Olaf Petersen was a Danish catering officer aboard the Red Dwarf and best friends with Dave Lister. The character appears in both the TV series and Red Dwarf novels. Before the accident which killed Olaf and everybody else except Dave Lister, Lister and Petersen were best friends, often getting drunk together and going on planetary shore-leave together. Petersen is sorely missed by Lister and is frequently mentioned by Lister afterwards, much like Lister's lost love Kristine Kochanski.