In the long and celebrated history of British sit-coms, Red Dwarf has to be the most unique. On the one hand it follows the tried and tested formula of laddish antics, which made shows like Porridge and Men Behaving Badly so popular, but it stood out from the crowd thanks to its particular situation of lads in space. This far out setting enabled the show to go where no other sitcom had gone before, and throughout its ten series the show has produced some of the most original science fiction ideas ever broadcast. New concepts such as the justice zone, psi-moons and white holes are an integral part of its charm, but they also featured alongside classic sci-fi staples; everything from parallel universes to shape shifting monsters were lampooned, and given a fresh spin through the comedy lens. Temporal phenomena were undoubtedly the most prolific of these standards though, with a large percentage dealing with wormholes or time wands of some description. From witnessing historical events, unravelling paradoxes, and meeting their own past/future selves, some of the shows biggest laughs come from theoretical physics' biggest head spinners. With a rich history in the past and an eleventh series due in the near future, what better time than the present to look back at those timeline tangles...?
