BBC Head Of Comedy Is A Red Dwarf Fan.

[Ace Austin]

I think it’s worth noting that the current head of comedy at the BBC (Jon Petrie) mentioned in his speech at the BBC’s comedy festival that he’s a fan of Red Dwarf. As he recently brought back Partridge and that was a success maybe if Doug pitched new dwarf to the BBC they’d make it. This is his quote:

Comedy is what people turn to again and again. It is what we quote, what we rewatch, what brings us together. My kids and I are watching Red Dwarf together, which is so fun but also very awkward explaining to a 10-year-old what’s so funny about the word smeg.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/pro/features/jon-petrie-bbc-comedy-festival-2026-speech/

Topic

[Frank Smeghammer]

God only knows what audience BBC comedies are supposed to be attracting these days so I suppose there’s a chance

[Turk Thrust]

I guess the 40 year anniversary isn’t too far away.

Having some kind of Red Dwarf celebration wouldn’t be a bad idea (either on Dave or on the BBC), but I still won’t be holding my breath for any new episodes.

[Dax101]

Well he was appointed head of comedy in 2021 and its now 2026. So if there was any pitching going on it would have been done by now

[Rushy]

Doug may have transitioned from negotiations with Dave to battling Rob to writing Sin Bin Island.

Someone should give him a heads up

[Frank Smeghammer]

In all seriousness I personally think Red Dwarf really is over this time. I think Titan will be the last bit of official media and then it’s gone for good.

I know we’ve had lots of times before where we thought it was over and it came back with a wallop but I think this really is it now.

[Rushy]

Doug will presumably be around for decades to write books

[Dax101]

I don’t think Doug is finished with Red Dwarf yet. It’s going to come down to who’s willing to put the money in, though. Novels are just quicker and easier to produce. 

People tend to underestimate how much Doug wants to keep making Red Dwarf content. To the point he has come up with some weird ideas. Like he mentioned having an idea for a meta conspiracy story he was putting together with the Red Dwarf cast playing themselves, and i assume thats not happening either now. But you never really know what’s boiling over.

[Technopeasant]

Doug will presumably be around for decades to write books

Might have said that about Rob in January.

Life is sadly short.

[Rushy]

Like he mentioned having an idea for a meta conspiracy story he was putting together with the Red Dwarf cast playing themselves

Oh Doug… 

[Flap Jack]

Out of the Red can still happen, damn it, but only if we believe in it.

[Warbodog]

[Ian Symes]

Wait, Asclepius is the BBC Head of Comedy?

[Warbodog]

I don’t get his point about it being hard to explain to a child why ‘smeg’ is funny. It’s just a funny-sounding and distinctive insult that the characters use when exasperated, I don’t think it needs the smegma coating, so to speak, unless a parent really wants to go there. Did Jon Petrie know what it meant when he was 10?

[Nick R]

The BBC’s head of comedy is no longer interested in the sort of awkward children’s questions that Red Dwarf used to attract.

[Turk Thrust]

I don’t think Doug is finished with Red Dwarf yet. It’s going to come down to who’s willing to put the money in, though. Novels are just quicker and easier to produce. 
People tend to underestimate how much Doug wants to keep making Red Dwarf content. To the point he has come up with some weird ideas. Like he mentioned having an idea for a meta conspiracy story he was putting together with the Red Dwarf cast playing themselves, and i assume thats not happening either now. But you never really know what’s boiling over.

Easier, certainly, and quicker, possibly.

Doug has said that the second Sin Bin Island book can’t be published until 2027 as the publisher needs that much time.

So any Red Dwarf book would maybe have to wait until 2028 which, thinking about it now, would be perfect for the 40th anniversary. 

[Nick R]

I don’t get his point about it being hard to explain to a child why ‘smeg’ is funny. It’s just a funny-sounding and distinctive insult that the characters use when exasperated, I don’t think it needs the smegma coating, so to speak, unless a parent really wants to go there. Did Jon Petrie know what it meant when he was 10?

I think he was probably making a joke, rather than genuinely feeling that it was awkward and necessary to explain its meaning.

But I agree with your point – you can enjoy Red Dwarf without knowing that “smeg” is short for a longer word with a rude meaning. You don’t need to know its origins any more than you need to know that the word “berk” has a rhyming slang link to a much stronger swear word.

[International Debris]

Every day’s a school day.

[Ben Saunders]

I don’t get his point about it being hard to explain to a child why ‘smeg’ is funny. It’s just a funny-sounding and distinctive insult that the characters use when exasperated, I don’t think it needs the smegma coating, so to speak, unless a parent really wants to go there. Did Jon Petrie know what it meant when he was 10?

I was like 8 or 9 when I first started watching Red Dwarf and I just googled it. I knew what a penis was, I had one. I knew what sex was, people do it all the time. Why do people act as if children can’t and don’t know anything? I had a dirtier mind 20 years ago than I do now.

[clem]

When he did that AMA in September last year Doug was about to have a meeting about Out of the Red. He also mentioned an idea he’s had for a live thing for the 40th anniversary, so I definitely don’t think he’s done with Red Dwarf. He seems to really enjoy working with the cast and I won’t be surprised if by hook or by crook he manages to get something off the ground. As for novels, he’s mentioned adapting the script for the special he was nearly finished writing when UKTV put the kibosh on it, but he’s also said he didn’t get a response from Penguin when he approached them about a new Red Dwarf book, so who knows? Maybe he’d consider self-publishing, or tweeting the whole novel bit by bit. I suppose if Titan is a big seller he might get more interest. 

[Jenuall]

He seems to really enjoy working with the cast and I won’t be surprised if by hook or by crook he manages to get something off the ground.

I look forward to a new episode of Stellar Rescue

[Warbodog]

I just googled it.

I was more sheltered and definitely cleaner-minded before the internet, but I’d seen Bottom, Life of Brian, Airplane and things by 10, so I was laughing and learning.

[Ben Saunders]

I was 10 years old googling What Is Smeg and World’s Biggest Boobs and hey, I turned out fine, said the obvious maniac.

[Turk Thrust]

When he did that AMA in September last year Doug was about to have a meeting about Out of the Red. He also mentioned an idea he’s had for a live thing for the 40th anniversary, so I definitely don’t think he’s done with Red Dwarf. He seems to really enjoy working with the cast and I won’t be surprised if by hook or by crook he manages to get something off the ground. As for novels, he’s mentioned adapting the script for the special he was nearly finished writing when UKTV put the kibosh on it, but he’s also said he didn’t get a response from Penguin when he approached them about a new Red Dwarf book, so who knows? Maybe he’d consider self-publishing, or tweeting the whole novel bit by bit. I suppose if Titan is a big seller he might get more interest. 

I imagine there would certainly be publishers interested in a new Red Dwarf novel.

I recall that the contract from Penguin was originally for Rob and Doug to each write another Dwarf novel. As Rob was able to go to another publisher, I presume that Doug could do the same.

[Author]

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