By Georgia Weir
Copyright hellomagazine
Plans to reboot the beloved sitcom Red Dwarf have apparently been canned by UKTV, according to the show’s co-creator, Doug Naylor. The programme, which aired from 1988 to 1999 on BBC Two, ran for 12 series and has become a cult classic in British television. While the show still has a slew of dedicated fans to this day, it appears that any hopes for a reboot have been dashed after the show’s creator revealed that UKTV was planning a 90-minute revival special.
Doug had been answering questions on a dedicated Reddit Q&A forum when a fan asked the writer whether he had any plans of reviving the much-loved show. The co-creator revealed that a revival featuring some of the original cast was indeed in the works, but had been cancelled shortly after it was commissioned. He explained: “Back in January 2023, I went in for a meeting with UKTV who said they wanted to progress a new 90-minute Red Dwarf special. The cast were all on board and I was told to start writing.
“Several months later, things were progressing, and I had got two-thirds of the way through the script, I had just signed my writer’s contract, when I got an e-mail from UKTV who said they had difficult news to share. They were no longer going to commission scripted comedy, including the RD special, which I hadn’t yet sent them.”
“UKTV has no current plans to commission further episodes of Red Dwarf. It’s been a privilege to work with Doug Naylor and the cast in a relationship that began with the Back To Earth specials, which premiered to 4 million viewers, and has subsequently produced three full series, a retrospective and Red Dwarf’s first ever feature length, The Promised Land,” a spokesperson for UKTV confirmed to HELLO! in a statement.
Fans were understandably devastated to learn that the much-loved sitcom. “What a stupid decision,” one commenter lamented. “Such a shame. I’ve recently been doing a full rewatch of the show after seeing the episodes of 1-6 countless times as a teen and it’s been great,” another wrote.
Following the revelation, the co-creator has spoken out about the axing and his broader fears for the future of television saying that he’s “really concerned about sitcoms.” Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Doug said: “If we’re just talking about the BBC, the BBC used to have great slots on BBC Two with lots of really good sitcoms, and it was kind of like the home of sitcoms,” he added. “Channel 4 were also great for a long time, and they seem to have just evaporated. We don’t have those same slots anymore, and it’s such a shame because hit sitcoms are so hugely loved.”
However, he also revealed to the publication that not all hope is lost for the reboot. Doug confirmed that there is a possibility of offering the script to other channels. “I’ve also done two thirds of a movie called Out of the Red where the guys play fictitious versions of themselves, and there’s real interest in that as well, both from a distributor and from a production company,” he explained. “In fact, I had a meeting about that this morning, so there’s that possibility as well. So it’s not dead, Da
