Red Dwarf: Characters: Kochanski

Christine Kochanski is played by the lovely Chloe Annett and previously by Clare Grogen.

Kochanski was Red Dwarf’s navigation officer but, to Lister’s dismay, she died tragically in the first episode.  Lister had always dreamed of marrying her and had actually managed to date her for two weeks.

It’s hard to see what such a woman would see is Lister, but the two seem to get on pretty well.  I suspect that Kochanski fancies Lister a good deal, but can’t bring herself to get involved because of his terrible personal habits and hygiene (thought these have become far less noticeable in Seasons 7 and 8).

In Season Seven, she joined the crew on a full time basis from an alternative dimension. In her dimension she cohabited with Dave Lister, an altogether brighter and more loveable (from her point of view) hologram – He was killed in the radiation leak while she was in stasis and became a hologram.  After the Red Dwarf crew suffer a couple of altercations with Lister’s GELF bride, she is stranded in another dimension where she meets our Lister, Cat and Kryten.

Kochanski was originally played by Claire Grogen and appeared in two or three shows in seasons 1, 4 and 6. This is a picture of “Kochanski Camille” (not Kochanski, but Listers impression of Kochanski fabricated by a GELF.)

However, in season 7, Chloe Annett became the new Kochanski and boy is she wonderful! Yes I know, it was a bit of a shock seeing a new member of the Red Dwarf crew (seemingly at the expence of Rimmer), but Chloe (and the writers) have settled Kochanski in very well. She brings her own unique perspective to the saga and is popular with the girls as well as the guys (though clearly for different reasons).

I have some information on the actress gleaned from other web sites…. Chloe Victoria Annett grew up in London where she attended Mountview Theatre School. Originally she was going to attend an Art School but she went along with one of her friends who had an audition and got in.

Chloe has lived in America where she had a part in an American Mini Series (Jewels). She enjoyed working and living in America and said she would like to work there again. She hit real stardom when she landed the role of Christine Kochanski in Red Dwarf.

She married the geezer who manages/ed the band Oasis.