User Reviews

A good solid episode that benefitted from the long run time meaning there was no need to rush the script. Plenty of laughs referencing previous episodes for those that have followed Red Dwarf from the start. Great to see it filmed in front of a live audience again as it adds to the atmosphere.

Great to see the boys from the dwarf back on form, was cheesy good fun and I enjoyed the references to past episodes.

I thought this was an excellent feature length show, capturing alot of why we all fell in love with Red Dwarf in the first place. Unbelievable how they're still going at this high standard 32 years after first airing.

Having Holly back was a highlight and some of the best laughs came from him in my household!

After Back to Earth, I was worried about how a longer story spanning more than 30 minutes would work, however they kept the tempo up with classic and very funny gags and I loved every minute.

Only down side for me was they sailed a little close to the wind on the religious theme. There was a very clear social commentary depicting anyone with religious beliefs as mindless sheep without brains. Considering how many fans of this show across the world will have religious beliefs, I thought this was a bit short sighted. That's the only reason I give this a 9 and not a 10.

Other than that, perfection and more please!

Absolutely loved it! Just as good as any other episodes, no less!! Glad to see their sense of humour has remained the same even after all this time. Haven't laughed this hard in ages! Totally over my expectations, highly recommend it to any Red Dwarf fan :)

I've been looking forward to this special since they announced it and I wasn't disappointed. It was like meeting up with your best mates again, having a good old laugh and forgetting all your troubles. I enjoyed every second! From the writing to the acting to the design of the show, it reached back pulling on old memories while still keeping it fresh and new, I couldn't fault it. This is now one of my favourites. PLEASE, PLEASE GIVE US MORE!!!

Red Dwarf is a contender for my favorite show of all time; a masterclass in sitcom banter mixed with genuinely inventive and sometimes mind-boggling science fiction, complete with the philosophical questions that should arise when we venture beyond the known. Was its lore always consistent? Smeg no! But that may have been part of the "early Star Trek" love letter.

Now we once again get to join the slobby "last human alive" David Lister (Craig Charles), his pompous holographic bunkmate Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), the sycophantic service mechanoid Kryten (Robert Llewellyn), and Cat (Danny John-Jules), a humanoid who descended from Lister's illicitly-brought-aboard house cat the way humans are said to have evolved from some sort of ape. And here's the kicker: in Red Dwarf: The Promised Land, we finally get to know what became of Cat's people (in the original series, only he and a Cat priest were found when Lister exited suspended animation).

I have to say, also, that this is a return to sci-fi top form that makes new Star Trek: Picard series look all the more pathetic by comparison. I found UKTV's revival seasons of Red Dwarf to be somewhat forgettable, although they often got the spirit of the original series down just fine, but The Promised Land opts for a more cinematic style (à la the 2009 Red Dwarf: Back to Earth special) with more advanced production design, scoring, cinematography, et cetera all while supplying possibly the most cleverly written jokes and plot since, well, the original series (to which there are several endearing references, albeit with such twists as what they do with ship's computer Holly, played by Norman Lovett in a comeback that made the studio audience cheer and hoot).

In this climate of endless nostalgia, it is rare that a remake or a follow-up or anything of the sort is this genuine. This may be the most satisfied I've been since Netflix's Dark Crystal prequel; hell, maybe even since Twin Peaks: The Return. Again, Red Dwarf has been around during the past few years - it just hasn't quite been "back" in this manner, excluding maybe when we were treated to Back to Earth after a 10-year absence (considering the age I was back then, 10 years felt much longer than it does nowadays). But that one lacked the genuinely-recorded laugh track that solidified what genius writing this is. Truly, the slime has come home!

Of course, I enjoyed the expansion of this fictional universe as well, plus such new faces as Ray Fearon's evil cat lord and Mandheep Dillon of After Life fame among a trio of cat clerics, worshipping Lister as their deity as he "saved the mother of the people" all those millennia ago. Is the story stretched a bit thin? For sure. But for me, the laughs never stopped even when the plot arguably did. As serious and harsh as this series often is under the surface, this may be the comedy we all need right now.

Great to see the boys back, enjoyed this much more than the last few series. Thankyou UKTV

It wasn't canned-it was a live audience.I was disappointed tin that i found it rather boring.

Seasons 1-4 were near perfect, 4-6 were good. We don't talk about season 8.

The new seasons from 9 onwards are still good but fail to capture the pure magic we had in the original.

Problem through out is always the same: too many cast members and too much production budget. When the show was just 4 guys in a room it was the best.

But still there are many laughs in this one (although the cat motive is worked to death).

And they even have Norman Lovett back as Holly! BUT they failed to use him correctly. He just plays a mind wiped version that still has 6000 IQ and such just throws them off the ship immediately so he basically has no screen time. I really don't get why they got him back and then don't let him play his old role!

Really enjoyed this. Looking foward to the next outing!

Was hopping for so much more, we have been giving a watered down version of a bad episode from season 7!

Funny, touching, action, just perfect. Great story referencing the first episode.

A must for any Red Dwarf fan, timeless and funny! cant wait to see another series

I have huge smile all the time, for all that nostalgy and double time of episode, and laugh for that typical jokes. Thx so much.

Canned laughter destroyed it. Totally unwatchable. Couldn't watch it.

I'm sooooo glad the writers and the characters are the same, and they aren't trying to do new things, that makes other series fail! It brings everything that I love in this series! Still new jokes, new adventures, new places, with bellowed characters left untouched 😍 Must watch!!! You won't be disappointed! From jokes to heart warming scenes, we got everything!

This was a great episode/movie. I think it would be the best note to end the series on.

When this popped up on Britbox it was two days after I heard it existed and was overjoyed because not only was the movie there anther 5 or six extra bits behind the scenes, interviews this was then tempered by being slightly upset that I had to pay for those extras. This feeling of the cash grabbing anger went away as quickly as it came when I saw the cast and realized how close to death they all were and the only way to tastefully describe my horror was no one who is not currently serving as the president of the United States has aged so badly of the corse of three years, and how exactly does a Mechanoid get fat. Of course other than the aging I'm joking. My one and only complaint is as each season comes out i never watch the last episode until I'm sure more are on the way so being put in this position with a movie the last episode of series 12. I haven't heard if any more are planned but I hope so. The movie did not disappoint any fan will loved it except for jerks who actually do love it but pick inconsequential nits. I'm live in the US and this is a promise if they try another US pilot and gets picked up I won't be responsible for my actions.

One of my favourite shows from my youth. Still funny as hell and hope they make more. Brilliant

Of course pretty much anything is better than The Last Jedi. The Promised Land gets the Red Dwarf posse together again and finally answers the question, "where the smeg did Cat's people go?" Unlike The Last Jedi, The Promised Land proves that you can take a 30+ year old franchise and keep it brilliant. Pure fun to watch from beginning to end.