The Man In the Rubber Mask
Page 30
After about twenty minutes we went back to the hotel and got de-Dwarfed. I don’t think I’ve ever had the make-up on for less time, even when we’ve done make-up tests and camera tests I have it on longer. Doug, Craig, Chris and I, plus what seemed like twenty other people, then crammed in another room and did a few interviews over a speakerphone. We had a very hurried supper and headed for the Prince Charles Cinema where the first episode was going to be shown to a packed house. I had quite a few friends attending, Nigel Planer, Lisa Rogers and many other people I’d worked with were in the auditorium, but I never saw them. It was all a bit busy.
The preview went down a storm, everyone seemed to love it, we did a short question and answer session afterwards. I was immensely grateful Doug was there, as many of the questions about plot development and storylines were dealt with by ‘the man who knows’. I just waffle when I’m asked. My son and his supermodel girlfriend were in the audience, she’d never seen Red Dwarf before and she said she loved it. Nice. I asked my son what he thought. ‘Yeah, not bad, can you lend me twenty quid, Dad?’ Nice.
The following night I sat down with my daughter and watched the episode as it went out. We’d had a takeaway curry beforehand, I’d helped her do her history homework about Pitt the Younger and George III’s influence over parliament in 1785, but by nine o’clock we were ready. My daughter laughed, she actually laughed, when Kryten gets a bit angry with the droid shopping channel customer service complaints department. ‘That was actually funny, Dad,’ she said and gave me a pat on the back. Nice.
So, what next for the small rouge one? I don’t know. I thought it was all over after series three back in 1989, so I’m keeping my options open.
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Cover photograph courtesy of UKTV
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ISBN 978-1-908717-77-1