I just lucked on to a copy of the book 'Red Dwarf', the essential 'how it all started' story. 298 pages, I think I read it in about two hours, and enjoyed every page. A lot of good stuff in there that they couldn't put in the series, like how Kryten and his former owners came to be stranded on that planet, details like that. A really good read, if you can find a copy.