Writing

Series II was left on a cliff-hanger - Lister's pregnancy - and it seemed to Grant and Naylor that the best idea was to round that storyline off. However, somewhere into the writing of the episode that was provisionally titled Dad, it was felt that the episode wasn't working - it seemed to be making fun of pregnant women, and the writers didn't want to offend.

The basic story of Dad told of Lister giving birth to his twin sons, Jim and Bexley, while Rimmer became something of a doting father figure. Having recreated the 'photograph' moment from Future Echoes, the crew (which included a rescued Kryten) discovered that the babies had an accelerated growth rate, and were approaching 18 years old after only a few days.

Most of this tale was told, instead, at the beginning of Backwards - if you paused the Star Wars spoofing scrolling captions to read them. The return of Kryten was something Doug Naylor had badgered Rob about incessantly. Rob wanted to resist the cliché of a robotic character, but with Rimmer unable to touch things, the Cat not interested in helping anyone and Holly being just a head on a monitor, it was felt that a pair of hands was needed to move the action along.

Another new introduction was the brand new spacecraft, Starbug. Originally conceived as 'White Midget' and renamed to suit the design that was eventually selected, the 'Bug was created for the Marooned episode as a location Rimmer and Lister could be trapped in without having to suffer the cramped confines of the Blue Midget. (This alteration has lead to a continuity mistake in Bodyswap's dialogue, as Lister suggests that he pursue Rimmer in White Midget.)

Series III - the first to utilise the roman numerals in its title, although they are never seen on-screen - had several sequences removed between writing and broadcast. The most famous is probably a sequence where the crew play strip poker at the beginning of Marooned (which was later shown on the Smeg Outs tape). That episode also had the Cat's 'Mush mush!' sequence truncated. Elsewhere, Bodyswap lost a segment where Kryten lit Rimmer's - in Lister's body - cigar with his finger.