News Bites

Auctions, appearances, and more. All the latest news from the world of Red Dwarf.

4 June, 2021

Greetings, fellow humans. It's time for one of our semi-regular catch ups on some of the stories you may have missed, this time featuring an exclusive charity auction, the latest live cast member appearance, several upcoming new shows, and a brand new way to listen to Quanderhorn.

First up, those of you who attended The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club's inaugural online Red Dwarf convention, Holly Hop in February this year, will remember that amongst the Q&As, masterclasses and quizzes, the weekend also featured the exclusive premiere of Rob Grant's first Red Dwarf story since 1993, Into the Gloop; a gripping and hilarious story that picked up right after the events of Out of Time and offered an alternative resolution to the Series VI cliffhanger. Well, as promised during the weekend's festivities, a copy of the script, signed by Rob as well as its producer Paul Jackson and director Ed Bye is now available for auction. And furthermore, it's all for a good cause.

Performed by a cast of fans that included Harmony Hewlett and Loïc Baucherel as Rimmer, Raph Clarkson as Lister, Nikola Skalova as the Cat, and Ellie Griffiths as Kryten, Into the Gloop really was a joy from start to finish. This unique piece of Red Dwarf history is a true collector's item, and if you want to be the one who owns it, you'll have to act fast as the auction concludes this Sunday 6th of June at 6.40pm. All proceeds will be donated to The Trussell Trust in memory of our friend and long-standing reddwarf.co.uk web editor Seb Patrick, where it will be used to "support a network of foodbanks across the UK to provide emergency support to people in crisis." You can bid on the script over on eBay.

Next up, Quanderhorn fans rejoice, because Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall's The Quanderhorn Collexion is available to pre-order now from Audible.com.

Coming in at an impressive 9 hours and 50 minutes, the collection not only incudes every episode from the first two series of the original Radio 4 comedy, but also a comprehensive collection of never-before-heard Xtras including deleted scenes, and hours of interviews with the cast and crew. The Quanderhorn Collexion is released on Audible the 17th of June with full details available here.

As reported last week with Craig Charles' imminent return to the stage with his amazing Funk and Soul Shows, we're pleased to see more public appearances from the cast and crew. And this time it's Robert Llewellyn's turn to make an appearance in the wild with Fully Charged Outside.

Taking place at Farnborough International on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of September, the show will include a host of outdoor exhibits and attractions including live theatre jams, clean energy and electric vehicle exhibitions, test drives and music.

Electric cars and sustainable technologies are a real passion for Robert, so if you want to hear a knowledgeable man speak on the subject with real charm and wit, then we highly recommend this event. Tickets and full details are available on the show's website.

Next up, Lucy Pearman, better known round these parts as The Promised Land's Sister Peanut, has made a new comedy short for BBC Three. Here's the synopsis: "Please Help Me follows the story of a normal girl living and working on an isolated farm in Oxfordshire, who is trapped in a mundane and claustrophobic life as her grandmother's only carer. As life becomes increasingly fraught, she develops bizarre and inexplicable magical powers that make her absolutely NOT normal anymore."

We really loved Lucy's performance in The Promised Land and wish her the best of luck with the project. We can't wait to see it. Please Help Me will be released under the Comedy Threesome banner later this year.

Former reddwarf.co.uk editor Andrew Ellard is co-writing six episodes of Deep Heat, a new sports-based comedy for ITV2 with narrative sketch duo Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez. According to The British Comedy Guide, "The comedy, which has been in development for three years, is being made by Episodes star Stephen Mangan's production company Slam Films and his brother-in law, writer-producer-director Robert Delamere, who last produced Max & Ivan's podcast, Fugitives."

These days, Andrew is an accomplished script editor with credits including Chewing Gum, The Detectorists and In My Skin, and his popular TweetNotes series is always an inspiration to writers, producers and directors alike. We can't wait to see what he and his writing partners come up with.

And from one reddwarf.co.uk editor to another, Curtis Threadgold's anthology script, Horror Stories, won Best Unproduced Short Screenplay at Utah's prestigious science fiction and horror festival FilmQuest last weekend. A series of short tales, each set in North West England, the anthology's first segment, Underground, is set to go into production later this year and has the following synopsis: "After finding himself buried alive, a desperate man's only lifeline is a little girl who just wants a pet." Underground will be produced by Jamie-Louise Davis and directed by Simon Ross.

And finally, we've received a number of tweets concerning Red Dwarf's imminent departure from Netflix recently. Well, as the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Red Dwarf has enjoyed a great run on the streaming platform, and we hope to see it return in the not too distant future. Netflix subscribers currently have until the 14th of June to squeeze in as many episodes as they can. And don't forget, you can always check our streaming section to see where Red Dwarf is showing in your country, or if you'd prefer, you can check our merchandise section to see where the Blu-rays and DVDs are available in your country.

Come back next week for all the latest Red Dwarf news.