Confidence & Paranoia: Supporting Characters
Dispensing Machine (IV)
Episode(s): Confidence and Paranoia (A5)
Species: AI Machine
Played by: Tony Hawks
This machine is situated in the Dining Area, and was used by The Cat to order the day's speciality - Chicken Merango.
Tony Hawks: Tony was the warm-up man for the early series of Red Dwarf, and as such was on hand to perform a variety of characters, from dispensing machines and suitcases, to comperes and wax droids. The high amount of appearances he clocked up in the early days earned him the nick-name 'The Fifth Dwarfer'. Aside from these roles, Tony is a veteran of the panel game, with guest appearances on Have I Got News For You?, They Think It's All Over, Just A Minute, If I Ruled The World and Gagtag under his belt. Recently, he has re-invented himself as a travel writer, after writing three successful books, Round Ireland With A Fridge, Playing The Moldovans At Tennis and Something Else That I Can't Fucking Remember. He is also the presenter of camcorder show Lights, Camera, Accident!, but he is no good at skateboarding.
Confidence
Episode(s): Confidence and Paranoia (A5)
Species: Solid Hallucination
Played by: Craig Ferguson
Lister had hallucinations, right? And... they were solid. In Lister and Chen's Confidence and Paranoia theory, Confidence is the part of the brain that tells you: 'you're great, you're dead sexy, everybody loves you'. When Lister contracted a mutated pneumonia virus, this was personified in a man who looked like the manager of the London Jets and sounded like Bing Baxter, the American game show host. He had slicked back hair, a bulky frame, perfect teeth and a bright yellow suit. His love for Lister was displayed by gestures such as adoring his 'Indling' song, stealing his cigarette butts and generally sycophantically agreeing with everything he said. However, it was much more sinister than that. In order to prevent Lister from being cured of his pneumonia, Confidence smashed up the Medicomp. In order for he and Lister to be together, he killed Paranoia. He would have inadvertantly killed Lister too, by persuading him to remove his helmet in the vacuum of space. Fortunately, Lister wasn't convinced, and it was Confidence who first removed his helmet, with the result that he exploded.
Craig Ferguson: Born 17th May 1962, Glasgow. Since Red Dwarf, Craig has become quite a Hollywood star. He is best-known in America for playing Nigel Wick in The Drew Carey Show, a role he has played since 1996. Craig has also been involved in a good many movies, fulfilling various jobs. In 1999, he wrote, produced and starred in The Big Tease, a film about a Scottish hairdresser who wins the chance to work in America. The following year, he wrote, produced and starred in Saving Grace, a British film about a widow who sells weed. His directorial debut came in 2003 with I'll Be There, which he also wrote and starred in, alongside Charlotte Church, who played his daughter.
Paranoia
Episode(s): Confidence and Paranoia (A5)
Species: Solid Hallucination
Played by: Lee Cornes
Lister had hallucinations, right? And... they were solid. In Lister and Chen's Confidence and Paranoia theory, Paranoia is the part of the brain that tells you: 'you're stupid, you're useless, you're ugly and everybody hates you'. When Lister contracted a mutated pneumonia virus, this was personified in a man who dressed in a dull black suit, had sunken eyes, a pasty face and a general nauseous demeanour. He liked nothing better than to sit in the corner, watching the day's events in disgust, putting Lister down and eating a dribbly yoghurt. He also liked to bitch about Lister, telling stories about how he used to practise kissing on his hand, and how he once called him gym teacher 'daddy'. However, Paranoia was always doomed for an early demise. Rimmer tried to get a skutter to give him a lethal injection, but his plan was discovered when he manically shouted 'STAB HIM!'. It was Confidence who eventually finished him off, by feeding him into the waste grinder and flushing his bits into space.
Lee Cornes: Known to millions as 'the bloke who guest-stars in sit-coms'. After making his TV debut in a 1982 episode of Doctor Who, he went on to appear in The Young Ones, Lenny Henry Tonite, Blackadder, Filthy, Rich and Catflap, Bottom, Rab C Nesbitt and French and Saunders. He is, however, more famous for playing the ineffectual Science teacher, Mr. Hankin, in Grange Hill.