The G&T Review of the Year 2025

As the New Year starts to be rung in throughout the world, it can only mean one thing – an obligatory Ganymede & Titan Review of the Year. But in a break from recent traditions, this year’s retrospective covers a period of relatively high activity for Red Dwarf. Not all of the news has been good. In fact, much of it has been downright awful. But nevertheless, 2025 will go certainly go down in a history as a year in which Some Things Happened. So let’s take a moment to look back and reflect on those Things, as well as our own mediocre output that filled the gaps between Things.

One example of 2025 being a noteworthy year for Red Dwarf is that it’s seemingly the year in which the show finally died, as a live action TV series at least. The warning signs were there in mid-January, when Craig Charles gave a pessimistic-sounding interview to the Radio Times. There were hints that the proposed special was too expensive, and that an existing deal with UKTV may have fallen through. This was clarified by Doug in a Reddit AMA in September – having initially been given the nod to write a new script, he was subsequently told that the broadcaster were no longer commissioning any scripted comedy, regardless of how successful and sought after it would obviously be. The Dave era is officially no more.

Having had time to soak the news in, we’re kind of glad that there’s a definitive ending to this chapter of the show’s history; we’d have obviously preferred it to bow out on its own terms after one last victory lap, but it’s better than the endless cycle of speculation, hope and disappointment. Plus, it leaves the path clear for both Rob and Doug to explore different modes of storytelling, with Doug having already discussed converting his abandoned script into a novel. Here’s hoping there’s a renewed effort to expand Red Dwarf‘s universe in other mediums, now that the default one is no longer an option.

In the meantime, this year also saw the show’s existing back catalogue dusted down and repackaged in a couple of different ways. A new Bluray boxset has been released, bringing together both the BBC and Dave eras for the first time, as well as chucking in The Bodysnatcher Collection and Just The Smegs for good measure. Despite it being a clear improvement on the 2019 effort, I was a little underwhelmed when I came to review it, but will forever be amused by the fact that the design of the cover was changed to something nearly identical to a mockup posted in our comments. And that someone will have had to wade through tonnes of Sonic The Hedgehog memes in order to get to it.

This year also saw perhaps the single most pointless commercial venture since Rimmer’s Toolkit, with the release of Series 1-VIII in audiobook form. From its clearly AI-generated announcement onwards, we always had a bad feeling about this one, and it was no surprise at all to discover that absolutely zero effort had been made to adapt the source material for the medium. It’s literally just the audio from the episodes. Episodes which are available to stream for free, with added pictures. Thankfully, Flap Jack volunteered to do a review for us, so that we didn’t have to actually listen to them like he did.

But we did get some new material from one of Red Dwarf‘s creators this year, with Doug Naylor’s debut young adult novel Sin Bin Island. I’ve read it and it’s very good; we decided against giving it a written review, as we wouldn’t want to attract its target audience to this cesspit of unspeakable filth, but the short version is: it’s a really enjoyable page-turner, with a classic Naylorian prose style, intriguing mysteries and some really clever timey-wimey twists to drive the narrative. We heard some interesting details about the book’s development at its launch event, as well as an amusing Doctor Who related anecdote.

Not only that, but the promotional activity for Sin Bin Island included bringing TOS back from the dead after more than three years of inactivity. As it turns out, it seems that promoting the book has been the only function of the website so far, given that it hasn’t been updated since. The box-set and audiobook releases are still trailed in the future tense, while the sidebar is still advertising the old box-set, as well as compelling you to sign up for Quarantine Commentaries (which you can’t), and watch The Promised Land on UKTV Play (which you can’t). Come on, whatever’s left of GNP, make it your new year’s resolution to treat the old girl with a little more love in 2026.

Rounding off what was, in retrospect, an extremely busy couple of months compared to the average over the decade so far, was the announcement of the first “official” Red Dwarf convention, to be held in Nottingham in July 2026. My thoughts on said announcement were complicated and very wordy, and I don’t have much to add now. I’m not going, but I wish it luck, and hope that those who are wealthy enough to attend have a lovely time.

Other bits and bobs that didn’t get a front page article of their own this year included the unannounced release of some new t-shirts, which are just like the old ones you remember from your youth, only objectively worse, for no good reason. Meanwhile, Chris Barrie had a bit of health scare, forcing him to cancel some scheduled public appearances, but thankfully he seems to be on the mend now, even if he seems to be attributing his improvement to “dietary and naturopathic protocols” rather than the actual medical science administered by healthcare professionals.

And now for the sadly inevitable section of the retrospective, where we remember the Red Dwarf alumni who have left us over the past year. 2025 has taken some pretty big hitters, starting in January with Tony Slattery, aged just 65. We also lost the beloved floor manager of the BBC Manchester years, Mike Agnew, and arguably the most popular guest star of all time, Charles Augins. Each of those losses hit us hard in their own ways, but it was some comfort to see the outpouring of love in the Red Dwarf community on each occasion, and what that meant to the friends and family who lost loved ones.

And finally, it’s top to mop up the last dregs of 2025 activity, by looking back at our own G&T features from the year. Guest reviewer Dave scoured through a book that was actually released in 2024, Joe Nazzaro’s directors cut version of his 1993 Making Of. I explored the holy grail of Red Dwarf scripts, with a flick through the first draft of Back To Reality, then for some reason decided to catalogue and research all the now-defunct brands mentioned in the show, and later dipped into the TOS archives to construct The Toasterverse.

It was not a vintage year for DwarfCasts unfortunately, mainly due to real life getting in the way. We progressed both of our current ongoing series by precisely one edition, with Re-Disc-Overy reaching Series VII, and The Smegazine Rack hitting the end of Volume One. Other than that there was just a Wafflemen Special, but the good news is that we already have the next ‘Cast in the can, and it’ll be in your ears within the next week. Meanwhile, G&TV took us back to the early days of Channel 4 with Book ‘Em an’ Risk It, to the origins of Red Nose Day with Comic Relief Utterly Utterly Live, to America with Swirly Thing Alert, and to late-80s Granadaland with Stand Up. You can be damn sure that the recently uncovered edition of Def II hosted by The Cat will be the subject of a G&TV Special at some point in the new year; it’s such a biggie we want to do it justice with a properly researched write-up.

And so after a year of ups and downs, but one that was thankfully much more interesting than the last few, there is hope that 2026 will provide us with more new developments to discuss, and maybe even some new material to ingest. Either way, we’ll be here to keep you company along the way, and we’re sure that our loyal and prolific community will continue to make us both laugh and despair on a daily basis. Happy New Year, one and all!