Welcome (back) to the Jungle News Posted by Ian Symes on 9th March 2026, 16:30 Now here’s an ITV reality show that we’re certain a Red Dwarf star is taking part in. It’s been officially announced that Craig Charles is one twelve former I’m A Celebrity campmates taking part in the new series of IACGMOOH… South Africa. This is a spin-off of the popular celebrity eats bugs / gets bugs poured on their head / puts their hand in a container of bugs format, but shorter and pre-recorded, meaning that Craig’s second stint in the jungle is already in the can. When he first took part back in 2014, his time on the show was tragically cut short due to the death of his brother after just a few days, so we’re glad he’s got the chance to have another go at it. Among the other returning contestants are Sir Mo Farah, Harry Redknapp, David Haye, Gemma Collins, Sinitta and Beverley Callard, best known for playing Liz McDonald in Coronation Street, where one of her short-term boyfriends was the granny-grabbing, philandering taxi driver Lloyd Mullaney, as played by Craig Charles. The series starts on Monday 6th April on ITV 1 and ITVX.
G&TV Special: Swirly Thing Alert Features Posted by Ian Symes on 23rd April 2025, 12:15 Previously on G&TV, we looked at Smegheads in Seattle, a 1998 production by KCTS 9, Seattle's local PBS station. They'd arranged a visit from Craig Charles and Danny John-Jules, who came over to be interviewed, take part in pledge drives and meet the show's many fans in the north-west corner of the US / the south-west corner of Canada. But Smegheads in Seattle was actually the second such programme produced by the station, a sequel of sorts to 1997's Swirly Thing Alert, which featured much the same content but with Craig joined by Robert Llewellyn instead. Taking place over the 26th and 27th May to coincide with a Series VII marathon, highlights from the weekend's events were packaged together into a whopping two hour compilation. Both specials were originally posted to YouTube by a user named Harlz, but they seem to have deleted them both within the last year or so. So we're now hosting them on our own channel, as well as on the Internet Archive. And if you've not seen Swirly Thing Alert before, there is much to unpack. Join us below the embed for analysis and a watch-along guide to some of the highlights (and lowlights). Read more →
Something’s (maybe) *not* coming (possibly) News Posted by Ian Symes on 18th January 2025, 13:50 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." Read more →
Something’s (maybe) coming (possibly) News Posted by Ian Symes on 17th April 2024, 13:15 It's funny to think that just over a year ago, we were convinced that Red Dwarf was dead and buried, a victim of an ongoing legal battle with no end in sight. That was until it ended. And since then we've been teased with the prospect of a new spin-off series, whilst also regaining a modicum of hope that the OG Dwarf would return at least once more. While there is still no official news - and as usual we'd like to clarify that nothing is confirmed until it's announced by the production company and/or the broadcaster - we've now entered what we've come to recognise as the preliminary phase that usually indicates that such an announcement may be forthcoming. Yes, the cast have been blabbing again. Read more →
G&TV: Funky Bunker Quickies Posted by Ian Symes on 12th July 2023, 09:11 As discussed in our recent Channel Hopping article, there was a brief period in early 1997 when Craig Charles had three different programmes on air, across three different channels, every Friday night. I'd assume we're all familiar with BBC2's Red Dwarf VII, while Channel 4's Captain Butler is still inexplicably available in full on demand. But what of the other, much more obscure offering, late night ITV's Funky Bunker? Usually starting so late at night it would conclude in the early hours of the following morning, it was a chat show/variety show hybrid in the short-lived genre of post-pub television, ie disposal entertainment, designed to be consumed exclusively whilst drunkenly picking through a kebab, to fill the silence and distract from the growing sense of existential dread. But was it any good? Well, here's a random full episode on YouTube (no way of knowing the date, for some reason I can't find any comprehensive episode guides online), so let's see what the show's got to offer. Brace yourself. Read more →
G&TV: Big Break In Wonderland (27/12/1994) Quickies Posted by Ian Symes on 24th December 2021, 14:58 It's that special time of year again, and what could be more Christmassy than a snooker themed game show hosted by a racist? Yes, it's Big Break, a cracking Saturday night format with a banger of a theme tune (written by Mike Batt and performed by Captain Sensible), memorable catchphrases and engaging gameplay, but unfortunately difficult to enjoy these days if you're not a young 1990s child, blissfully ignorant of the many, many flaws of its presenter. Luckily, the 1994 celebrity special has a little something extra to hold the modern day Red Dwarf fan's interest - Craig "Cinzano Bianco" Charles. Annoyingly, the YouTube video has embedding disabled, but you can click on this attractive picture of Tweedledee, Tweedledum and Tweedletwat: Read more →
G&TV: Craig Charles on All Star Squares (1999) Features Posted by Ian Symes on 8th January 2021, 17:22 Welcome to Season 2 of G&TV, our monthly trawl through the world's television archives for any interesting Red Dwarf-related nuggets. Following our accidental break, we return with an exciting adventure in internet archaeology. Thanks to his ubiquity on our screens at certain points during the 90s, a large number of the videos we come across involve Craig Charles popping up in unexpected places, either as the host of a one-off programme, or a guest on an established show. This month, we bring you the latter, but in an unexpected twist, it's the short-lived Australian version of a much-travelled format. Read more →
G&TV Halloween Special Features Posted by Ian Symes on 31st October 2020, 08:45 This month's G&TV contains scenes which are unsuitable for younger viewers and people of a nervous disposition. You have been warned. Well, it doesn't really, but then neither does Polymorph, so it's fair game. Anyway, when we noticed that the latest edition of this feature would coincide roughly with a notable date in the calendar, we decided to run with the theme. The Red Dwarf cast and crew haven't had a great deal of crossover with the horror genre over the years, other than a couple of notable and obvious exceptions, which we'll come to. We couldn't find much in terms of full-length programmes that are not commercially available (and so therefore we feel comfortable linking to off-air recordings of them on YouTube), which is the usual remit for G&TV. So instead, we present a thrilling compendium of terror, with four short clips relating to each of our main cast members, which fit the theme with varying degrees of contrivance. Read more →
Old, Gifted and Black News Posted by Ian Symes on 10th October 2020, 12:48 This has completely flown under the radar, so thanks to Si Bromley for spotting it in his TV guide and tweeting about it. Danny John-Jules and Craig Charles are hosting Craig & Danny: Funny, Black and On TV on Tuesday 13th October at 8pm on ITV. Part of a season of programmes marking Black History Month, the pair present a celebration of iconic Black British comedy stars spanning fifty years, featuring a combination of archive and interviews. Here’s the press release. It’s an intriguing and welcome move for Craig and Danny to be working together as a twosome, and especially on a mainstream channel like ITV. It’s all the more pleasing given that Red Dwarf is often overlooked in discussions such as these, despite being a prime example of diverse representation and colour blind casting, even though it originated at a time before such terms were coined. Plus, the mere existence of this programme will infuriate racists on Twitter, so win-win.
G&TV: Comic-Con@Home (2020) Quickies Posted by Jonathan Capps on 29th July 2020, 11:49 You can say what you like about the deadly global pandemic currently ruling our lives, but at least the little red spikey boi has opened up access to many public events that have been forced to move to a streaming model this year. The result is I've seen two San Diego Comic-Con panels live where I would've previously seen none. Firstly, the lovely Bill and Ted Face the Music panel on Saturday and then on Sunday Red Dwarf had what we believe is its first ever SDCC panel to promote the launch of The Promised Land on BritBox and in attendance were Doug Naylor, Craig Charles, Chris Barrie and Robert Llewellyn. Read more →
