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/

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[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?

[Author]

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