The co-creator of cult sitcom Purple Dwarf has revealed that he has had discussions concerning the sequence returning… albeit with a model new forged.
The science fiction comedy created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor first aired on BBC Two from 1988 to 1999.
Craig Charles performs sleazy spaceship engineer Dave Lister, who awakens from three million years of suspended animation.
Now the final human alive, he’s joined on his lonely journey by way of the celebrities by the hologram of his ex-sleeper, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), and The Cat (Danny John-Jules), a creature spawned from Lister’s pregnant cat.
After the present failed on the BBC, it was picked up by broadcaster Dave, the place it remained from 2009 to 2020.
With a brand new prequel on the horizon, sequence co-creator Grant has hinted that the crew might return to screens within the not-too-distant future.
Scheduled for launch in July, Purple Dwarf: Titan is ready earlier than the occasions of the tv sequence and follows Lister and Rimmer as they get pleasure from shore go away on considered one of Saturn’s moons.
The guide was written by Grant with co-author Andrew Marshall, based mostly on the previous’s concept for a TV spin-off.
When requested by Radio Occasions if Titan might be made into a movie, Grant replied: ‘Sure! We initially wrote it as a therapy for a TV spin-off and obtained it round, but it surely’s terribly costly and we could not actually generate sufficient curiosity.”
He continued, “Perhaps we’ll get additional… we have talked to streamers about it, however in case you learn it, [you’ll realise] it is an entire world it’s best to create. It would not be low-cost.’
This seemingly guidelines out a return for Charles and Barrie, who are actually 61 and 65 years previous respectively.
Because it’s set three million thirty-nine years previously, this additionally implies that the Cat and android pal Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) will not exist but.
Of the unique forged, Grant stated, “The boys are getting previous.”
Grant added: “We actually ought to reshuffle. That is what I believed the Titan spinoff might obtain. We would get a brand new Rimmer and Lister, however the present forged might seem in some fairly first rate roles, in the event that they needed to.
“I do know – and I agree – that the followers love the forged. I really like them too. And for many individuals, it simply would not really feel proper if another person performed one thing like these video games.
‘However what else are you able to do? Besides AI?!” he joked.
Final 12 months, the present’s different co-creator, Doug Naylor, revealed how plans for a 90-minute particular had fallen by way of.
In an Ask Me Something thread on Reddit, he shared: ‘In January 2023 I went to a gathering with UKTV who stated they needed to develop a brand new 90 minute Purple Dwarf particular. The forged was all on board and I used to be advised to begin writing.
Nonetheless, Naylor claims that he was later advised by UKTV that they’d now not be transferring ahead with the challenge.
Nonetheless, he remained hopeful that the Dwarf boys would return and share the information that he had been engaged on a movie titled Out of the Purple, through which the forged would play fictionalized variations of themselves.
A spokesperson for UKTV advised Metro on the time: ‘UKTV presently has no plans to launch any additional episodes of Purple Dwarf.
“It has been a privilege to work with Doug Naylor and the forged in a relationship that started with the Again to Earth specials, which premiered to 4 million viewers and has gone on to provide three full sequence, a retrospective and Purple Dwarf’s first-ever function movie, The Promised Land.”
Nonetheless, Naylor additionally stays hopeful that the present can return, telling Radio Occasions: ‘Completely, sure, that risk is at all times there.
“It is public information now this week as a result of I introduced it, so we’re going public now. The [cast] actually need to do extra.
The way forward for the present was already unclear after Naylor filed a Supreme Court docket lawsuit towards his former writing companion in 2021 over the rights to the present.
The pair, who dissolved their partnership within the mid-Nineties, had subsequently written the present alone or with different collaborators.
As of 2023, they managed to achieve an settlement, with an announcement studying: ‘Rob Grant and Doug Naylor are happy to announce that the continuing dispute over the Purple Dwarf rights has been resolved.
“Going ahead, Rob and Doug hope to launch separate variations of Purple Dwarf throughout completely different media, collaborate once more with the forged and different valued companions, and want one another all the most effective.
‘Smoke a kipper, Purple Dwarf coming again for breakfast!!’
All sequence of Purple Dwarf are presently accessible to observe on BBC iPlayer.
Purple Dwarf: Titan, by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall, might be launched on July 16, 2026.
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