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Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the mechanoid Kryten in the Science fiction television sitcom Red Dwarf and formerly presented the engineering gameshow Scrapheap Challenge. He has also founded and hosts a YouTube series, Fully Charged, which has grown into a company that puts on EV and "Everything Electric" conventions in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Europe.
Llewellyn joined the cast of Red Dwarf in 1989 at the start of the third series. Llewellyn's skills as a physical performer encouraged Rob Grant and Doug Naylor to write him additional characters for the series, namely Jim Reaper ("The Last Day"), Human Kryten ("DNA"), Bongo ("Dimension Jump"), Able ("Beyond A Joke") and the Data Doctor ("Back in the Red"). With Doug Naylor, Llewellyn also co-wrote the episode "Beyond A Joke" which screened in 1997.
In the early days of Red Dwarf, Llewellyn would arrive to do make-up many hours before the rest of the actors; however, that changed as time progressed, as his fellow actors "have a little bit more help in the makeup department than they used to". In an interview with The Skeptic Zone, Llewellyn mentioned that he needs a special pair of glasses to be able to read the script with the Kryten mask on. In Red Dwarf, he worked hard to get the more technically difficult lines right because the series tried to be factually accurate in reference to scientific theories.
Llewellyn was also the only British cast member of Red Dwarf to originally participate in a proposed American version, though other actors such as Craig Charles and Chris Barrie were also approached to reprise their roles.
In 1992, Llewellyn appeared in "Parade", the fourth episode of series two of Bottom, as a wounded Falklands War veteran named Mr. N. Stiles.
Llewellyn's project it2i2 was released on DVD in March 2006. Since then, he has had a YouTube Video blogging called "Llewtube". His book Sold Out: How I Survived a Year of Not Shopping — based on his YouTube series Making Do — was published in October 2008.
In February 2009, Llewellyn featured as a guest in episode 127 of the technology-related podcast MacBreak Weekly with Leo Laporte''.
In 2007 Llewellyn appeared as the Prime Minister in an episode of the CBBC series M.I. High. He presented the 2008 Channel 5 game show Top Trumps.
Llewellyn reviewed the world of science and technology in his popular Machine of the Week report.
Since 2009 Llewellyn has provided the voice of news anchor Perry Flynn for PlayStation Home TV, which airs in the Home Theatre of the European version of PlayStation Home.
Llewellyn has worked as a voice acting, providing the voices of the alien creatures in Skywhales (1983), the voice of Feeble for The Feeble Files (1997), Old Joe in , and the gryphon in the 2005 film MirrorMask. In the documentary Dwarfing USA (released on the DVD of Red Dwarf V), he described himself as "very much a 'don't want to do it now' kind of person".
Llewellyn's web series Carpool ran from 2009 to 2014, and spawned a television series of the same name on the television channel Dave from 2010-2011. In January 2011, Llewellyn appeared on Celebrity Mastermind answering questions on the specialist subject of electric cars; he has expressed an interest in working on a television series about technologies that we might use in the future.
In 2010, Llewellyn was the narrator of the Channel 5 series The Boss is Coming to Dinner. He appeared in the 2013 movie Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild alongside Stuart Ashen and Warwick Davis, and the 2020 sequel, Ashens and the Polybius Heist.
Llewellyn presented the 2015 BBC Two show The World's Busiest Railway alongside Dan Snow and Anita Rani, which later featured on Netflix under the title "Mumbai Railway".
In 2019, Llewellyn was a contestant alongside Craig Charles on the BBC One series Antiques Road Trip.
Llewellyn, who is of Welsh ancestry, learned to drive aged 11 (having been taught by his older brother in a go-kart). Formerly a "petrol-head", he is now an electric car and renewable energy advocate. Robert Llewellyn’s Home of the Future As well as being frequently interviewed on the subject, he presents a YouTube series called Fully Charged.Interview on BBC Radio 6 Music, 9:15, 18 November 2010
On the evening of 1 July 2009, while Llewellyn was en route to deliver Carpool footage to his editor, another vehicle hit him side-on at a junction in Gloucestershire, writing off his Toyota Prius and rendering him unconscious for around ten minutes. The force of the impact was such that it bent his laptop "into a banana shape". Llewellyn praised the honesty of the other driver for accepting full liability for the accident, as well as the hospital, police and other services for helping him. He also gave special praise to his "beloved Prius" for protecting him from the impact. He suffered concussion, minor whiplash and dizzy spells but escaped more serious injury.
In 2014 he drove, with David Peilow, a Nissan Leaf 400 miles from London to Edinburgh. Stopping nine times, it took 12 hours, beating a previous time set by the BBC three years earlier which took four days in a Mini-E, as well as beating the time set by Peilow in a 2008 Tesla Roadster, which, having left two days after the Mini-E, took around 19 hours.
Llewellyn has expressed that his major Pseudoscience irritations are astrology and climate change denial.
Llewellyn lives in Temple Guiting, Gloucestershire and is married to Australian author Judy Pascoe (who herself had a cameo in Red Dwarf as a one-off love interest of Llewellyn's character, in the episode "Camille" playing a character of the same name).
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