Sets

Having already had a new interior ship set designed and built for Series X meant that efforts could be focused elsewhere for the eleventh series - although due to some damage accrued while in storage, and a general desire to freshen things up, there was still some work required to revamp the existing sleeping quarters.

The major new set, however, was a Science/Medical Room - which, in the smaller space of the new studio, took the place of what would have been the regular "guest set" during Series X. This new room glistened under studio lighting with a lovely retro-futurist feel to its control panels and walls - and featured a medical bed previously seen in the movie Prometheus. Many of the series' ship-bound set pieces took place on this set, lightening the load on the sleeping quarters and helping the ship to feel less claustrophobic.

The corridor run along the back of and between the two rooms was used to its fullest, too - shot from a variety of different angles, often within the same scene, to create the effect of moving around a much bigger ship. Flipping camera angles when moving up and down levels in lifts helped, too.

Surely the most eagerly awaited aspect of the Series XI sets among fans, however, was a brand new Starbug cockpit. Although smaller than those seen in any previous series - even the first, two-seater variant - it nevertheless laid claim to being the best yet, packed with detail and even its own running gag in the shape of the "ALERT"/"NOT ALERT" sign. A removable fourth wall meant that it could be shot from the standard three-quarter angle for the majority of scenes, but that footage could also show the other side of Rimmer and Lister's heads as necessary.

Packed into its small dimensions were all manner of switches, lights and dials which, along with the rugged seats, gave it the feel of a twentieth century aircraft as much as anything else. Production designer Julian Fullalove saw this as nicely reflective of the show's late-1980s origins.

For the various trips to other ships that would be required, clever use was made of any and all available space around, and sometimes under, the audience seating. In this way, both the Samsara and the Nova 3 could be presented as distinct sets in their respective episodes.

But when it came to Twentica, the biggest challenge was creating the location of the New York street and the Lady Be Good Club. Astonishingly, there was no location footage whatsoever in this episode: instead, the street scene was created as an interior set, the largest Dwarf had ever made use of. These scenes were pre-recorded, as the set ran the entire length of the studio wall where the audience seating would be installed later that week. The club, meanwhile, was a complete redress of the Science Room set - with not a glimpse of metallic ship wall visible behind the new brick-based façade.