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Holly (Red Dwarf)
Encyclopedia
Holly is the ship's computer
on the science fiction
situation comedy
Red Dwarf
.
The character is played by Norman Lovett
in Series I and II and, following a "head sex change" to look like his parallel universe
alter ego "Hilly", played by Hattie Hayridge
in the series 3 episode Backwards
, is female in Series III–V although his personality remained the same. Holly does not appear in Series VI, but reappears in the final episode of Series VII as the original male version, again played by Lovett.
The male version of Holly then appears in Series VIII, but does not feature in Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
.
In the unaired pilot for the American version of Red Dwarf, Holly was played by Jane Leeves
.
" computer. Holly's user interface
appears on ship screens as a disembodied human head on a black background, and can also be downloaded into a watch worn by Lister. In Series I his face appears pixelated
, but this idea was dropped in Series II.
As a male, Holly appears to be approximately 50 years old and has receding brown hair.
After meeting his female counterpart, Hilly, he fell so madly in love with her that he had a "computer sex change
" and based his new face on hers. As a female, Holly appears to be approximately 30 years old and has shoulder-length blonde hair and red lip stick.
The upgraded male version of Holly appears to be around 60 years old with receding grey hair
and a bald patch.
hologrammatic computer. After releasing Dave Lister
from stasis
in The End, Holly told him that the crew have been wiped out by a radiation leak and that he had spent three million years in stasis.
Holly prides himself on the fact he had an IQ of 6,000 (apparently the same IQ as 6,000 PE teachers or 12,000 car park attendants), but after three million years by himself, he had become computer senile, or as Holly put it, "a bit peculiar". The crew often ridicule Holly on his senility, but Holly often comes out on top. He often plays practical jokes on the crew, such as fooling Lister into thinking that NORWEB
Federation space fighters were after him and wanted £180 billion
in arrears
for leaving his bathroom
light on three million years ago, as well as wanting to arrest him for "Crimes against Humanity" as he had left some German sausages alone in his apartment for three million years and they now covered 7/8 of the Earth's surface.
Holly always speaks in a droll, slightly monotonous, and quiet voice, even when sounding alarms, which consist of himself speaking simply "Ding-dong. There's an emergency happening. (pauses) It's still happening." and repeating as much.
This love of practical jokes culminated in his generating an alternate personality, Queeg, and passing him off as the ship's backup computer which was seizing control of the ship.
Holly was friends with another computer called Gordon, who had an IQ of 8,000 and was an Eleventh Generation AI hologrammatic computer. Gordon resembled Holly and also showed evidence of computer senility.
Holly runs most of Red Dwarfs systems, although in several episodes such as Quarantine, Holly is shown to not have complete control of Red Dwarf, and in Holly's absence in Series VI and VII, a computer is mentioned by the crew, and is seen to control autopilot. Among Holly's systems are the service droids known as skutters, which clean, perform engineering tasks, and function as Rimmer's hands since he couldn't touch anything non-holographic until he was converted to "hard light" in Series VI Episode 2, Legion.
Holly invented Hol Rock, where he decimalised music
(having ten note
s instead of eight — although he admits that this would result in "piano keyboards being the width of a zebra crossing
, and women being banned from playing the cello"), and wrote an A-Z guide of the Universe. He proclaims that Kevin Keegan
wrote the worst book ever (Football, It's a Funny Old Game). (Notable: A book by this title actually does exist, however, it was written by Andrew John and Stephen Blake, not Kevin Keegan.) He is proud of the fact that he can do moon impressions just by lowering his face on the screen. He often greets the crew with "All right dudes?"
He hates being on a watch, especially on Lister's wrist, and particularly when Lister's hand goes in his pocket. One of the more worrying aspects of Holly's senility is that he has developed a blind spot for the number 7. When he invents the Holly Hop Drive, he claims that one mistake in his 13 billion calculations and they would be blown up. He then misses the seven in his countdown, possibly the cause of the error that sent them to the parallel universe.
Holly was lost for some time, along with the ship, which had been stolen by Kryten
's nanobots. He was found on a planet made of junk from Red Dwarf, having reverted to his original male form, and was downloaded into Lister's Holly-watch. When the nanos rebuilt the ship, there were two versions of Holly: the original, who usually remains in the watch, and a rebuilt version who had not suffered the effects of three million years alone. The non-senile version only appeared in one episode, Back In the Red, Part III
, and was distinguished by having an enormous forehead shaped like an egg.
In Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
it is revealed that sometime after the events of Only The Good...
Holly is offline due to water damage, later elaborated as being the result of Lister leaving a bath running in the officers' quarters for nine years and the water subsequently flooding the ship.
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
on the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
.
The character is played by Norman Lovett
Norman Lovett
Norman Lovett is an English stand-up comedian and actor, best known for the role of Holly in Red Dwarf during the first, second, seventh and eighth series. His comedy has a quiet, dead-pan surrealism, and in 2000 he made a successful stand up tour, co-headlining with Chris Barrie, who played...
in Series I and II and, following a "head sex change" to look like his parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
alter ego "Hilly", played by Hattie Hayridge
Hattie Hayridge
Hattie Hayridge is a British stand-up comedienne and actress, best known for the role of the female version of Holly in Red Dwarf during the third, fourth and fifth series, along with the role of Hilly in Parallel Universe, the final episode of the second series.After graduating from the...
in the series 3 episode Backwards
Backwards (Red Dwarf episode)
"Backwards" is the first episode of science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf Series III, and the thirteenth in the series run. It premiered on the British television channel BBC2 on 14 November 1989...
, is female in Series III–V although his personality remained the same. Holly does not appear in Series VI, but reappears in the final episode of Series VII as the original male version, again played by Lovett.
The male version of Holly then appears in Series VIII, but does not feature in Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth is a three part TV miniseries continuation of the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, broadcast on the British television channel Dave between 10 April and 12 April 2009 and subsequently released on DVD on 15 June 2009 & on Blu-ray on 31 August 2009. It was the first...
.
In the unaired pilot for the American version of Red Dwarf, Holly was played by Jane Leeves
Jane Leeves
Jane Leeves is an English film, stage, and television actress, comedienne and dancer.Leeves made her screen debut with a small role in the 1983 popular British comedy television show The Benny Hill Show. Leeves moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles until she secured a...
.
Appearance
Holly is an "intelligentArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
" computer. Holly's user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
appears on ship screens as a disembodied human head on a black background, and can also be downloaded into a watch worn by Lister. In Series I his face appears pixelated
Pixelization
Pixelization is a video- and image-editing technique in which an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship...
, but this idea was dropped in Series II.
As a male, Holly appears to be approximately 50 years old and has receding brown hair.
Sex change
Sex change is a term often used for gender reassignment therapy, that is, all medical procedures transgendered people can have, or specifically to sexual reassignment surgery, which usually refers to genitalia surgery only...
" and based his new face on hers. As a female, Holly appears to be approximately 30 years old and has shoulder-length blonde hair and red lip stick.
The upgraded male version of Holly appears to be around 60 years old with receding grey hair
and a bald patch.
Character
Holly is the ship's Tenth Generation AIArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
hologrammatic computer. After releasing Dave Lister
Dave Lister
David "Dave" Lister, commonly referred to simply as Lister, is a fictional character from the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf, portrayed by Craig Charles...
from stasis
Stasis
The term stasis may refer to* A state of stability, in which all forces are equal and opposing, therefore they cancel out each other....
in The End, Holly told him that the crew have been wiped out by a radiation leak and that he had spent three million years in stasis.
Holly prides himself on the fact he had an IQ of 6,000 (apparently the same IQ as 6,000 PE teachers or 12,000 car park attendants), but after three million years by himself, he had become computer senile, or as Holly put it, "a bit peculiar". The crew often ridicule Holly on his senility, but Holly often comes out on top. He often plays practical jokes on the crew, such as fooling Lister into thinking that NORWEB
NORWEB
Norweb PLC, originally the North West Electricity Board, was a British electricity supply and distribution company. It supplied electricity to about 4.7 million industrial, commercial and domestic customers in the North West of England. The Board was originally formed in 1948 as part of the...
Federation space fighters were after him and wanted £180 billion
1000000000 (number)
1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....
in arrears
Arrears
Arrears is a legal term for the part of a debt that is overdue after missing one or more required payments. The amount of the arrears is the amount accrued from the date on which the first missed payment was due...
for leaving his bathroom
Bathroom
A bathroom is a room for bathing in containing a bathtub and/or a shower and optionally a toilet, a sink/hand basin/wash basin and possibly also a bidet....
light on three million years ago, as well as wanting to arrest him for "Crimes against Humanity" as he had left some German sausages alone in his apartment for three million years and they now covered 7/8 of the Earth's surface.
Holly always speaks in a droll, slightly monotonous, and quiet voice, even when sounding alarms, which consist of himself speaking simply "Ding-dong. There's an emergency happening. (pauses) It's still happening." and repeating as much.
This love of practical jokes culminated in his generating an alternate personality, Queeg, and passing him off as the ship's backup computer which was seizing control of the ship.
Holly was friends with another computer called Gordon, who had an IQ of 8,000 and was an Eleventh Generation AI hologrammatic computer. Gordon resembled Holly and also showed evidence of computer senility.
Holly runs most of Red Dwarfs systems, although in several episodes such as Quarantine, Holly is shown to not have complete control of Red Dwarf, and in Holly's absence in Series VI and VII, a computer is mentioned by the crew, and is seen to control autopilot. Among Holly's systems are the service droids known as skutters, which clean, perform engineering tasks, and function as Rimmer's hands since he couldn't touch anything non-holographic until he was converted to "hard light" in Series VI Episode 2, Legion.
Holly invented Hol Rock, where he decimalised music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
(having ten note
Note
In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....
s instead of eight — although he admits that this would result in "piano keyboards being the width of a zebra crossing
Zebra crossing
A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. Its distinguishing feature is alternating dark and light stripes on the road surface, from which it derives its name. A zebra crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.The use of zebra...
, and women being banned from playing the cello"), and wrote an A-Z guide of the Universe. He proclaims that Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
wrote the worst book ever (Football, It's a Funny Old Game). (Notable: A book by this title actually does exist, however, it was written by Andrew John and Stephen Blake, not Kevin Keegan.) He is proud of the fact that he can do moon impressions just by lowering his face on the screen. He often greets the crew with "All right dudes?"
He hates being on a watch, especially on Lister's wrist, and particularly when Lister's hand goes in his pocket. One of the more worrying aspects of Holly's senility is that he has developed a blind spot for the number 7. When he invents the Holly Hop Drive, he claims that one mistake in his 13 billion calculations and they would be blown up. He then misses the seven in his countdown, possibly the cause of the error that sent them to the parallel universe.
Holly was lost for some time, along with the ship, which had been stolen by Kryten
Kryten
Kryten is a fictional character in the British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf. Kryten's registration code on Red Dwarf is "Kryten additional 001". The name Kryten is a reference to the head butler in the J.M...
's nanobots. He was found on a planet made of junk from Red Dwarf, having reverted to his original male form, and was downloaded into Lister's Holly-watch. When the nanos rebuilt the ship, there were two versions of Holly: the original, who usually remains in the watch, and a rebuilt version who had not suffered the effects of three million years alone. The non-senile version only appeared in one episode, Back In the Red, Part III
Back in the Red
"Back in the Red" is a three-part episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series VIII. Part I was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 18 February 1999 while Parts II and III were broadcast on 25 February and 4 March respectively....
, and was distinguished by having an enormous forehead shaped like an egg.
In Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth is a three part TV miniseries continuation of the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, broadcast on the British television channel Dave between 10 April and 12 April 2009 and subsequently released on DVD on 15 June 2009 & on Blu-ray on 31 August 2009. It was the first...
it is revealed that sometime after the events of Only The Good...
Only The Good...
Only the Good... is the final episode in the eighth series and the original run of the British science fiction series Red Dwarf. It was first shown in the UK on 5 April 1999 in the 9:00pm BBC2 time slot, and was written by Doug Naylor and directed by Ed Bye...
Holly is offline due to water damage, later elaborated as being the result of Lister leaving a bath running in the officers' quarters for nine years and the water subsequently flooding the ship.