Red Dwarf: Every Series Ranked From Worst To Best

Described by Craig Charles as White Dwarf for its overwhelmingly caucasian cast, the two pilots for Red Dwarf USA are amongst the most sought after and maligned episodes in the history of the show.

Casting Craig Bierko as Lister changed the character considerably and was emblematic of the problems for most fans. Far from the hamster-faced, slobby, loveable loser, we now had a traditional American hero archetype fronting the show. "I've still got that library book!" the British Lister exclaims when he finds out he's been in stasis for three million years, showing that he's got some serious fines coming his way if the library somehow still exists. In the American version, Lister says that his baseball cards will be worth a fortune, chalking one up in the win column for him.

This fundamental misunderstanding of what the show should be for American audiences and a lack of faith from the network meant that, when Grant and Naylor finally had their shot to break into the USA, the funding was mostly wasted on a version that didn't work and needed heavy rewrites just to make it even feel like Red Dwarf.