So fellow Red Dwarf fans may have heard the surprise announcements, either at this year's Dimension Jump convention or via the preceding link. Only one of the three items are, in fact, "surprise" items, with the first item having already been mentioned at a previous DJ, and the second item having been rumoured for some time. I'll go over them now for your benefit.

Point the first
"The Red Dwarf movie could probably have been made quite a while ago... if the team had thrown out the original cast and gone with Miramax's suggestion to go with movie stars, preferably American but they'd put up with British. Doug refused to take that option."

This isn't really new information. Anyone who read Doug Naylor's statement at Dimension Jump XI (which the official Red Dwarf website appears to have taken down for unknown reasons) will already know this. Doug's right not to want to give the original cast the shaft, of course.

Point the second
"Some time ago, BBC2 decided not to take up their option for a potential Series IX, instead they said they were keen to pursue other projects. (Hyperdrive?!) They also told us that they weren't interested in buying the TV rights for the Red Dwarf film, despite liking the script, as they weren't convinced the film would be a success."

Again, this is something I had heard a while ago - the version I'd heard was that the BBC had become fed up of waiting and decided to pass altogether, effectively cutting ties with any new output Grant Naylor Productions chooses to show. I remain hopeful that they will at least consider doing a one-off Red Dwarf special. Considering there's a one-off 'Allo 'Allo due to run this Christmas, an' all...

Point the third
"There has been initial interest from theatrical producers in Red Dwarf: The Movie: The Stage Show (colons TBC), which will, unsurprisingly, be based on the film script."

Well now that is interesting. It does ultimately depend on the availability of the main cast. Craig Charles is still doing Corrie, as far as I know. Robert Llewellyn is Making Do, and might be doing another series of Scrapheap Challenge. Norman Lovett is doing stand-up at the moment, but there's always Hattie Hayridge as a back-up. I have no idea what Danny John-Jules or Chloe Annett are up to these days. That said, the idea of a Red Dwarf stage show has been thrown about before. Is this really surprising news?

Of interest is that next year there will be no Dimension Jump convention. The next one's going to happen in 2009. The convention will basically miss the show's 20th Anniversary, which is a bloody big milestone to be skipping. If you ask me, I think Grant Naylor Productions have somethign big in mind...