thank you for co-creating red dwarf, which whether intentional or not has some of the most comforting and relatable autism rep i’ve came across. never have i seen myself represented more clearly than in rimmer – which, on reflection is probably something should be concerned about, but nonetheless, it is comforting to me every day.
you and doug naylor created a character like that for me and millions of other people. you put a black scouser in space to represent the whole human race.
red dwarf was hilarious, it was thought-provoking, and it was yours.
Rob Grant, the co-creator of Red Dwarf, has died suddenly.
Red Dwarf co-creator Rob Grant dies
Comedy writer Rob Grant died suddenly on Wednesday afternoon
"A great loss to his family, friends and comedy fans across the world"
Grant was working on a new Red Dwarf book, with Titan set to tell the backstory of Lister and Rimmer
Rob Grant, the co-creator of Red Dwarf, has died unexpectedly.
A message from his family has been posted on fan site Ganymede & Titan. It states:
With much sadness, we have to announce that Rob Grant, co-creator of Red Dwarf, passed away suddenly yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 25th February 2026), a great loss to his family, friends and comedy fans across the world.
Red Dwarf, which Grant created with Doug Naylor, launched on BBC Two in 1988. It soon became one of Britain's most loved sitcoms.
Grant studied Psychology at Liverpool University before turning his hand to comedy writing. His early writing work included comedy shows such as Wrinkles, Cliché, A Kick Up The Eighties, The News Huddlines and Three Of A Kind. He was also Script Editor of Spitting Image for a period of time in the 1980s.
Following his departure from the Red Dwarf TV series after Series 6 (1993) due to a dispute with his co-creator, he worked on radio shows such as The Strangerers, Quanderhorn and The Nether Regions.
Just recently, Grant announced he was working with Andrew Marshall on the first Red Dwarf novel in 30 years. Titled Red Dwarf: Titan, the plan was to publish the book in July, however at the time of writing it is not clear if this is now still the case.
Talking further about the background of the project, he explained: "It's common knowledge that there has been a legal dispute over the rights of Red Dwarf for bloody years. It went to court, and it made Bleak House look like an episode of Judge Judy! But we finally got it resolved [in 2023], and suddenly all these rights became available to me, and one of them was for the prequel, and that's where it started.
"We originally wrote it as a treatment for a TV spin-off and took it around, but it's horribly expensive, and we couldn't really raise enough interest. We might down the line... we've been talking to streamers about it but, when you read it, [you'll realise] it's a whole world you'd have to create. It wouldn't be cheap."
