The bad news is that Lister has lost the Starbug shuttlecraft in a card game to some hairy, genetically engineered life forms. The good news is he has also lost Rimmer. But the worst news is that these hirsute beasts have fastened a groinal exploder to Lister that will explode in 24 hours' time if he fails to deliver both ship and shipmate.

The threat of this knacker attacker is obviously the driving force of a smart, inventive episode, although special mention should go to Danny John-Jules (Cat) and Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) who, as a result of a "quantum entanglement", have to deliver their lines in perfect unison. It's quite a skill.

This is the second time that digital channel Dave has brought back the crew of a certain Jupiter Mining Corporation space ship that's three million light years away from Earth.

The first return of Red Dwarf (the three-part Back to Earth broadcast in 2009) had its moments, yet was considered a slight anticlimax. But now Red Dwarf's returned with Series X, it's gone back to basics. Shot in a studio and in front of a studio audience (that's not canned laughter, despite what some people will tell you), has the gambit paid off? Well, I'm proud to say that it smegging has!

The characters really are just as great as they were before. In this first episode, the despicable hologram Arnold Judas Rimmer (Chris Barrie) becomes so resentful that he crashes - due to self-created malware. He becomes even more frustrated when he encounters the crew of another spaceship, which is supposedly lead by his brother Howard. Meanwhile, the slobbish last-human-alive Dave Lister (Craig Charles) is trying desperately to order some rubbish product over the phone.

The 'situations' were expertly delivered and gags landed too. Even the more subtle visual humour - Cat (Danny John-Jules) walking behind a shot holding a huge map of the ship they are on, for example - doesn't fail to tickle your funny bone.

I do miss some things, though. I miss both Kochanski and Holly, and I miss the fact that there used to be no ad-breaks in the middle of the show. But other than a few picky issues, it's great to see Red Dwarf back.

The rust-bucket mining ship Red Dwarf has been off our TV screens for light years but tonight it returns for a tenth series as if it's never been away. The crew's all present and incorrect - Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Lister (Craig Charles), Cat (Danny John-Jules) and Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) - with the comedic nonsensicality as sharp as ever. Swedish moose and a stray spaceship loom large in the opening adventure.

A return for the cult sci-fi comedy. This 10th series follows on from the three episodes which went out on Dave in 2009. The original cast of Lister (Craig Charles), Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Cat (Danny John-Jules) and Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) are reunited but sadly the spark has long since gone. This opener to the six-part run, written by original creator Doug Naylor, finds the crew distracted from their usual prattling and squabbling when they encounter an abandoned spaceship and Rimmer's long-forgotten brother, Howard.

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For Craig Charles, one of the highlights of making this three-part special was finding he could still fit into the leather jacket and trousers that he wore as Dave Lister 21 years ago.

All the cast (minus Holly in either of his / her incarnations) are here, too - Chris Barrie as hologram Arnold Rimmer, Danny John-Jules as Cat and Robert Llewellyn as Kryten - for this much-anticipated reunion.

The sci-fi comedy ran for eight series on BBC2 between 1988 and 1999, picking up an International Emmy on its intergalactic travels. So well done to Dave (the channel, that is, not Lister) for doing what the BBC never managed - getting the crew of the Red Dwarf back to Earth.

Actually though, that's down to guest star Sophie Winkleman - a comedy favourite thanks to her Peep Show appearances. She plays the new holographic Senior Science Officer Katerina Bartikovsky, who works out a way to send Lister to a new dimension.

Katerina's arrival is bad news for Rimmer - this spaceship's not big enough for two holograms - but good news for Lister as, being the last surviving human, it will be his job to go forth and multiply.

Tonight's episode might feel a bit flat as the crew battle a sea monster but, in the next two instalments - tomorrow night and Sunday - there'll be plenty of surprises as they arrive on Earth in the year 2009 and find themselves on a Manchester street you'll certainly recognise.