Camille (Red Dwarf episode)
Encyclopedia
"Camille" is the first episode of science fiction
sitcom Red Dwarf
Series IV, and the nineteenth episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 14 February 1991. The episode was planned to be shown third, but was moved forward in the schedule to be shown on Valentine's Day
. Written by Rob Grant
and Doug Naylor
, and directed by Ed Bye
. The episode, a subtle parody of the Casablanca
film, sees Kryten rescue and fall in love with an android who appears to be the same model as himself.
's lessons in lying, cheating and all-round rebellion initially seem to be having an effect on Kryten
. However, when the Cat
appears he just can't lie. He can't seem to do it when someone else is there. The lessons are cut short when Kryten obediently takes Rimmer
asteroid-spotting in Starbug. When they receive a distress call from a doomed ship Lister's insubordination training allows Kryten to go and search for survivors despite Rimmer's order to keep a safe distance away. On the ship he finds Camille, who appears to be a female 4000 GTi mechanoid and for her and Kryten, it's a case of advanced mutual compatibility at first sight.
Kryten and Camille board Starbug and make their way back to Red Dwarf. When Rimmer sees Camille he doesn't see her as a mechanoid but as a female hologram. However, when Lister sees her he sees the last human female alive. When Rimmer asks Camille, in Lister's presence, if she would like him to talk her through his collection of photographs of twentieth-century telegraph poles he seems to get a different answer from what Lister hears. This makes Lister suspicious so he questions Camille about it and she concedes "that they would have found out eventually". She's a pleasure GELF
- a Genetically Engineered Life Form - who appears to each individual as the object of their desire.
When the Cat hears about this he goes to see Camille and finds that his perfect companion is none other than himself. Initially Kryten is hurt, but after Camille reveals that she's actually a slimy green blob with tentacles, he then thinks they can make a go of it. But when Camille's husband Hector turns up, Kryten uses all Lister's teachings, plus plenty of inspiration from the movie Casablanca
, and tells her she'll regret it if she stays, then stoically waves goodbye. Lister notes that Kryten lied in order to get her to leave, and Kryten confirms this and tells Lister, that as he's responsible for all this, he's "a total smeghead". Lister couldn't be happier that Kryten's able to insult him, and the two walk off as Lister notes that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship...
to Shepperton Studios
due to the old studio undergoing refurbishment. Shepperton turned out to be blessing to the show as it allowed for use of the sets
for rehearsals in addition to recording. Production starting with Series IV also permanently shifted to Grant Naylor Productions.
The droid version of the GELF was played by Judy Pascoe, Robert Llewellyn
's then girlfriend (they have since married). Robert has often joked how he use to complain to Judy about the amount of make-up he has to endure, and yet when Judy wore it she had no complaints. She also provided the voice of the blob Camille, which was controlled from inside by effects artist Mike Tucker.
The initial plan was for Camille to appear as Kristine Kochanski
in Lister's eyes; while this later changed, Suzanne Rhatigan
was still credited as "Kochanski Camille". Like Pascoe and Llewellyn, Rhatigan and Craig Charles
were in a relationship at the time of the recording. The Hologram Camille was played by Francesca Folan. Rupert Bates voiced the Hector Blob.
, Lister's favourite film, was used for the main plot of the episode and is mentioned and referenced throughout. Kryten and Camille even watch the film in the episode. When Lister explains to Kryten why it is needed to lie he mentions examples of Humphrey Bogart
in the Casablanca ending scene and Nelson
's "I see no ships" line. The ending of Casablanca is also parodied in the Kryten and Camille farewell scene.
Lister watches a vid recording of the television show Tales of the Riverbank: The Next Generation, a parody of the Tales of the Riverbank
show and Star Trek: The Next Generation
. Lister compares the main character Hammy Hamster the rodent equivalent of Marlon Brando
. The television show St. Elsewhere
is named by Lister as a tongue-in-cheek defense of his credentials to be ship's surgeon ("I've seen every episode"). His Spider-Man
costume is also mentioned.
Steve McQueen
and the film The Blob
are referenced by Lister after Kryten takes the true form of Camille to dinner.
and so it went out first. Further changes to the series' running order came about because of the outbreak of the Gulf War
and the subject matter of some of the other episodes, notably "Dimension Jump
" featuring the war-hero Ace Rimmer and the anti-war-themed "Meltdown". The episode received a mixed response from viewers, although it has been noted as being a favourite amongst some fans.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
sitcom Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
Series IV, and the nineteenth episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 14 February 1991. The episode was planned to be shown third, but was moved forward in the schedule to be shown on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
. Written by Rob Grant
Rob Grant
Robert Grant is a British comedy writer and television producer, who was born in Salford and studied Psychology at Liverpool University for two years....
and Doug Naylor
Doug Naylor
Douglas R. Naylor is a British comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer.Naylor was born in Manchester, England and studied at the University of Liverpool. In the mid-1980s, Naylor wrote two regular comedy sketch shows for BBC Radio 4 entitled Cliché and Son of Cliché...
, and directed by Ed Bye
Ed Bye
Edward Richard Morrison Bye is a British film and TV producer and director. He is best known for his work with Grant Naylor, Harry Enfield and Jasper Carrott, and has worked with many of British TV's best known comedians and comedy actors...
. The episode, a subtle parody of the Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
film, sees Kryten rescue and fall in love with an android who appears to be the same model as himself.
Plot
ListerDave Lister
David "Dave" Lister, commonly referred to simply as Lister, is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf, portrayed by Craig Charles...
's lessons in lying, cheating and all-round rebellion initially seem to be having an effect on Kryten
Kryten
Kryten is a fictional character in the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. Kryten's registration code on Red Dwarf is "Kryten additional 001". The name Kryten is a reference to the head butler in the J.M...
. However, when the Cat
Cat (Red Dwarf)
The Cat is a character in the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. He is played by Danny John-Jules.-Character development:According to Danny John-Jules, the character of Cat is based on a combination of Little Richard's look, James Brown's moves and Richard Pryor's facial...
appears he just can't lie. He can't seem to do it when someone else is there. The lessons are cut short when Kryten obediently takes Rimmer
Arnold Rimmer
Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf, played by Chris Barrie. He is unpopular with his crew mates, and is often the target of insults or pranks...
asteroid-spotting in Starbug. When they receive a distress call from a doomed ship Lister's insubordination training allows Kryten to go and search for survivors despite Rimmer's order to keep a safe distance away. On the ship he finds Camille, who appears to be a female 4000 GTi mechanoid and for her and Kryten, it's a case of advanced mutual compatibility at first sight.
Kryten and Camille board Starbug and make their way back to Red Dwarf. When Rimmer sees Camille he doesn't see her as a mechanoid but as a female hologram. However, when Lister sees her he sees the last human female alive. When Rimmer asks Camille, in Lister's presence, if she would like him to talk her through his collection of photographs of twentieth-century telegraph poles he seems to get a different answer from what Lister hears. This makes Lister suspicious so he questions Camille about it and she concedes "that they would have found out eventually". She's a pleasure GELF
GELF
G.E.L.F. or simply GELF is an acronym for Genetically Engineered LifeForm. It was used in two science fiction television programs, originally appearing in the BBC's cult sitcom Red Dwarf, and later on in the U.S...
- a Genetically Engineered Life Form - who appears to each individual as the object of their desire.
When the Cat hears about this he goes to see Camille and finds that his perfect companion is none other than himself. Initially Kryten is hurt, but after Camille reveals that she's actually a slimy green blob with tentacles, he then thinks they can make a go of it. But when Camille's husband Hector turns up, Kryten uses all Lister's teachings, plus plenty of inspiration from the movie Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, and tells her she'll regret it if she stays, then stoically waves goodbye. Lister notes that Kryten lied in order to get her to leave, and Kryten confirms this and tells Lister, that as he's responsible for all this, he's "a total smeghead". Lister couldn't be happier that Kryten's able to insult him, and the two walk off as Lister notes that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship...
Production
For Series IV, recording of the show moved from the studios in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
to Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
due to the old studio undergoing refurbishment. Shepperton turned out to be blessing to the show as it allowed for use of the sets
Set construction
Set construction is the process by which a set designer works in collaboration with the director of a production to create the set for a theatrical, film or television production...
for rehearsals in addition to recording. Production starting with Series IV also permanently shifted to Grant Naylor Productions.
The droid version of the GELF was played by Judy Pascoe, Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn is an English actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known as the mechanoid Kryten in the hit sitcom Red Dwarf, and for his role as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge.-Early career:...
's then girlfriend (they have since married). Robert has often joked how he use to complain to Judy about the amount of make-up he has to endure, and yet when Judy wore it she had no complaints. She also provided the voice of the blob Camille, which was controlled from inside by effects artist Mike Tucker.
The initial plan was for Camille to appear as Kristine Kochanski
Kristine Kochanski
Kristine Z. Kochanski is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. Kochanski was the first console officer in the navigation chamber on board the spaceship Red Dwarf...
in Lister's eyes; while this later changed, Suzanne Rhatigan
Suzanne Rhatigan
-Career:She moved to London in the early 1980s and found work as a session singer for Stock, Aitken and Waterman Records, before embarking on a solo career, recording her debut album with Fred Maher in 1992, To Hell With Love, which was released the following year. For some time in the early 1990s,...
was still credited as "Kochanski Camille". Like Pascoe and Llewellyn, Rhatigan and Craig Charles
Craig Charles
Craig Joseph Charles is an English actor, stand-up comedian, author, poet, radio and television presenter, best known for playing Dave Lister in the British cult-favourite science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf...
were in a relationship at the time of the recording. The Hologram Camille was played by Francesca Folan. Rupert Bates voiced the Hector Blob.
Cultural references
CasablancaCasablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, Lister's favourite film, was used for the main plot of the episode and is mentioned and referenced throughout. Kryten and Camille even watch the film in the episode. When Lister explains to Kryten why it is needed to lie he mentions examples of Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
in the Casablanca ending scene and Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
's "I see no ships" line. The ending of Casablanca is also parodied in the Kryten and Camille farewell scene.
Lister watches a vid recording of the television show Tales of the Riverbank: The Next Generation, a parody of the Tales of the Riverbank
Tales of the Riverbank
Tales of the Riverbank, sometimes called Hammy Hamster, is a Canadian children's television show starring Hammy Hamster and other animals....
show and Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
. Lister compares the main character Hammy Hamster the rodent equivalent of Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
. The television show St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
is named by Lister as a tongue-in-cheek defense of his credentials to be ship's surgeon ("I've seen every episode"). His Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
costume is also mentioned.
Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
and the film The Blob
The Blob
The Blob is an independently made 1958 American horror/science-fiction film that depicts a giant amoeba-like alien that terrorizes the small community of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania...
are referenced by Lister after Kryten takes the true form of Camille to dinner.
Reception
The episode was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 14 February 1991 in the 9:00pm evening time slot, although it was originally planned to be shown as the third episode of Series IV as shown in the repeat runs in both 1992 and 1994. The series' transmission order was changed as it was felt more appropriate to run the episode on Valentine's DayValentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
and so it went out first. Further changes to the series' running order came about because of the outbreak of the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
and the subject matter of some of the other episodes, notably "Dimension Jump
Dimension Jump (Red Dwarf)
"Dimension Jump" is the fifth episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series IV and the twenty-third episode in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 14 March 1991, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye...
" featuring the war-hero Ace Rimmer and the anti-war-themed "Meltdown". The episode received a mixed response from viewers, although it has been noted as being a favourite amongst some fans.