Twelve Rated
Plenty of reviews, and viewing figure news!
3 November, 2017
It's so unfair that after such a long buildup, it takes only six weeks to get through a new series of Red Dwarf - and with four episodes down as of last night, we're already two-thirds of the way through this one. But while we await the arrival of the utterly splendid fifth and sixth episodes M-Corp and Skipper, we thought it'd be a good time to look at how the four episodes broadcast so far have been going down with everyone.
And the answer is... pretty smegging well indeed. Which is a good thing, as it means that (a) rounding up the reviews is enjoyable, and (b) we don't have to set the Crit Cops on you all. Here's an episode-by-episode run-through of some of the more notable critical reactions so far:
CURED
"A classic Red Dwarf plot" Daily Mail
"A joy to see the original cast still having a ball on set" Daily Mirror
"The twelfth series has lost none of its zany, youthful
hyperdrive" TV Choice
"A welcome return" Mail on Sunday
"[The cast are] just as funny as they were when the show
started almost 30 years ago" Daily Star
"An excellent opening episode" Flickering Myth
"Comfort telly at its finest" Digital Spy
"This is Dave era Red Dwarf firing on all cylinders" Gazpacho Soup
SILICONIA
"Red Dwarf at its comedic peak... an instant classic" The Palace of Wisdom
"Classic Red Dwarf" Sci-Fi Bulletin
"Staggeringly ambitious... the best-looking episode of
Red Dwarf ever made" Den of Geek
"Classic Dwarf" Cultfix
"One of the biggest, boldest and best episodes of
Red Dwarf of the past two decades" Cr@bpendium
"Funny, moving... [feels] just like Red Dwarf should" Ganymede & Titan
TIMEWAVE
"Infectious silliness - it would be a fool who has a bad word
to say about it" Radio Times
"At this halfway juncture I don't think it's premature
to declare Red Dwarf XII an extraordinary run" Cr@bpendium
"Still as funny as ever" Scified
"A fun high camp romp of an episode" The Gay UK
"Red Dwarf at its most unhinged... brilliant guest
performances" MyM Buzz
MECHOCRACY
"A ship-bound, character-driven satire... bona fide classic" Den of Geek
"Glorious fan service... sits high in the Dave era" Gazpacho Soup
"The best episode of the season so far - very funny but also very satisfying, with the gags flowing naturally from the storyline" MyM Buzz
"While the first half of XII has seen some brilliant guests, nothing is better than the foursome front and centre... A classic story, a fan-pleasing result" The Palace of Wisdom
Naturally, with TV reviews being what they are, a lot more attention was given to the first episode by the mainstream press than those after - but thank you to those dedicated online outlets who have continued to cover the show week-on-week!
And that brings us on nicely to an update on how the viewing figures have been for the initial part of this run. Well, things got off to a great start with Cured, which pulled in just over 700,000 "overnight" viewers for a 3.7% share in its slot - making it comfortably the highest-rated show to air on Dave all year, and the highest non-PSB, non-sport commission of the entire week! Consolidated figures - taking into account repeats and catch-up - boosted that figure to a mightily impressive 1.2 million.
But what's been really impressive has been how the figures have held up in subsequent weeks. Siliconia only lost a few thousand viewers in the overnights - and remarkably, Timewave actually gained viewers, for a series-high so far of 723,000. This is the first time a mid-series episode of Red Dwarf has ever recorded higher figures than its series premiere (it's an exceedingly rare thing to happen in TV in general) - and is testament to how people just don't want to stop watching this show.
We look forward with excitement to seeing how the second half of the series stacks up!
Red Dwarf XII continues on Thursday nights in November, exclusively on Dave!
All Red Dwarf XI/XII news:
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