Red Dwarf: Every Series Ranked From Worst To Best
9. Series 8
Where Series 8 places on this list depends on how you watch it. Watch the series episode to episode and you can have it right here. However, if you go into the DVD settings you'll find the option to watch two of the storylines as movies. Watch the series in this way and you can swap it with the series just ahead of this.
Back In The Red plays a lot better in this mode, as all three episodes are chained together and slightly recut. No longer needing to make sense as single episodes, they fit together a lot better as a single feature-length story. While Pete doesn't go through quite as many improvements when the two-parter is watched this way, simply removing the credits between the episodes allows for the comedy behind the boys constant visits to long-suffering Captain Hollister's office to ramp up as planned.
Gambles were taken in reintroducing the crew and putting the boys in a new situation in series 8, and not all of them paid off. While far from the best of Red Dwarf, this is still miles ahead of most other comedy of the time.