Red Dwarf has a ‘good chance’ of returning to screens, says creator
Could new episodes be in store? Creator Doug Naylor speaks exclusively to RadioTimes.com.
Doug Naylor, co-creator of Red Dwarf, has said that the series has a "good chance" of returning to screens after a legal dispute launched against co-creator Rob Grant and others over the rights to the show was settled.
In 2021, Naylor launched a High Court action against Grant Naylor Productions, Noel Gay Television and Rob Grant over the rights to the show. The dispute was resolved and was confirmed that both of the writers will continue separately working on Red Dwarf in different media.
Elaborating on the future of the show, Naylor exclusively told RadioTimes.com: "I don’t think anyone knows what’s going to happen exactly. Basically, the rights issue has been cleared up and Rob and I can pursue different things and that’s kind of – I don’t know what he’s doing exactly.
"I’ve had a lot of interest, people calling me, broadcasters, whatever, publishers – all just in the last three days, it’s been a bit mad, but great. So it’s just getting some meetings together and working out what exactly we’re all going to do."
Asked whether he's confident it will return to screens, he added: "I think it will, yeah. Without wanting to pre-empt anything, there’s real interest, I think.
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"Providing the boys are available, which isn’t the easiest thing because they’ve all got these mad schedules, especially Craig [Charles] and Robert [Llewellyn]. But provided we can get everyone available and they do all want to be available, they want to make more, I think we’ve got a good chance."
As for the type of Red Dwarf story we could see in the future, Naylor confirmed he's thinking ambitiously.
I was working on a story this morning, in fact I was talking to someone yesterday about, ‘Is it possible to do this now?’ And they’ve gone off to find out whether it would be possible to do it with the budget we’re likely to have. There are lots of things like that where you wait for technology to become available for us to be able to do some of the stories."
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It was confirmed earlier this month that the legal dispute had been settled, with Naylor and Grant both sharing a statement that read: "Rob Grant and Doug Naylor are delighted to announce that the ongoing dispute over the Red Dwarf rights has been resolved.
"Moving onwards and upwards, Rob and Doug hope to launch separate iterations of Red Dwarf across various media, working again with the cast and other valued partners, and wish each other the very best.
"Smoke a kipper, Red Dwarf will be back for breakfast!!"
Red Dwarf, which stars Craig Charles as Lister, Danny John-Jules as Cat, Robert Llewellyn as Kryten, and Chris Barrie as Rimmer, began airing in February 1988 and saw huge success, spawning 11 full-length seasons.
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