# Gunmen of the Apocalypse

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3rd episode of the 6th series of Red Dwarf

"Gunmen of the Apocalypse" Red Dwarf episode Episode no. Series 6 Episode 3 Directed by Andy de Emmony Written by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor Original air date 21 October 1993 (1993-10-21) Guest appearances Denis Lill as Simulant Captain/Death Liz Hickling as Simulant Lieutenant Jennifer Calvert as Loretta Imogen Bain as Lola Steve Devereaux as Jimmy Robert Inch as War Jeremy Peters as Pestilence Dinny Powell as Famine Stephen Marcus as Bear Strangler McGee Episode chronology ← Previous "Legion" Next → "Emohawk: Polymorph II" List of episodes

"**Gunmen of the Apocalypse**" is the third episode of the sixth series of the [science fiction](/source/Science_fiction) [sitcom](/source/Sitcom) *[Red Dwarf](/source/Red_Dwarf)*. It was first broadcast on 21 October 1993, on [BBC Two](/source/BBC_Two),[1] and went on to win an [International Emmy Award](/source/International_Emmy_Award).[2] The episode was written by [Rob Grant](/source/Rob_Grant) and [Doug Naylor](/source/Doug_Naylor), and directed by [Andy de Emmony](/source/Andy_de_Emmony).[3] In the episode, the regular cast find themselves in a computer simulation of a [Wild West](/source/Wild_West) town, facing a gunfight against the [Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse](/source/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse).

## Plot

[Dave Lister](/source/Dave_Lister) takes delight in using a salvaged functioning [artificial reality](/source/Virtual_reality) (AR) machine to have sex with various female game characters, but is forced by [Kryten](/source/Kryten) to suspend his latest endeavour. Reuniting with [Cat](/source/Cat_(Red_Dwarf)) and [Rimmer](/source/Arnold_Rimmer), Lister learns that *Starbug* has strayed into a Rogue [Simulant](/source/Red_Dwarf_characters#Simulants) hunting zone. Despite the crew's best efforts, the ship is discovered by a battle-cruiser of [xenophobic](/source/Xenophobic) simulants that despise humanity, and promptly capture the crew after they fail to deceive them. After being knocked unconscious, the crew awaken to find the simulants have upgraded their systems, weapons and armour, intending to battle them for sport, but managed to get destroyed by the crew through pure luck. Before their destruction, the simulants' leader has *Starbug* infected with an "Armageddon Virus", locking the ship on a suicide course with a large volcanic moon. Kryten infects himself with the virus in order to begin creating a "dove" anti-virus program to counter it, advising the others to watch his dreams.

The group find Kryten combating the virus within a Wild West dream, in which the mechanoid is a burnt-out sheriff in a town called Existence, with the virus operating as an outlaw gang called the Apocalypse Boys, consisting of Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death. Seeing him losing, Lister, Rimmer and Cat opt to help him by entering his dream through the AR machine, utilising the abilities of characters from a Wild West-styled video game. Upon arriving and getting Kryten to recognise them, the trio distract the Apocalypse Boys to give him time to create his antidote, escaping the dream when the virus infects the AR machine and takes away their characters' special abilities. Kryten successfully completes the programme, cleansing himself of the virus, before using it to free the ship from the virus' control. *Starbug* plunges into the moon, but resurfaces a few seconds later unscathed, with the crew giving an appropriate ["Yeeha!"](/source/Rebel_yell) before flying off into the sunset.

## Production

Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor,[3] the script was originally titled "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse",[4] and then had the working title of "High Midnight";[5] it was later changed to "Gunmen of the Apocalypse". The Western themes of the episode were written first, with the plot framing with the Simulants coming later, and described by Grant and Naylor as a "[roast beef](/source/Rosbif) western" (parodying the phrase '[Spaghetti Western](/source/Spaghetti_Western)').

During filming of the episode, [Janet Street-Porter](/source/Janet_Street-Porter) was Head of Art & Culture at the BBC. When she received the ambitious script for "Gunmen..." she sent out a memo that all production for the episode be stopped immediately, because she believed it too difficult to film. By the time the *Red Dwarf* crew received her memo, filming had already wrapped.[5]

[Denis Lill](/source/Denis_Lill) appears as the Simulant Captain and Death. The other 'Apocalypse Boys' were played by Dinny Powell, Robert Inch and Jeremy Peters playing Famine, War and Pestilence respectively. Jennifer Calvert plays the 'Artificial Reality' character in Lister's detective scenario. Steve Devereaux plays Jimmy. Liz Hickling appears as Simulant Lieutenant, [Imogen Bain](/source/Imogen_Bain) plays Lola and [Stephen Marcus](/source/Stephen_Marcus) plays Bear Strangler McGee.[3]

It was filmed at [Laredo](https://www.laredouk.com/), a Wild West reenactment town in Kent.[6]

Grant and Naylor's script for the episode was collected in the 1995 book *Son of Soup*.[7]

## Cultural references

The title is a reference to the [Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse](/source/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse).[8]

## Reception

The episode was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 21 October 1993 in the 9:00pm time slot.[1] The episode was watched by over 6 million viewers,[9] and it has been described as "the best episode of Series VI".[10] One reviewer described the episode as "an excuse to transport the characters to a Wild West landscape, with results just as contrived as those on the original Star Trek but considerably funnier."[11] The episode won an [International Emmy](/source/International_Emmy) award in 1994.[5]

## See also

- *[Backwards](/source/Backwards_(novel))*, the fourth *Red Dwarf* novel by Rob Grant, features plot elements from the episode[9]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BBC_-_Programme_Catalogue_-_RED_DWARF_VI_-_GUNMEN_OF_THE_APOCALYPSE_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BBC_-_Programme_Catalogue_-_RED_DWARF_VI_-_GUNMEN_OF_THE_APOCALYPSE_1-1) ["BBC - Programme Catalogue - RED DWARF VI - GUNMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE"](http://catalogue.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/programme/NMRE273L). BBC. Retrieved 12 December 2007.[*[dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-AWN_2-0)** ["Red Dwarf VI released on DVD"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2005/01_january/red_dwarf.shtml). 12 January 2005.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Gunmen_of_the_Apocalypse_cast_and_crew_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Gunmen_of_the_Apocalypse_cast_and_crew_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Gunmen_of_the_Apocalypse_cast_and_crew_3-2) ["Gunmen of the Apocalypse cast and crew"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0684158/fullcredits#cast). imdb.com. Retrieved 1 February 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-News_From_The_Dwarf_4-0)** "News From The Dwarf", *Red Dwarf Smegazine*, volume 2 issue 1, May 1993, Fleetway Editions Ltd, [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0965-5603](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0965-5603)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Red_Dwarf_Series_VI_Writing_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Red_Dwarf_Series_VI_Writing_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Red_Dwarf_Series_VI_Writing_5-2) ["Gunmen of the Apocalypse | Episode Guides | Red Dwarf - The Official Website"](https://reddwarf.co.uk/episodes/gunmenoftheapocalypse/). *Red Dwarf - The Official Website*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240225151439/https://reddwarf.co.uk/episodes/gunmenoftheapocalypse/) from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Kent Film Office. ["Kent Film Office Red Dwarf, Gunmen of the Apocalypse (1993)"](https://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/1993/09/red-dwarf-gunmen-of-the-apocalypse-1993/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-son_of_soup_7-0)** Grant Naylor (1996). *Son of Soup: A Second Serving of the Least Worst Scripts*. Penguins Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-14-025363-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-14-025363-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Gunmen_of_the_Apocalypse_movie_connections_8-0)** ["Gunmen of the Apocalypse movie connections"](https://www.imdb.com/rg/title-tease/movieconnections/title/tt0684158/movieconnections). imdb.com. Retrieved 8 January 2008.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Red_Dwarf_Series_VI_Aftermath_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Red_Dwarf_Series_VI_Aftermath_9-1) ["Red Dwarf Series VI Aftermath"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080104013125/http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_6/aftermath.html). Red Dwarf.co.uk. Archived from [the original](http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/deck05/series_6/aftermath.html) on 4 January 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Series_VI_review_at_Sci-Fi_Dimensions_10-0)** ["Series VI review at Sci-Fi Dimensions"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070107145017/http://www.scifidimensions.com/Apr05/reddwarf5and6.htm). scifidimensions.com. Archived from [the original](http://www.scifidimensions.com/Apr05/reddwarf5and6.htm) on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-SCI_FI_Weekly_review_-_Red_Dwarf_Series_VI_DVD_11-0)** ["SCI FI Weekly review - Red Dwarf Series VI DVD"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090226030956/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw1823.html). scifi.com. Archived from [the original](http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw1823.html) on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2008.

## External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to ***[Gunmen of the Apocalypse](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Red_Dwarf#.22Gunmen_of_the_Apocalypse.22)***.

- ["Gunmen of the Apocalypse"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bplhd) at [BBC Online](/source/BBC_Online)

- ["Gunmen of the Apocalypse"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0684158/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

- [Series VI episode guide at www.reddwarf.co.uk](https://reddwarf.co.uk/episodes/gunmenoftheapocalypse/)

v t e Red Dwarf Characters Dave Lister Arnold Rimmer Holly The Cat Kryten Kristine Kochanski Books Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers Better Than Life Last Human Backwards Red Dwarf: Titan Episodes Series I (1988) "The End" "Future Echoes" "Balance of Power" "Waiting for God" "Confidence and Paranoia" "Me2" Series II (1988) "Kryten" "Better Than Life" "Thanks for the Memory" "Stasis Leak" "Queeg" "Parallel Universe" Series III (1989) "Backwards" "Marooned" "Polymorph" "Bodyswap" "Timeslides" "The Last Day" Series IV (1991) "Camille" "DNA" "Justice" "White Hole" "Dimension Jump" "Meltdown" Series V (1992) "Holoship" "The Inquisitor" "Terrorform" "Quarantine" "Demons & Angels" "Back to Reality" Series VI (1993) "Psirens" "Legion" "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" "Emohawk: Polymorph II" "Rimmerworld" "Out of Time" Series VII (1997) "Tikka to Ride" "Stoke Me a Clipper" "Ouroboros" "Duct Soup" "Blue" "Beyond a Joke" "Epideme" "Nanarchy" Series VIII (1999) "Back in the Red" "Cassandra" "Krytie TV" "Pete" "Only the Good..." Miniseries (2009) Back to Earth Series X (2012) "Trojan" "Fathers & Suns" "Lemons" "Entangled" "Dear Dave" "The Beginning" Series XI (2016) "Twentica" "Samsara" "Give & Take" "Officer Rimmer" "Krysis" "Can of Worms" Series XII (2017) "Cured" "Siliconia" "Timewave" "Mechocracy" "M-Corp" "Skipper" Television film (2020) The Promised Land Unmade episodes "Bodysnatcher" Other Red Dwarf Remastered Grant Naylor Dimension Jump "Tongue Tied" Dave Hollins: Space Cadet Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gunmen of the Apocalypse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunmen_of_the_Apocalypse) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunmen_of_the_Apocalypse?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.