[3] Written by Paul Alexander and Doug Naylor, and directed by Ed Bye, the episode involves Lister contracting an intelligent, but deadly, virus.
She attacks Lister and spits part of her jaw and tongue down his throat, infecting him with Epideme, an intelligent virus (with an annoying personality) that was supposed to cure nicotine addiction, but in practice kills its victims within 48 hours, then reanimates their corpse to find a new victim to transfer itself to.
When Starbug arrives at Delta VII, it turns out that the planet has been destroyed in order to deal with a massive Epideme outbreak – a fact that the virus was fully aware of, and used in its attempt to prevent Lister from killing himself.
For Paul Alexander's second script, he used an old Jasper Carrott joke for the premise of the plot – "What if your flu could talk to you?
[7] Nicky Leatherbarrow also appeared, in heavy make-up, as Caroline Carmen – the initial carrier of the Epideme virus.
"[12] DVD Verdict thought that this episode was the first in which the character of Kochanski finally "reached her stride" after all the "attitude and aggravation during those first few shows".