BUT BRITISH COMEDY GUIDE TOLD US THEY WERE FILMING IT LAST OCTOBER.

Things have been suspiciously quiet on the new Red Dwarf front for some time, following last year’s unconfirmed rumblings. While we were always cautious, we did expect there to be some confirmation from official sources by the end of 2024, following the well established pattern of such things usually coming several months after the cast start blabbing. But while there’s still no actual confirmation either way, Craig Charles has spoken to the Radio Times about it, and the outlook is suddenly much more pessimistic.

“I’m not sure that it will come back, to be honest,” he exclusively told RadioTimes.com.

“I know that the deal that we had to make it this year looks like that might not be happening now.

“I can’t really say any more on that because I don’t know much more, but I just know that there have been lots of conversations about cost, and I think [the episodes] might be too expensive.”

He clarified: “It’s not that we don’t want to do it, it’s a case of we’re trying to get it done… [it’s] happening in television all the time at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be that much money around.”

Well, bugger. As we’ve discussed before, it’s certainly true that there’s somewhat of a cash-flow crisis in British television at the moment, with new commissions slowing down significantly post-lockdown. I’d always feared that, away from the “main” channels, Red Dwarf‘s relative expensiveness might be its downfall. Scripted television, be it comedy or drama, is always more expensive than non-scripted. For a broadcaster like UKTV, they can churn out several series of a panel show or an authored doc for the same price as one Red Dwarf special. You might argue that Dwarf would get higher ratings, is more prestigious and has much more of a home media market than any of their other shows, and you’d be right. But schedules need to be filled, and money is not abundant. It’s sad, but it makes sense – scripted comedy may be beyond the reach of anyone other than the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky right now.

We can however take heart from the fact that all parties seemingly still want to make it happen. The cast and Doug are clearly up for it, and I’m certain that UKTV would still love to have new Dwarf at the heart of its original programming in an ideal world. Maybe it will be possible if things pick up in the next couple of years. Maybe there’s a way of adjusting existing plans to make it cheaper without compromising quality. Or maybe we have to come to terms with the fact that the show might not be coming back in its current format. Maybe it’s time to explore other media once more, if there are still stories that need to be told. Maybe we just say “sod it, it had a good run, let’s just enjoy what we’ve already got”.

The production of Red Dwarf has never been smooth. From 1994 onwards, there’s almost always been a mad scramble to get anything made. It took three years after Back To Earth to make Series X. It took three further years to make Series XI and XII, and then another three to make The Promised Land. That’s not normal. Making Red Dwarf is exceptionally difficult, at every stage of development. And as fans, we’ve always greeted each new production block with immediately wanting to know what’s coming next, and when that will be. We’ve never stopped and considered that maybe there’s nothing next, and maybe that’s okay. There is still hope, but maybe we ought to think about adjusting our mindsets, just in case.

UPDATE – 4:37pm, 20/01/25

Radio Times have now published the rest of what Craig said which is a lot more optimistic in tone, and quite spoilerific.

“It was never done on the cheap, Red Dwarf, [but] now you can make things look so much better for so much cheaper.
“Hopefully the stars will align and we’ll get it done because we all want to do it. The script is great.
“I can’t really tell you much about the script, but it’s very Lister-heavy and it involves a lot of this new AI technology and stuff like that.”
“I really wanted to make it,” Charles continued. “It’s an absolutely stunning script, and the bits that we’ve seen in mock-ups that we’ve we’ve mocked together, it just looks stunning.”
Charles went on to hint that the new episodes could involve Lister coming face-to-face with his younger self, saying: “I don’t know if this is giving anything away, but if you think that it’s me at the age of 60 acting against me at the age of 23… it looks stunning, you’re like, ‘F**king hell, how did they do that?!’
“But can we afford to make it? That’s the big thing.”

I haven’t decided what I think about the above yet, I’m too pissed off with the Radio Times for double dipping so egregiously. If you put all of Craig’s quotes together, you get a totally different picture than just the pessimistic ones on their own. They’ve sacrificed journalistic integrity for clicks. We shouldn’t be surprised.

109 comments on “Something’s (maybe) *not* coming (possibly)

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  • Remember when Doug was musing about “at least two more series” probably being likely after XI / XII? Oh, what young, innocent rapscallions we were in those days.

  • Maybe we just say “sod it, it had a good run, let’s just enjoy what we’ve already got”.

    We’ve never stopped and considered that maybe there’s nothing next, and maybe that’s okay. There is still hope, but maybe we ought to think about adjusting our mindsets, just in case.

    I agree with all of this. Before TPL got made, I was perfectly happy with Skipper being the end of TV Dwarf if it needed to be, and then when TPL did come along I felt even moreso that it was a high note to go put on if that was the end.

    I’d obviously welcome any more Red Dwarf in TV format, but in no way do I feel that we’re owed it – at this point, anything else is a bonus.

  • Hmmm, not great words there. I was surprised to hear they were making more RD after TPL. I would LOVE to see more, of course, but there’s the danger of doing that one too many, and the closing memories of the show being “they should have stopped at TPL” or Skipper, etc. There’s the possibility that Craig is trying to put people off the trail and there’s definitively more RD coming. I’m up for at least one more, let’s go.

  • in no way do I feel that we’re owed it – at this point, anything else is a bonus.

    I felt like that before Rob Grant started talking out of his buttski. I don’t mind if there are no more episodes (and not enthusiastic about the prequel plan even if it was realistic), but I’d love him to focus on a really good novel or audio series or something, or it’s all just buttski guff.

  •  Before TPL got made, I was perfectly happy with Skipper being the end of TV Dwarf if it needed to be, and then when TPL did come along I felt even moreso that it was a high note to go put on if that was the end.
    I’d obviously welcome any more Red Dwarf in TV format, but in no way do I feel that we’re owed it – at this point, anything else is a bonus.

  • Wise words.  There is willingness, appetite, and interest in more Dwarf. & everyone’s well. Thankfully. If we get more great. But if we don’t or they can’t, or the time has come to stop. Then we had decades of activity. 

  • I want one more thing because then I can approach it as the potential last thing ever when I first see it, whereas with TPL I was never more sure there would be more based on what was being said about it (i.e. something to the effect of “we were given the option to do two specials and chose to do one to test the waters”). During the XI/XII era it seemed like we might get another batch of two series made, again, based on comments Doug made.

    Remember when Doug was musing about “at least two more series” probably being likely after XI / XII? Oh, what young, innocent rapscallions we were in those days.

    Oh, look, there they are.

  • I watched The Promised Land the other night and I thought ‘that was good but I think whatever’s next could top it’. I had had a few spiced rum and cokes.

  • If it’s all over then it’s a shame the band couldn’t get back together one last time, but we got 21 episodes, a feature-length special, several hours of documentaries and some AA adverts out of it, which is exactly 21 episodes, a feature-length special, several hours of documentaries and some AA adverts more than it looked like we might get before August 2008, and “THE END… THE SMEG IT IS” is no longer the end to the franchise.

  • 21 episodes, a feature-length special, several hours of documentaries and some AA adverts

    Seriously the whole Dave era has been one big unexpected bonus, and I might even have been less bothered if this had been the situation after XII, but The Promised Land was such a success that it’s a real shame it hasn’t turned out to be the beginning of a new direction for the show. If it’s the last Red Dwarf ever then it serves as a cracking swansong, but a couple more feature-length episodes as good as TPL could have capped off the whole show beautifully. But it’s already been nearly five years since TPL, the longest we’ve gone without a new episode since the beginning of the Dave era in 2009. It kinda feels like it’s now or never. It’s come back so many times but in another couple of years, even if things have changed such that making more is possible, are the cast still going to be up for it, Robert especially? Whatever, I’m rambling now and of course we’re entitled to diddly-squat.

  • The whole Dave Era has been fair subpar for me. So if they didn’t make anymore, I wouldn’t be that upset. But I do think people underestimate Doug Naylor. He will probably make the cast to this till they are 90 if that’s what it takes.

  • Echoing what clem said, it would be such a shame if the TPL wasn’t the beginning of a new direction. But the harsh realities as always are hard to ignore and constantly looming over – the way TV is now, and as much as I hate to say this, the factors of the casts’ ages (in particular, how long Robert can stay in the Kryten mask these days), etc etc.

    The Dave era has had it’s high and lows, it’s successes and frustrations… it’s hard not to say any of this without sounding ungrateful or spoilt, but I would love at least one more. 

    After coming out the other side from the legal issues within GNP that hit us hard over the last few years, it really would be a shame if Doug and the cast couldn’t get together at least one last time. But who knows. Here’s hoping there’ll be some unexpected, positive outcome. 

  • Echoing what people have already said, it’s a shame that the Dave era might end just as they found a format that seemed to work so much better for Doug’s scripting than six half-hours did, but ultimately it was only a matter of time before something prevented it entirely.

    Would be nice to get a Rob novel on top of Doug’s non-Dwarf novel next year, but frankly I’m not holding my breath about anything emerging buttski-related or otherwise.

    At least we can all agree, for all the complicated and conflicting opinions on the entire Dave era, that at least it isn’t Series 8.

  • even if things have changed such that making more is possible, are the cast still going to be up for it, Robert especially?

    DNA 2: THE KRYTENING

  • All this is making Rob’s plans to do an animated series feel even more ridiculous than they already did. 

    I can fully share the sentiments, anyway. More Dwarf would be wonderful, but I’m not clamouring for it these days. We’ve been incredibly lucky with all we’ve had and anything else would be a bonus. 

    It’s kind of weird saying this when at one point a couple of years back it didn’t seem completely impossible that it would end up back on the BBC again. 

  • Screenshot from the Red Dwarf episode Part IIScreenshot from the Red Dwarf episode Part IIScreenshot from the Red Dwarf episode Part IIScreenshot from the Red Dwarf episode Part IIScreenshot from the Red Dwarf episode Part II

    But I do think people underestimate Doug Naylor. He will probably make the cast to this till they are 90 if that’s what it takes.

    Screenshot from the Red Dwarf episode Future Echoes

  • If scripted comedy is expensive, then obviously it should be made without scripts. 

    Would it be any good? If Smeg Ups is anything to go by I imagine it would be extraooooooooordinary (and little else)!

  • Gofund me or something. Seriously. Millions of fans around the word. Many celeb fans. Imagine if it helped get the show the green light? The publicity?

    Come on G&T this is your moment!!


  • Isn’t there some way we can get in there and help them? Somehow turn ourselves into tiny electronic people and get into their dream? Isn’t there some sort of gizmo lying around that some place can do that? And if not…


    [smacks table]

    Why not?!!! 

  • Happy to be corrected if wrong, but this is one of the very few occasions a cast member has come out and said that it’s looking unlikely, rather than being optimistic and saying it’s just around the corner regardless of the current status of the project( going back as far as the Movie)  I find this rather telling.

    It would be a shame if this was the case,as others have said they seemed to be just finding their feet with the format and structure with the promised land. 

    I’ve no idea why and nothing to back it up but when Rob was back onboard I was personally not as optimistic as others and suspected things would go dark and quiet, as they have. Obviously things can change quickly. 

    But yeah not the news we wanted to start 2025 but the lack of news over the last 12 months, it’s not really surprising. 

  • I’ve no idea why and nothing to back it up but when Rob was back onboard I was personally not as optimistic as others and suspected things would go dark and quiet, as they have.

    Rob Grant likely has nothing to do with the Show not being able to get the money to make more.

    If anything it puts Robs prequel project up in the air if money if money is this big of a problem.

  • If anything it puts Robs prequel project up in the air if money if money is this big of a problem.

    I already thought that would be a difficult sell without the main cast anyway.

  • I think the producers for Big Finish said they tried to get the Red Dwarf license but couldn’t get it.

  • Rob Grant likely has nothing to do with the Show not being able to get the money to make more. 

  • (I typed most of this yesterday before lots of the other comments.)

    As a late fan, TPL was the first Dwarf I watched on broadcast as an active fan, and for whatever reason I didn’t have the same optimism as others that there would be more – I’m not sure when we knew there were supposed to be two (or maybe everyone else did before TPL but I didn’t until later), but I recall thinking when I heard about it ‘well covid has prevented the second one from getting off the ground’ as none of us knew what the future might possibly hold at that point.  So I think I did view it as potentially the end anyway, in case they couldn’t get recommissioned or the cast ended up not able to do another, or whatever.  But at the same time, not giving up all hope until/unless it turned out that it definitely wouldn’t be returning.

    ^ Since reading the other comments such as age of the cast and Robert’s ability to be under the mask, yes those were (and still very much are) major factors in my lack of optimism.

    Obviously I’ll be delighted if anything does get off the ground.  Just, not having a huge amount of hope means not a huge disappointment if it doesn’t happen.

  • It would be a real shame if it was the case. Dave Dwarf has made an amazing coda to a show I’d lost all interest with when I cringed my way through Series 8, but Fathers and Suns, Lemons, Samsara, Give and Take, Can of Worms, Cured are six episodes that I think are right up there with Olden Days quality.

    And then, with TPL, it seemed to *really* hit the mark. Funny, plotty and poignant. It seemed like the perfect vehicle for new Dwarf.

    A false start? But a brilliant way to go out if true.

  • Gofund me or something. Seriously. Millions of fans around the word. Many celeb fans. Imagine if it helped get the show the green light? The publicity?

    Come on G&T this is your moment!!

    It’s a nice thought, but this is a different type of funding issue to the type that crowdfunding could solve. It’s not that there’s a target amount of money that needs to be raised – UKTV have money, they just have to decide how to spend it. Say they have $£2m to spend in 2025. A Red Dwarf special costs $£1m. Eight episodes of a panel show cost $£500k. (All figures completely arbitrary, of course). They could still choose one RD special and two series of panel shows, but they might well opt for four series of panel shows.

    Now, crowdfunding could raise the hypothetical $£1m that this fictionalised special requires, Baby Cow/GNP could use that money to hire all the cast and crew, the studio, build the sets and props, hire the camera kit, do all the post-production etc. And then what? They need a broadcaster. They wouldn’t then just hand it UKTV to do with as they wish, you have to pay if you want to put programmes that other people have made on your channel. And the production company wouldn’t want to make a significant loss on it, so we’re back to square one.

    If it comes to it, we’d of course be up for promoting and/or organising such a crowdfunder if it’s required (and, crucially, requested by Doug or Rob for their various projects), but that model is miles away from where Red Dwarf currently is. It could well be the route to explore for books, comics, audios etc – things that are sold directly to the consumer anyway – but not TV.

  • Some things should end, and that’s fine.

    The trouble these days is that so little is allowed that luxury – reboots, belated sequels…everything’s dragged on and dragged out, so often to the detriment of its own legacy.

    Sometimes it’s just nice to have something that’s had its run, that can be appreciated in retrospect.

    The Promised Land is a fitting denouement, a bookend of the Cat story and a final poignant reflection on the Lister / Rimmer dynamic.

    Something else could be good, but is it worth the risk and do we really need it?

  • At this point I feel like I want a definitive decision one way or the other. The waters have been muddied so much recently.

  • Radio Times have now published the rest of what Craig said which is a lot more optimistic in tone, and quite spoilerific.

    “It was never done on the cheap, Red Dwarf, [but] now you can make things look so much better for so much cheaper.
    “Hopefully the stars will align and we’ll get it done because we all want to do it. The script is great.
    “I can’t really tell you much about the script, but it’s very Lister-heavy and it involves a lot of this new AI technology and stuff like that.”
    “I really wanted to make it,” Charles continued. “It’s an absolutely stunning script, and the bits that we’ve seen in mock-ups that we’ve we’ve mocked together, it just looks stunning.”
    Charles went on to hint that the new episodes could involve Lister coming face-to-face with his younger self, saying: “I don’t know if this is giving anything away, but if you think that it’s me at the age of 60 acting against me at the age of 23… it looks stunning, you’re like, ‘F**king hell, how did they do that?!’
    “But can we afford to make it? That’s the big thing.”

    I haven’t decided what I think about the above yet, I’m too pissed off with the Radio Times for double dipping so egregiously. If you put all of Craig’s quotes together, you get a totally different picture than just the pessimistic ones on their own. They’ve sacrificed journalistic integrity for clicks. We shouldn’t be surprised. 

  • Oh for the love of Cloister.

    They made it sound like the issue was that scripted, live performed comedy is too expensive in general, but in context it’s clear they just had a specific story in mind that would require a disproportionate amount of VFX work. Bastards.

  • I’ve long wondered whether they would ever go down this route and combine new performances and old footage, Trials and Tribble-ations-style.

    It’s pretty exciting to know that they’re at least considering it, or at least some kind of digital de-ageing to approximate it.

  • I’ve long wondered whether they would ever go down this route and combine new performances and old footage, Trials and Tribble-ations-style.

    It’s pretty exciting to know that they’re at least considering it, or at least some kind of digital de-ageing to approximate it.

    It would have to be ILM and even then…

  • It would have to be ILM and even then…

    That’s what makes me think it’s more likely to be putting the cast into old footage. If Star Trek could do it 30 years ago then I reckon it should be within Red Dwarf’s ability today.

  • At what stage of proceedings would the cast normally see the script? Presumably things must have been on the verge of getting going fairly recently if Craig has seen one (unless he’s just speaking generally having been given a broad outline of the story).

  • It would have to be ILM and even then…

    That’s what makes me think it’s more likely to be putting the cast into old footage. If Star Trek could do it 30 years ago then I reckon it should be within Red Dwarf’s ability today.

    DS9 wasn’t trying to integrate modern digital HD footage with blurry standard def videotape. 

  • DS9 wasn’t trying to integrate modern digital HD footage with blurry standard def videotape.

    There would be challenges for sure but I could see it being the kind of thing Doug would go after.

  • The only reasonable way to do it would be to try to adapt the new footage to look like old video rather than trying to blend them as they look.

  • “It’s an absolutely stunning script, and the bits that we’ve seen in mock-ups that we’ve we’ve mocked together, it just looks stunning.”Charles went on to hint that the new episodes could involve Lister coming face-to-face with his younger self, saying: “I don’t know if this is giving anything away, but if you think that it’s me at the age of 60 acting against me at the age of 23… it looks stunning, you’re like, ‘F**king hell, how did they do that?!’“But can we afford to make it? That’s the big thing.” 

    So they want to de-aging effects on their budget. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

    Remember when CGI dinosaurs become cheaper? Gotta get that in Series 8.

  • It would have to be ILM and even then…

    That’s what makes me think it’s more likely to be putting the cast into old footage. If Star Trek could do it 30 years ago then I reckon it should be within Red Dwarf’s ability today.

    That wouldn’t be cheaper than de-aging. Obviously old footage would not be widescreen and the image quality is probably not up to par with the new episodes. They don’t have the hollywood money to clean that up to make it work. So it would maybe be more costly.

    I mean its fair to say that if Apps now days can pull off this stuff, they probably think they can de-age craig within a reasonable way. Probably for like 1 minute of footage. As Doug seems to like to find way to put cool effects into the show.

    Rememeber Doug also put craig in some impressive old age make up for no reason at all in M-Corp and for barely a minute of screentime. Probably just because it was impressive visually.

  • Rememeber Doug also put craig in some impressive old age make up for no reason at all in M-Corp and for barely a minute of screentime. Probably just because it was impressive visually.

    Not for no reason. It was showing how Lister had paid for M-Corp’s products with literal years of his life. I’m sure he could have rewritten the episode so that didn’t happen, but it wasn’t frivolous.

  • “I can’t really tell you much about the script, but it’s very Lister-heavy and it involves a lot of this new AI technology and stuff like that.”

    He talks like that would be a new thing, but he could be talking about any number of already made episodes here. Not least of all Fathers and Suns. 

  • He talks like that would be a new thing, but he could be talking about any number of already made episodes here. Not least of all Fathers and Suns.

  • Except for Series VIII obviously.

    VIII still has Holly, though, so not except for Series VIII.

    And on that point, VIII still has Kryten. My point was it is the only series with no hologram.

  • VIII still has Holly, though, so not except for Series VIII.

    Yeah but Holy is Senile so its not AI it’s AS

  • I liked it a lot. Probably my least favourite of those six I listed, but it’s fun, funny, has a plot and doesn’t make me cringe. So it’s better than anything in VII and VIII.

  • I liked it a lot. Probably my least favourite of those six I listed, but it’s fun, funny, has a plot and doesn’t make me cringe. So it’s better than anything in VII and VIII.

    I think Can of Worms is okay too, it’s Krysis I can’t stand. I still think Cassandra’s better than nearly all of the Dave era though, so I’m likely insane.

  • It’s Krysis I can’t stand.

    The thing about Krysis is everyone expected it to be shit, so it was a relief when it wasn’t too shit. Can of Worms on the other hand…

  • Can of Worms is an episode that on paper is clearly a mess but it doesn’t really bother me while watching. It’s easily the weakest of those 12 episodes besides Timewave, but I’d never group those two on the same tier. 

  • I never disliked Can of Worms quite as much as some people, but it’s definitely in the bottom half of the Dave table.

  • I’ll defend Krysis too, tbh. The stuff with the other Kryten. Butler, was it? Was really enjoyable. He was an excellent addition.

    Comparing it to Siliconia, Timewave and Mechocracy from the next season, it’s an absolute gem in comparison!

  • Mechocracy gave me the feeling I was back on grown-up Red Dwarf after a few too many silly/crap/outlandish episodes (I still liked Cured, despite some of that). The sort of lower-key bottle show(?) I expected the Dave era to be, and which might actually have a chance of getting made.

  • I quite like the “you’re demoted” scene in of itself but it really fucks up the pacing of that sequence and I wish it stayed in Officer Rimmer where it originally came from. It just makes more thematic sense in that episode, on top of there being an orphaned callback to it that remains.

  • Everyone focuses on the CCTV stuff but I find the “just give me a fucking virus to kill you” resolution far more jarring.

  • Another instalment of the Craig Radio Times chat: https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/red-dwarf-no-finale-episode-exclusive-newsupdate/

    “While the cast of Red Dwarf are still hoping for a TV return, star Craig Charles has revealed why the series will never have a “finale” episode.

    The actor, who plays Dave Lister in the beloved sci-fi comedy, recently told RadioTimes.com that the reported comeback for the show is now looking less likely due to the episodes possibly being too expensive to produce.

    If a return does happen though, fans should expect the story to stay open-ended. When asked what he hopes for the future of the series and for his character Lister, Charles said: “I just want a happy ending for them all. I don’t think we’ll ever do a final episode, though.

    “Apart from Gavin and Stacy, which worked quite well as a final episode, final episodes are generally s**te and leave people with a sense of disappointment and anti-climax.

    “So we always said we’d never do a last episode. We’d just not make it anymore – and we might be at that point now. I hope not, but if we are, it’s been a great run. If we do have our last hurrah then it’ll be fun.””

  • It feels pretty cruel to be saying “we probably won’t do anymore, but this is what we WOULD have done”.. almost like watching the end of a Bullseye episode where they show the contestants what they could have won. I think it’s a great idea but de-aging is very expensive which is why only big shows and movies do it. Perhaps Doug’s imagination is reaching for the stars here but it would be incredible to see. 

  • I do think repurposing old footage might be a better idea. You could write it in as being viewed through a screen or a filter or something to hide some of the seams.

  • They could sit around remembering things that happened before for most of the episode, ultimately finding a lesson in a small portion of those memories that helps them to resolve their current predicament.

  • Renewing my Series XII-era request to do a clip show where all the clips are original and some take place in gaps in the show.

  • Renewing my Series XII-era request to do a clip show where all the clips are original and some take place in gaps in the show.

    Make Blue but good.

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