10 TV Endings Actors Didn't Know Were Going To Happen
5. Rimmer Beats Up Death - Red Dwarf
The original run of legendary Brit sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf came to an end with its series eight finale, "Only the Good...," where Arnold Rimmer's (Chris Barrie) number finally appears to be up.
On the fiery remnants of the Red Dwarf ship, Rimmer is approached by the Grim Reaper - played by series director Ed Bye - but at that moment, Rimmer kicks Death in the crotch, tells him, "Only the good die young," and promptly runs off.
Red Dwarf's final episode was an infamously troubled production, with co-creator Doug Naylor writing numerous drafts of the episode, and getting especially stuck on cracking the ending.
The first filmed ending saw Rimmer being reunited with the Red Dwarf crew in a more outwardly conclusive final scene, but Naylor ultimately found this unsatisfying and went back to reshoot the ending.
After mulling over an ending where Rimmer's heroic alter-ego Ace Rimmer instead rescues him, Naylor too threw this out and never even bothered filming it.
And so, at the very last minute, Naylor finally came up with the Death ending, ensuring Rimmer actor Chris Barrie had no idea how Red Dwarf was actually going to end until the eleventh hour.