Red Dwarf: Every Major Character Ranked From Worst To Best

A fun loving, laid back, musically inclined Scouser, Dave Lister is a character Craig Charles could play in his sleep - the fact that he continues to put such effort into his portrayals is a testament to the man and what the creation has to offer to the actor.

Red Dwarf was always a show interested in taking at least a bit of a look into life’s larger questions, and Lister’s status as the final human being in the universe makes him a character with a potential for real heft. The writers along with Charles juggle this well, with Lister believably oscillating between a space adventurer looking to keep humanity ticking and a slob interested primarily in curry and sex.

Lister is an unlikely leading man with his questionable hygiene and complete lack of ambition, but his everyman status is a great counterpoint to the madness that fills most episodes of the show. He’s the glue that keeps the show going and brilliantly bridges the quotidian and the craziness that makes up Red Dwarf.