Red Dwarf star Chris Barrie has expressed his excitement after being confirmed to return to the beloved comedy series as the narrator of a new prequel novel.
Return to the Red Dwarf Universe
Chris Barrie, famous for portraying Arnold Rimmer in the cult sci-fi comedy, will voice the audiobook of Red Dwarf: Titan, a spin-off novel written by co-creator Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall.
Barrie 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 actor added: "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."
Previous Narration Work
Besides his iconic role as Rimmer across 13 series, Barrie previously narrated the first two Red Dwarf novels: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1992) and Better Than Life (1995).
About the Prequel
Red Dwarf: Titan serves as a prequel to the BBC sci-fi comedy, which follows Craig Charles's Dave Lister, who wakes after three million years to find he is the last remaining human. His companions are a hologram of his deceased bunkmate, Arnold Rimmer (Barrie), and a humanoid creature descended from his pet cat (Danny John-Jules).
In an interview with Radio Times shortly before his death, co-writer Grant revealed: "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."
Grant also disclosed that the story sees 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." He assured fans that Red Dwarf's signature silliness is back, promising they will "laugh their little chippers off."
Red Dwarf is available to stream on BBC iPlayer, and Red Dwarf: Titan will be published in hardback, ebook, and audio on July 16.
