The Cat
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The Cat is Red Dwarf's resident fashion victim. After Lister's moggy, Frankenstein, had bred for 3,000,000 years, the result is this preening, purring, felis sapiens - a human being with an abundance of tabby-traits. The Cat loves fishies, hates water, loves milk, hates dogs and, like all creatures of a feline persuasion, has an irrational fear of tank tops. His role on Red Dwarf, apart from being the numero uno fashion expert in the universe, is to look cool and... look cool. Occasionally he has been known to get excited though - it's easy for him to spot the difference, all six of his nipples start tingling.
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| Poor old Cat, for all his romantic leanings, he is perpetually starved of female company. When the others meet their opposite numbers in 'Parallel Universe', the Cat's opposite turns out to be a flea-ridden descendant of a dog; when the others meet their dream partners in 'Camille', the Cat meets ... himself. It's a tough life for the Cat on Red Dwarf, particularly as the only milk left on board is dog's milk, which lasts a long time because it tastes the same when it goes off and because no bugger will drink it. The Cat may not be the brightest member of the crew, but he does have the most nipples.
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Danny John-Jules, who has played the Cat since it was barely out of kitty litter, was the very first person auditioned for Red Dwarf. According to John-Jules, Grant and Naylor took one look at him "and they thought, 'THAT is the man'." Contrary to appearances, the Cat and Danny John-Jules aren't dead ringers. The Cat's high heels give him the impression of height, while John-Jules is rather more modestly proportioned. "I don't get recognised that often," he explains. "People seem to think that the Cat is six foot plus and thin and gangly, but I'm short." |
| As an extrovert and a natural showman, playing the Cat came easily to John-Jules. The only real challenge was the teeth, those tiny fangs that complete the feline fop's appearance: "Originally I just took them home and wore them round the house. The only time I had real difficulties was when I was wearing those teeth as Duane Dibbley in 'Back to Reality'. That was a real mouthful, doing all the dialogue and trying not to sound like 'Oh God, he's got a pair of false teeth and that's why he can't speak properly.'" John-Jules realised fame had finally struck when people started to come up to him in public and ask him to say "Duane Dibbley": "The Duane Dibbley episode was probably my favourite one, because it was a chance to be more versatile and it was a good one because everyone thought Red Dwarf was ending." Luckily for the rest of us, it hasn't. Now there's paws for thought.
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