Did you know the TARDIS was in Red Dwarf?
In British science fiction terms Doctor Who is the godfather of them all, a show that’s 60 years old and has been instrumental in entertaining generations of sci-fi fans with its brilliant adventures in space and time. Indeed, over the six decades its been on the air, the BBC show has not only launched the careers of a huge number of actors and created an enormous fanbase across the globe, but it has also been influential in the genre of science fiction across television, movies, video games and literature.
And it goes without doubt that the creators of Red Dwarf, the sci-fi comedy starring Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Robert Llewellyn and Danny John-Jules, will have seen more than a few episodes of Doctor Who over the years. But did you know that the show’s creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor actually paid homage to Doctor Who by sneaking a teeny, tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Easter egg into the series?
Well, you do now!
That’s right, in the 1992 season five episode of the show Demons & Angels when the crew are forced to hot-foot it off Red Dwarf in Starbug before it explodes, there is another spaceship that appears for a few seconds in the background. Yep, you guessed it, there’s a very small TARDIS hiding in the docking bay on Red Dwarf, but did you spot it when you watched the episode?
As you can see from the screenshot below, it really is quite small, and there is also a blue door close to the TARDIS which can confuse the eye even more. But, if you look really closely you can make out the TARDIS and the light on top.
Now sadly, shortly after Starbug hurtles past the TARDIS in this scene Red Dwarf the main ship explodes – so we never got a chance to see our fantasy crossover episode of Doctor Who x Red Dwarf happen, but who knows, maybe one day, eh?!
Doctor Who returns in November 2023 with three 60th-anniversary special episodes starring David Tennant and will be followed by Doctor Who season 14 starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as his new companion Ruby Sunday. The episodes will be the first to be shown as part of a new deal; between the BBC and Disney to make Disney+ the international home of Doctor Who.
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