Red Dwarf

The ship's computer gets an upgrade and the result is a million light years away from Holly. The officious (and downright murderous) Pree soon makes Hal from 2001: a Space Odyssey look like Metal Mickey: just witness the way she deprives Lister of his "free supply of oxygen" and sets Red Dwarf on a collision course with a sun.

All of which would seem like a recipe for high drama, but this is a slightly baggier, flabbier episode than last week's series opener, with a couple of set-pieces that outstay their welcome.

Craig Charles delivers the goods though, especially in the scene where he gets blasted on a jug of Gelf hooch.

After a strong opener, there are hints this week that the Red Dwarf writing team may have spunked their creative beans a tad early. The show has already done a Space Odyssey parody (way back in season two) and re-treading the idea with this week's ice-cold, Siri-riffing ship computer would be fine if the gags were there to prop it up. Unfortunately, too much effort goes into exploring dead ends. The concept of Lister sending himself a Father's Day card (he happens to be his own dad - just go with it), for example, is fairly smart, but by the time he's holding a father-son summit with himself via pre-recorded video, the gag has more than run its course. A dud episode, but still light-years ahead of those awful Back to Earth specials. Here's hoping the gags find their mark again next week.

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Robert Llewellyn interview

Best-known for playing robot Kryten in the cult science fiction comedy show Red Dwarf, Robert Llewellyn talked to Neela Debnath at the Entertainment Media Show about reuniting with his co-stars for series X, the show's enduring popularity and his new book News from Gardenia. Craig Charles also made a guest appearance.

This is the second time that digital channel Dave has brought back the crew of a certain Jupiter Mining Corporation space ship that's three million light years away from Earth.

The first return of Red Dwarf (the three-part Back to Earth broadcast in 2009) had its moments, yet was considered a slight anticlimax. But now Red Dwarf's returned with Series X, it's gone back to basics. Shot in a studio and in front of a studio audience (that's not canned laughter, despite what some people will tell you), has the gambit paid off? Well, I'm proud to say that it smegging has!

The characters really are just as great as they were before. In this first episode, the despicable hologram Arnold Judas Rimmer (Chris Barrie) becomes so resentful that he crashes - due to self-created malware. He becomes even more frustrated when he encounters the crew of another spaceship, which is supposedly lead by his brother Howard. Meanwhile, the slobbish last-human-alive Dave Lister (Craig Charles) is trying desperately to order some rubbish product over the phone.

The 'situations' were expertly delivered and gags landed too. Even the more subtle visual humour - Cat (Danny John-Jules) walking behind a shot holding a huge map of the ship they are on, for example - doesn't fail to tickle your funny bone.

I do miss some things, though. I miss both Kochanski and Holly, and I miss the fact that there used to be no ad-breaks in the middle of the show. But other than a few picky issues, it's great to see Red Dwarf back.

Second outing this series for the Jupiter Mining Corp's least adept crew. With Lister busy trying to become a better father (to his near-future self), the remaining Dwarfers install a new computer, the beautiful if ruthlessly precognitive Pree (Rebecca Blackstone). A clear improvement on the haphazard pantomime that opened the series, and several genuine belly laughs are on offer here, though you can't help but feel the need to dial down the staginess and laboured gags if the show is to get anywhere near the quality of imperial phase Dwarf.