callisto, which turned out to be a load of rubbish (apart to other androids).

Related Topics:
Triton - Hologram - Alcohol - Marilyn Monroe - Callisto

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Selby and Chen

Selby and Chen are played by David Gillespie and Paul Bradley, respectively. Chen works in the ship's kitchens and is always drunk. Selby is always drunk, too. They both have a crush on Kochanski.

Related Topics:
David Gillespie - Paul Bradley

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First appearing in the pilot episode, they spent most of their free time with Lister and Petersen getting drunk. Their motto was "Skive hard, play hard."

Related Topics:
Lister - Petersen

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Like the rest of the crew they were killed in the radiation leak. However they subsequently appeared in a flashback to before the accident in the first series episode Balance of Power.

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When the crew were resurrected in Series 8, Selby and Chen were the first crewmembers the regular characters encountered. They have not been seen subsequently. An unbroadcast scene would have revealed that they would have done everything in their power to prevent Lister being sent to the Tank (the ship prison), but the pub was open.

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Chen came up with the theory that everyone has two people inside themselves, Confidence and Paranoia when it comes to meeting women. When Lister contracts a mutated form of pneumonia, his hallucinations of his Confidence and his Paranoia become real.

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George McIntyre

George McIntyre was a minor character in the first Red Dwarf book.

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McIntyre was an officer on Red Dwarf who was severely depressed due to growing debt problems. After a horrifying experience in the hands of thugs (he was force fed his own nose), McIntyre committed suicide. He was brought back as a hologram and replaced the ship's first hologram, Frank Saunders (much to Saunders' relief). McIntyre came back at his "Welcome Back Reception" and thanked everyone for flowers and turning up at his funeral. His choice of music at the funeral was "See Ya Later Alligator" as his ashes was blasted into space. He was presumably switched off during the radioactive disaster for Rimmer to replace him to keep Lister sane.

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Frank Todhunter

Frank Todhunter appeared in the first episode only. He was played by Robert Bathurst.

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Todhunter's job title was never explained. He was in charge of the stasis booth and tried to describe how it worked to anyone who went there. He was also an exam invigilator. When Rimmer took his exam, he panicked and did his Full Rimmer salute to Todhunter, then fainted.

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Rimmer described Todhunter as a "total gimp". He also claimed Todhunter's success was due to a privileged background, speculating that he had been breastfed on chilled champagne and gazpacho soup.

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In the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Rimmer attempted to pass himself off as "Christopher Todhunter" when, on their first meeting, Lister attempted to blackmail him about his visit to an android brothel. Whether this was a reference to a genuine Red Dwarf crewmember, or a made-up name is unclear; Todhunter's role later in the story was taken by First Technician Petrovich.

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Warden Ackerman

Warden Ackermen is played by Graham McTavish.

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He is a stereotypically sadistic warden, enjoying his power over the inmates in Floor 13 (Red Dwarf's brig). He has a glass eye, which at one point is stolen from him. Prone to overreaction, he is a victim of pranks from the inmates on more than one occasion. After having sodium pentothal put into his inhaler as a prank, he shows up late at a meeting with the captain and reveals that he was sorry, but he was busy having "gigi gigi" with the Science Officer's wife, and needed time to change out of his Batman costume.

Related Topics:
Sodium pentothal - Inhaler

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Kill Crazy

Kill Crazy is a minor character played by Jake Wood in the television series.

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Kill Crazy is a psychopathic inmate who is obsessed with killing things. He is not very bright, thinking that he could fight a Tyrannosaurus Rex using his fists. His fighting buddy is Baxter.

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