A Red Dwarf star has expressed his joy after confirming his return to the cherished comedy franchise. Chris Barrie is heading back to the Red Dwarf universe, having been announced as the narrator for the audiobook of the brand-new spin-off novel, Red Dwarf: Titan.
The actor, who immortalised Arnold Rimmer in the much-loved sci-fi comedy, will lend his voice to the latest book, written by Red Dwarf co-creator Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall, according to Radio Times.
Discussing his new role, Chris said: "I am finding Red Dwarf: Titan to be a very entertaining read. Recording any audiobook is always a challenge with so many characters to cover. But Red Dwarf: Titan, loaded as it is with laugh-out-loud lines and situations, is simply a joy!"
The star went on to say: "I'm delighted that the portrayer of Arnold J Rimmer himself, the fabulous multi-voiced Chris Barrie will be reading the audiobook of Red Dwarf Titan. And I'm certain that Rob would be too. In fact we would be noisily competing as to whom was the most delighted. Currently that's me."
Alongside his iconic portrayal of Rimmer throughout all 13 series of Red Dwarf, Chris also narrated the first two Red Dwarf novels: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1992) and Better Than Life (1995).
Red Dwarf: Titan will serve as a prequel to the BBC sci-fi comedy, which followed Craig Charles's Dave Lister as he awakens after three million years to find himself the last surviving human being. His sole companions are a hologram of his deceased bunkmate, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), and a humanoid being evolved from his pet cat (Danny John-Jules).
Speaking to Radio Times in the weeks preceding his death, co-author Grant explained of the novel: "It's Lister and Rimmer before the accident on shore leave on Titan. It's set one universe to the side, so we can have familiar characters but we can do different things with them, because the difficulty was writing something that was going to be original and fresh and using the same characters without breaking the canon."
He further revealed that the tale would see Lister and Rimmer "get a message from the far future warning them that all realities are going to collapse unless they do something about it." Grant also assured us that Red Dwarf's signature silliness is back in full force, with the writer promising that fans will "laugh their little chippers off."
Red Dwarf is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Red Dwarf: Titan will publish in hardback, ebook and audio on July 16.
