Sets

The hard work of building a new set of interior ship sets had already been done for Series XI - but even with all the elements (bunkroom, corridors, Science Room and Starbug cockpit) already in place, there was still room for further evolution. Heck, this is Red Dwarf - nothing ever stands still.

A new production designer was brought in for Series XII, with Keith Dunne replacing Julian Fullalove, and building on the previous series' foundations while freshening things up a bit. The biggest changes on board Red Dwarf came with the sleeping quarters - the panels behind the bunks themselves were changed significantly, leading to a minor continuity error when the set was used to pick up the final scene of Series XI's Twentica early in the new year!

Incoming graphic designer Matthew Clark was tasked with fleshing out the background detail around the ship - and other locations - to give a stronger sense of world-building detail. A long-time fan of the show, Matthew littered his designs with easter eggs and references to a wide range of classic sci-fi. He also created brand new backlit panels for use in the Starbug cockpit - although again, thanks to pick-up work some of the new designs were briefly glimpsed in Series XI episodes, too.

The biggest change to Starbug, though, came behind the cockpit door. An "upper deck" set had been created for use in one scene of Series XI's Can of Worms, but was felt to be too small and claustrophobic. For Series XII, a new mid-section was required, primarily for use in Cured. In the process, the Can of Worms scene was also re-shot - so once again, a Series XII-built set actually made its debut a year early! Curiously enough, for reasons that have yet to be revealed onscreen, the mid-section was labelled "STARBUG 19"...

The handy all-purpose "extra corridor" set that had been used throughout Series XI again found use here - first redressed (and lit) in as deliberately garish a fashion as possible for Timewave, before gaining a grungy industrial feel for the United America station in Cured. And it then went in the opposite direction with the gleaming, white corporate tech sterility of M-Corp.

But the biggest job the design crew had on Series XII was in painstakingly recreating the original ship design for Skipper. For the corridors, this simply meant turning everything from red to grey and adding a few LEVEL NIVELO signs and period-appropriate screen graphics around the place. But for the iconic bunkroom and Captain's Office sets, nothing but pure accuracy would do.

With little in the way of contemporary photographs to work from, the team recreated posters and other graphics from around the set from scratch. And several objects that no longer existed were recreated - from duvets, to the blue mini sofa, all the way to the superb model of the original ship design that sat on the Captain's desk (built, in classic Red Dwarf style, out of pieces from assorted tank model kits).

The intent was to make the set feel as much as possible like scenes from Series I - not to create a "new" version that fit in with the current series' aesthetic - and this even extended to Ed Moore lighting the set with the exact same type of gels as originator John Pomphrey had done three decades previously.

The proof was in the pudding on the night the show was recorded: with the pull-back and reveal of the recreated set drawing a huge and affectionate reaction from the onlooking fans.

Photos from http://matthew-clark.co.uk/.