A Red Dwarf movie was announced in 2000, and news on it would follow for years afterwards.

So: what happened?

And then, nothing.

This had not been the plan.

The next announcement was on 2nd February 2001.

It was also announced that the film was imaginatively titledRed Dwarf: The Movie.

Shooting, it was announced, was now to begin in September 2001, for a summer 2002 release.

At this point sets were still at the design stage.

A long and sticky process, he was doubtless delighted when it became apparent it was all for nought.

It was also announced that the official website would be charting the making of the movie.

September came and went without any news about filming.

Producer Charles Armitage announced the project was in pre-pre-production (sound familiar?)

with pre-production now scheduled for November 2002 and full-production to start in March 2003.

In October, an advert looking for crew members (for production, notRed Dwarf!)

appeared, looking for CVs from interested parties, which indicated that shooting might happen in Australia.

During this time a flyer appeared online and in sci-fi magazines about the movie.

The only survivors are the crews of long-haul space freighters that left Earth before the conflict began.

The Sapienoids send forth fleets of Death Ships to hunt them down.

One by one the human ships fall, until only one remains.

Its name Red Dwarf…

There were some small errors and the authenticity of the flyer was in question.

But, in April 2003 there was another official update.

The flyer was real.

It was intended to sell the movie in international territories.

Meanwhile, Naylor was indeed in Australia looking at studio facilities for a September shoot.

The movie was, they declared, becoming a reality.

Then it went quiet.

In it, he addresses some of the issues he had raising funding for the movie.

There was also the tax incentive EIS scheme.

This took over a year and cost legal fees into six figures.

But that also fell through and the production team had to be disbanded.

Undeterred, he travelled to numerous countries in search of the elusive investors.

Then there was the useless UK funding body (which, apparently, couldnt raise any funds!)

After careful consideration (3 nanoseconds), Naylor decided that 60 million would do just fine.

and the family had moved to Australia at the beginning of the 20th century.

So, even that faint glimmer of hope was enough to convince them to keep on going.

There were no more official updates, no more statements.

After a decade off the air chasing the elusive dream, who could argue with that?

And to be honest, isnt that where they belong?