10 Best One-Time Characters In Red Dwarf

In an impressive duel performance by actor Robert Llewellyn, the season VII episode, 'Beyond a Joke', sees the crew board a simulant ship to look for a replacement head for Kryten. There, they meet another 4000-series mechanoid, donned in green and calling himself Able.

His name is rather ironic, as his dependence on the addictive substance otrazone his rendered him a 'zoney', unable to even remember his name for more than ten seconds. The reason for his downward spiral is due to him uncovering a terrible secret: that his and Kryten's creator, Professor Mamet, designed the 4000-series in the image of her jilting ex-fiancé, intentionally making them look and act like a complete joke.

This secret is locked away in the androids' memories, for if their 'nega-drive' of negative emotions becomes too full, they will literally explode. After an otrazone-induced blunder by Able in the cockpit and a scolding by his 'brother', the forlorn bot takes it upon himself to fly out to the rogue simulant's ship in an escape pod, uploading Kryten's nega-drive and leading the depressed simulant to fire upon his own ship.

But in doing so, the explosion sends the escape pod straight into an asteroid, destroying Able. Kryten recovers the body off-screen, however, so perhaps the character may be repaired at some point in the current revived series.