By Meg Jorsh

Copyright dailystar

Smoke all the kippers you like – Red Dwarf isn’t coming back. A planned 90-minute special, starring Craig Charles as Dave Lister and Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer, has officially been cancelled. And if you ask Doug Naylor, it’s typical of a TV industry that no longer supports scripted comedy. The series co-creator, previously a head writer for Spitting Image , opens up about his latest projects… Once upon a time, Red Dwarf was a really big deal. Set on a starship drifting millions of light years from Earth, its cast of lonely misfits brought families together in front of the telly every week. The show launched in 1988 and went on to spawn 12 series, a feature-length special, four novels and even a magazine – the Red Dwarf Smegazine, published from 1992 to 1994. Devoted fans still turn out for annual Red Dwarf conventions. But according to co-creator Doug Naylor, the space odyssey may finally be over. “I wanted to do a story about present-day Lister going back in time to prevent himself having the life that he did,” he says. “I got quite far into it. I was excited, Craig was excited. Then UKTV said ‘we’re no longer commissioning comedy. The comedy shows we have no longer get the ratings, except for Red Dwarf.’” And he’s not exaggerating there. The last feature-length special, 2020’s The Promised Land, notched up more than 2million viewers, making it Dave’s highest-rated show in seven years. Doug was understandably baffled. But it comes at a time when dozens of stars – from Rob Brydon to John Cleese – have warned of a crisis in TV comedy, with executives more reluctant to back shows than ever before. “I think back in the day there was a very simple system, where the commissioners hired people they trusted and let them get on with it,” says Doug. “Like Gareth Gwenlan – he didn’t like Red Dwarf, but he was a comedy producer. He went on to do Only Fools and Horses. “I think it’s that the people at the very top these days don’t have comedy bones. You’ve got to be prepared to stick with it. Even the most successful comedies don’t necessarily fly straight away.” And Doug knows a few things about making a hit. Together with long-term writing partner Rob Grant, who co-created Red Dwarf, he helped turn Spitting Image into a cultural phenomenon. The satirical puppet show, first aired in 1984, was on the brink of being cancelled when producers approached them for help. Doug explains: “They said ‘it’s not working. We’re going to be axed in six weeks if we don’t double the viewing figures.” He and Rob decided the show was too old-fashioned. Instead of just political figures, they started commissioning puppets of celebrities like famously dull snooker player Steve ‘Interesting’ Davis. “Lo and behold, in six weeks we doubled the viewing figures,” says Doug. These days he’s still keen to talk to producers who might back the next Red Dwarf special. The ambitious storyline was due to feature a CGI Craig Charles as a 23-year-old version of himself. But it’s far from the only thing on his mind. The veteran writer has just released his very first children’s book, Sin Bin Island, a comedy romp about four orphans banished to an eerie, storm-lashed rock for misbehaving. Now a grandfather of two, Doug says it started as an idea that just wouldn’t go away. “I would dream about it,” he adds. “I had all these images in my mind and in the end, I thought I’d just write the first couple of chapters.” He admits that the story, of four characters stranded far from civilisation, carries a few echoes of his best-known work. “It’s that sort of loneliness,” he says. “They’re all orphans, all carrying massive secrets and they’re all coming together and opening up.” But he had “such a blast” writing it – and reviewers have hailed it as “brilliant.” With a follow-up novel already in the works, it’s clear that Doug’s latest voyage is far from complete. A UKTV spokesman said: “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. “While UKTV is reducing the amount of original scripted comedy it commissions, it is increasing originations in its comedy entertainment output. “Next month U&Dave welcomes the return of Will & Ralf Should Know Better , after S1 was the channel’s highest-ranked programme of 2024, and U&Gold celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Good Life with retrospective The Good Life: Inside Out. “ 2026 sees the feature-length documentary Becoming Victoria Wood, which will receive a theatrical release before its television premiere on U&Gold.” Sin Bin Island, for ages nine plus, is out today now in paperback from David Fickling Books, priced £7.99.