Creator / Norman Lovett

He's got an IQ of 6,000... the same as 6,000 PE teachers.

"I thought the first series of Red Dwarf was pure sitcom, it had some great jokes in it. This whole sci-fi fantasy phenomenon has gone crazy, although I'm not complaining. It's an escape for people because the world is rubbish right now."

Norman Lovett, (31 October 1946), is a British stand-up comedian best known for playing Holly in Red Dwarf.

His stand-up comedy career began when he was in his thirties. He joined the alternative comedy scene in The '80s. After auditioning for the role of Rimmer on Red Dwarf, Lovett was instead cast as Holly, the all-knowing AI of the titular ship who had succumbed to computer senility and become a little dim. Holly was originally only a voiceover role, but by the time of filming "Balance of Power", Lovett had complained enough that Holly was reimagined as a disembodied head on a screen, with minor reshoots to the previous two episodes done to keep continuity.

Lovett left Red Dwarf after Series 2, as after moving to Edinburgh he had a longer commute to make it to filming in London and declined to return. The role of Holly was filled by Hattie Hayridge, who had played Holly's female opposite, Hilly, in the Series 2 finale "Parallel Universe", while Lovett worked on a series of his own called I, Lovett, which (after a pilot in 1989) aired for one series in 1993.

In 1996, he played Dr. Lovett in Asylum, and a year later returned to the role of Holly in the final episode of Red Dwarf's seventh series - "Nanarchy". After playing Holly again throughout all of Series VIII, Lovett didn't return for the "Back to Earth" three-parter, despite being told to keep his schedule open. This led to a rift between Lovett and series co-creator Doug Naylor which has since been mended, with Lovett returning for a guest role in "Skipper" and once more joining the main cast for the ninety-minute special "The Promised Land".

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Works on TV Tropes he appeared in:

Series

• The Young Ones, episode "Summer Holiday" (1984) — Guy from the Penny Arcade
• The Bill, 3 episodes:
  • "Lost" (1985) — Derek Hammond
  • "Quinnan 4" (2002) — Mr. Hicks
  • "Use of Protocol - Part 3" (2005) — Johnny McGill
• Red Dwarf, 23 episodes (1988-2020) — Holly
• Rab C. Nesbitt, 3 episodes:
  • "Drink" (1990) — Graham
  • "Life Has Meaning" (1992) — Colin
  • "Buckfast" (1994) — Brother Gideon
• Keeping Up Appearances, episode "The Charity Shop" (1990) — Mr. Duxbury
• The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, 1 episode (1997) — Mr. Follett
• Tomorrow's World, 1 episode (1999) — Holly
• EastEnders, 1 episode (2001) — Customer

Video Games

• Elite Dangerous (2014) — Leo

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