Red Dwarf Series Six DVD Box Set

Finally, we have arrived at my own personal favourite season of the beyond-cult sitcom Red Dwarf. Series Six was where the characters were perfectly established in everyone's minds, the writing was sharp and consistently hilarious, never mind funny, and even the effects, set and costume were all in place.

It is, in short, brilliant from start to finish.

The main change from previous seasons is that Red Dwarf itself does not feature at all. Lister has parked it around a 'blue green planetoid', and can't remember which one. Thus, the driving force behind each episode is following Red Dwarf's vapour trail in Starbug. This neatly allows the crew to move from set piece to set piece, whilst also removing the increasingly little-used Holly from the cast.

Psirens explores a variation on the ancient Greek tale of deadly creatures that lure you down to the rocks with wicked tempations...and then suck your brains out with a straw.

Legion is very notable as the episode in which Rimmer gains a 'hard light drive' which allows him to interact with physical objects - something that is immediately taken advantage of the by the writers as some quite nasty violence follows.

Gunmen of the Apocalypse (voted second best episode ever, poll fans) takes the crew inside Kryten's mind as he battles a nasty computer virus that has Starbug locked into a collision course with a lava planet.

Emohawk sees the return of none other than Ace Rimmer and Duane Dibley - in the same episode! The crew have to fight off another shape changing creature after upsetting a Gelf tribe. They're upset, because Lister has just run out on the hairy bride he's just married.

Rimmerworld shows perhaps the ultimate nightmare. After getting marooned on a planet by himself, Rimmer experiments with cloning to provide company, only to spawn (and there is no other word for it) thousands of duplicates of himself. Strangely, the crew still choose to rescue him.

The last episode, Out of Time, deals with time travel, alternate futures and high technology, before finishing with a cliffhanger that left everyone guessing.

The DVD Box Set contains many, many features. Cast commentaries, original documentary "The Starbuggers", Deleted Scenes, Smeg Ups, behind the scenes footage - it's all here, it's all official and once again it's excellent.

As I said at the beginning, this is the series where all the core concepts of Red Dwarf came together for six of the finest half hours of UK comedy gold. If you've ever sniggered at Rimmer, guffawed at Kryten, or thought the Cat was cool, you owe yourself to buy this and watch it.