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Red Dwarf to return in new format with "original and fresh" prequel from series co-creator
The show's co-creator has promised that fans will "laugh their little chippers off".
BBC/UKTV/Des Willie
- Louise Griffin
Published: Thursday, 19 February 2026 at 11:00 am
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After recent news of a new Red Dwarf special not making it to screens, the beloved comedy is making a comeback in another form!
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The first Red Dwarf novel in 30 years, written by series co-creator Rob Grant and collaborator Andrew Marshall, creator of the sitcom 2point4 Children, is set to be published this summer.
Red Dwarf: Titan will serve as a prequel to the BBC sci-fi comedy, which followed Craig Charles's Dave Lister who wakes up after three million years to find he's the last living human - and is only accompanied by a hologram of his deceased bunkmate, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), and a humanoid creature evolved from his pet cat (Danny John-Jules).
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times about the new novel, Grant explained: "It's Lister and Rimmer before the accident on shore leave on Titan.
The book cover of Red Dwarf: Titan. Gollancz
"It's set one universe to the side, so we can have familiar characters but we can do different things with them, because the difficulty was writing something that was going to be original and fresh and using the same characters without breaking the canon.
"So it was quite an intricate bit of work that actually took us about a year and a half longer than we were hoping!"
He added that the story will see Lister and Rimmer "get a message from the far future warning them that all realities are going to collapse unless they do something about it."
While the two writers have worked together before, this is Marshall's first time stepping into the world of Red Dwarf.
The cast of Red Dwarf. BBC/UKTV/Joel Anderson
"I was slightly reluctant to start with because obviously I can't replace Doug [Naylor, Red Dwarf co-creator]," Marshall explained. "Doug is irreplaceable."
However, he added: "Eventually [Grant] persuaded me that when we worked together, it would be a different perspective on Red Dwarf. The characters are still as they always are, but we would be able to see them from a slightly different perspective.
"I was interested in making a wider and deeper version of the characters, so we could just see a little bit more inside... in a book, you can arrange things differently [compared to a sitcom] so that characters can have a bit of a development, and they can each go on a bit of a journey, and that was a very interesting way of looking at it."
Fans can expect to be reunited with iconic characters, with Easter eggs peppered in there, with Marshall teasing: "There is a rather sinister character who is a sort of antagonist down on Titan, who is ultimately revealed to be quite significant in the in the Red Dwarf universe."
As for that unmistakable Red Dwarf silliness? Grant assures us it's back in full force, with the writer promising that fans will "laugh their little chippers off."
Red Dwarf: Titan will publish in hardback, ebook and audio on 16 July 2026. Red Dwarf is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Authors
Louise GriffinSci-Fi and Fantasy Editor
Louise Griffin is the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor for Radio Times, covering everything from Doctor Who, Star Wars and Marvel to House of the Dragon and Good Omens. She previously worked at Metro as a Senior Entertainment Reporter and has a degree in English Literature.
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