Sin Bin Snippets News Posted by Ian Symes on 17th September 2025, 09:58 Doug Naylor’s debut children’s novel, Sin Bin Island, was released last week and is now officially launched, following last night’s event at Waterstone’s Piccadilly. Doug was interviewed by S.F. Said, best-selling author and stablemate at publisher David Fickling Books, then took questions from the audience and stuck around to sign books afterwards. In attendance were Red Dwarf alumni such as producer Richard Naylor and casting director Linda Glover – how lovely that they’ve all kept in touch since production wrapped. Robert Llewellyn was also there throughout, while birthday boy Danny John-Jules arrived just as the last of the autograph queue dwindled away. Never change, Danny. There are plenty of other events coming up if you missed yesterday’s, but in the meantime, here are a few of the things we learned, about Sin Bin Island, Red Dwarf and more… • The origins of the book stem from a 3x 45-minute TV script Doug wrote, about a group of kids who find the wreckage of a flying saucer. After shopping the script around for a while with little success, the logical step was to convert it into a novel. • Needing to contrive a reason for a small number of children being the only people in the world to have discovered this spaceship, the concept of a sin bin island – a mysterious place where the naughtiest kids from an isolated orphanage are sent – emerged, and was fleshed out and embellished with themes of smugglers, pirates and ghosts. Test reader Richard Naylor then pointed out that the concept was so strong that you didn’t actually need the flying saucer at the end of it, so Doug reluctantly cut the 40,000 words he’d already written and started again. • Even so, when the book was re-written and finished off, it came out absolutely huge, and so Doug and his editor reworked it into two novels. Therefore, progress on the sequel is already at quite an advanced stage; there’s even a preview of Return to Sin Bin Island included at the end of the first book, trailed as “coming soon”. • Doug’s approach to writing for children was to basically not make any major alterations for the different audience, being careful not to condescend or over-simplify, the aim being to come up with a book that’s certainly suitable for children, but that doesn’t exclude adult readers. Indeed, there’s apparently one chapter in which a character reveals a dark secret from their past, which makes Doug cry every time he reads it back. • In other news, Doug certainly hasn’t given up hope of his new Red Dwarf special seeing the light of day, and he mentioned that’d he be approaching streamers as well as linear broadcasters. If it doesn’t end up being filmed, he’d be excited to turn the storyline into a novel instead. • However, a small note of caution – Doug has apparently approached Penguin Books twice to ask if they’d be interested in a new Red Dwarf novel, and hasn’t heard back. So either someone at Penguin needs to check their junk folder, because why the hell would you not want a new Red Dwarf novel, or Doug needs to find a different publisher to take it on. • And finally, an amusing tale of what so nearly was. During Steven Moffat’s time as showrunner on Doctor Who, he and Doug met after Moffat had indulged in what Doug describes as a “very heavy lunch”. Having praised each other’s work, Moffat told Doug it was crazy that he’d never been involved in Doctor Who, and offered him the chance to write an episode for the next series. Alas, after the effects of that lunch had worn off, Moffat couldn’t actually remember making said offer… It feels so good to hold a brand new book with Doug Naylor’s name on the front, for the first time in thirty years. And such a heavy book too, with a striking cover and a thick spine, guaranteed to stand out on any book shelf. I’m only a few chapters in, but can confirm that Doug’s style has not been watered down for the younger audience; his prose leaps off the page and entrances the reader just like it always has. Let’s face it, when most of us first read Infinity, we were around the age that Sin Bin Island is marketed towards, so as long as there’s far fewer sex scenes than there are in Last Human, we should be on to a winner.
Great to hear so much positivity on the Dwarf front, both TV and novels, after what has been a slightly dispiriting couple of weeks. As for Sin Bin Island I’m also still in the early stages but enjoying it, definitely feels like a kids book that also works for an older audience too.
Doug’s Doctor Who story no doubt would have involved Future Echoes/Cassandra/Back to Earth/Fathers and Suns/Sin Bin Island predestination tomfoolery. Could have been great or otherwise.
I hope its a Success. Really made up for him to have this out. Feel a triumphant moment. It being 5 years since 2020’s excellent Promised Land, and over a decade since Over to Bill attempt at a new series from him. Penguin are so blind not wanting more Dwarf, from either and both. Quite interesting listening to that podcast he did, the desire for book 2 – 2026 and a 3 – 2027. There was also an interesting mention of Dwarf Rights. Doug saying he can sell a series with “the cast” to anyone currently, and Rob has 3 years left of 5 to develop into production anything “Prequel”. Makes me slightly wonder if Doug returning to “The Ends” Lister is a way of marking out the territory of the area of Dwarf he can write within, with a timeline branch.
Doctor Who, said Moffat. Doctor Who, said the woman with the invisible appendectomy scar. == New publisher would help it be a clean break from being a Last Human continuation novel. Although part of me would respect the book just starting with “seven years later.” I’ll get to Sin Bin Island eventually but is it a two-parter or is it a novel with a sequel?
Although part of me would respect the book just starting with “seven years later.” Last Human is a novel that feels like a complete ending. And where it ends, I can’t think where it could possibly go. It wouldn’t feel like Red Dwarf anymore.
It would be fantastic if Doug’s next novel picks up at precisely the point we left them at the end of Rob’s Backwards.
I would of thought it’d be more likely for further Dwarf on a linear channel but it seems to me like Doug is more set on it selling to a streamer.
I’ll get to Sin Bin Island eventually but is it a two-parter or is it a novel with a sequel? Mostly it’s a novel with a sequel. It tells a full story and resolves nearly all it’s many little mystery’s. Its a full journey. One central bit is unresolved, I think you get the feeling early on it’s going to be a multi book factor that bit. I did’nt feel miffed I can wait, as it will keep future books interesting, its fun guessing. Theres a tiny preview of book two at the end i didnt even feel that was a cliffhanger, just a bit of print to confirm he wants to do more. A bonus.
Doug saying he can sell a series with “the cast” to anyone currently, and Rob has 3 years left of 5 to develop into production anything “Prequel”.
And where it ends, I can’t think where it could possibly go. It wouldn’t feel like Red Dwarf anymore. In the final chapters, the planet they’re on ends up in another universe. It might’ve been the one they left Red Dwarf in. They go back there, fix Holly and reboot Rimmer.
That would be fine from a raw plot engineering point of view, but from a thematic and emotional storytelling point of view it would be extremely cheap. The premise of the end of Last Human is that Lister and Kochanski settle down on a planet in the new universe and restart civilisation. You can’t just handwave that away and go back to the old status quo. And it would seriously undermine Rimmer’s sacrifice to bring him back so easily. Plus there are the other Last Human characters like Michael McGruder and Reketrebn to account for.
Plus there are the other Last Human characters like Michael McGruder and Rita’s Kabin to account for. FTFY
That would be fine from a raw plot engineering point of view, but from a thematic and emotional storytelling point of view it would be extremely cheap. The premise of the end of Last Human is that Lister and Kochanski settle down on a planet in the new universe and restart civilisation. You can’t just handwave that away and go back to the old status quo. And it would seriously undermine Rimmer’s sacrifice to bring him back so easily. Plus there are the other Last Human characters like Michael McGruder and Reketrebn to account for. But Red Dwarf would be a much safer – and more thematically appropriate – place to restart civilisation. They’ve got supplies for generations. Suppose they start traveling around and seeding various colony worlds using the Rimmerworld technology, all while Lister and Kochanski raise their own children onboard the ship. As for Rimmer, I imagine he wouldn’t have any of his memories after a certain point. He’d be the coward again, living with the knowledge that some other version of him died a hero. It’d be a fascinating variation on the Ace Rimmer story.
Safer if they already have access to Red Dwarf, less so if they need to go hunting for it without knowing if the new universe even has a Red Dwarf to find. And even if Red Dwarf just turned up, the safest option would probably be to leave it either fully landed on the planet or in orbit, not exploring deep space. But it’s kind of a moot point, because whether they’re on Red Dwarf or off it, if there are a bunch of soon to be in-breeding Listanski kids running around, then you are definitely making a true sequel to Last Human rather than just springing back to something resembling the old status quo, and the whole “doesn’t really feel like Red Dwarf any more” concern would still apply.
But Red Dwarf would be a much safer – and more thematically appropriate – place to restart civilisation. They’ve got supplies for generations. Suppose they start traveling around and seeding various colony worlds using the Rimmerworld technology, all while Lister and Kochanski raise their own children onboard the ship. As for Rimmer, I imagine he wouldn’t have any of his memories after a certain point. He’d be the coward again, living with the knowledge that some other version of him died a hero. It’d be a fascinating variation on the Ace Rimmer story. I mean, the end of Last Human is very clearly written to be an end of the story type of thing, a bittersweet happy ending where everybody lives except Rimmer, who manages to die a hero. So while everything you’ve said might be true, from a dramatic perspective, it would totally undermine the entire thing. I don’t think it’s a very good book, but it provides a very strong full stop at the end of the story. I think going back to that as a starting point for another novel would be a genuinely absurd thing to do.
But Red Dwarf would be a much safer – and more thematically appropriate – place to restart civilisation. They’ve got supplies for generations. Suppose they start traveling around and seeding various colony worlds using the Rimmerworld technology, all while Lister and Kochanski raise their own children onboard the ship. As for Rimmer, I imagine he wouldn’t have any of his memories after a certain point. He’d be the coward again, living with the knowledge that some other version of him died a hero. It’d be a fascinating variation on the Ace Rimmer story. I mean, the end of Last Human is very clearly written to be an end of the story type of thing, a bittersweet happy ending where everybody lives except Rimmer, who manages to die a hero. So while everything you’ve said might be true, from a dramatic perspective, it would totally undermine the entire thing. I don’t think it’s a very good book, but it provides a very strong full stop at the end of the story. I think going back to that as a starting point for another novel would be a genuinely absurd thing to do. I agree that continuing from the end of Last Human would be a bad thing, it was clearly an ending. There was definitely an implication that Kryten would try to fix Rimmer at least though. I kind of liked the idea after reading Last Human that, with Kryten distracted helping with the rebuilding civilisation thing, that could take decades. Would be a nice coda for Rimmer to reappear decades later with Lister elderly or dead of old age, surrounded by Lister/Kochanski descendants who remember Rimmer as a hero who made their lives possible.
After Kochanski dies, Kryten and an aged Lister and Cat take Rimmer’s broken light bee to Backwards Earth where it gets un-zapped and Rimmer comes back to life, and Cat and Lister de-age into their former selves. There’s your status quo.
Maybe I’m just a basic fan who got lost on his way to Facebook but all I want is a Red Dwarf novel that resembles the TV show. Just pick any point in the series and go from there, say something funny, have an adventure.
