Waiting For God: Supporting Characters
The Toaster
See Future Echoes for details.
Dispensing Machine (III)
Episode(s): Waiting For God (A4)
Species: AI Machine
Played by: Tony Hawks
This machine is situated in the Drive Room, and was used by Lister to order a breakfast of chicken vindaloo, and a beer milkshake.
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.
Trivia: This dispensing machine is in the same place as one used by The Cat in Balance of Power, but it has a different voice.
Cat Priest
Episode(s): Waiting For God (A4)
Species: Felis Sapiens
Played by: Noel Coleman
A blind old priest who lost his faith. The red-hats deemed him too frail to travel with them on the ark, so they left him behind, along with the rest of the sick and the lame. As they died, so did his faith, which went completely when he and Cat were the only members of the race to survive, and the Priest ordered Cat to burn his sacred hat. Much to his suprise, Cloister the Stupid arrived, bearing the doughnut and the golden sausage. The old priest was convinced that he had failed Cloister, but he was forgiven, and granted a place in Fuchal, the promised land. This was the happiest day of his life, but the joy resulted in him keeling over and dying.
Noel Coleman: Noel had a long and glittering career in cult television. His earliest known appearance was in a 1955 episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood, playing Baron Mark. He later appeared in The Invisible Man (1958), and made two appearances in The Avengers (1962 and 1968), each time playing a different character. After guest-starring in a 1969 episode of Doctor Who, he then moved into sitcom, with appearances in shows such as Doctor At Large, Mind Your Language, Terry and June and The New Statesman.
Trivia: This is the only time that we ever see another member of the Cat race. We know that the blue-hats were wiped out when they crashed into an asteroid, but we never learn what became of the red-hats, who "flew ever onward, knowing they were indeed righteous". A chapter dealing with this was originally going to be included in Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, but was removed prior to publication. There have been rumours about the red-hats appearing in the series for some time, but nothing ever materialised.