From Red Dwarf to The EV Revolution: In Conversation With Robert Llewellyn!
Everything Electric PodcastShow Notes
In this special, and slightly sillier episode of the Everything Electric podcast, Imogen Bhogal turns the tables on our founder, Robert Llewellyn.
As Robert celebrates his 70th birthday, the pair look back on an extraordinary six-decade career spanning bespoke shoemaking, fringe comedy, cult sci-fi fame, and becoming one of the world's leading voices for electric vehicles and clean energy.
They chat about Robert's time on Red Dwarf and the show's enduring legacy as one of the BBC's most-watched programmes (outperforming Top Gear, dare we say it?). There are also fond memories of Scrapheap Challenge, the bizarre Mojave Desert story involving a children's deckchair and a 3,500-foot flight, the hidden psychology behind the Carpool series, and of course, Robert's slightly alarming habit of writing far too many books. Enjoy!
Ghost Camera is available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Camera-Robert-Llewellyn/dp/1789651816
Watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/edkwTFblDMA
00:00 – Introduction: A different kind of podcast 01:40 – Robert's 70th Birthday & The "Umarell" nickname 07:05 – The Geodesic Dome & School Expulsion 10:32 – Life as a Bespoke Shoemaker 13:00 – "The Joeys" and discovering the joy of comedy 18:50 – Becoming Kryten: The Red Dwarf years 24:10 – Red Dwarf vs. Blackadder & The BBC 28:30 – Scrapheap Challenge: 5mm aggregate and flying junk 37:20 – The birth of Carpool and "Suicide Cameras" 42:20 – Pitching Fully Charged to a confused BBC 46:10 – Ghost Camera: Writing, Optimism, and AI 54:00 – Conclusion: Humour as the "spoonful of sugar"
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