Red Dwarf: Titan, written by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall, is the fifth novel based on the popular comedy science-fiction show Red Dwarf, and the first since Backwards in 1996. The first two books were written by the series co-creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor in their gestalt entity form known as Grant Naylor. Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better than Life presented an alternative version of the events of the early series of the show, telling the story of how Dave Lister came to join the mining ship Red Dwarf and, ultimately, how he ended up trapped 3 million years in the future as the last man alive with his only company being the hologram of his dead bunkmate and immediate superior Arnold J Rimmer, a lifeform who evolved from his Cat, Holly – the ship’s computer, and an insecure mechanoid called Kryten.
Grant and Naylor had some creative differences following Red Dwarf VI and split up leaving their Red Dwarf book series incomplete. However, each agreed to write a sequel, giving readers two alternative part threes to their trilogy, with Doug Naylor’s effort Last Human arriving in 1995 followed by Rob Grant’s Backwards the following year.
And that was the last time Rob Grant worked on anything significant related to Red Dwarf. Meanwhile Doug Naylor went on to produce two more series for the BBC and a decade later, revived the show for UKTV where it managed a mini-series, three full series and a feature length special with the last outing in 2020.
This was followed by some legal wranglings between the two creators, the result of which was that each had the freedom to make their own Red Dwarf projects, and Red Dwarf: Titan is the first project to emerge from that agreement.
Rob Grant has at last returned to his creation with his later-career writing partner Andrew Marshall (The Burkiss Way, 2point4 Children) with whom he had teamed up with to write radio comedies Nether Regions and The Quanderhorn Xperimentations, the latter of which was adapted into a book.
So this is something of a homecoming, but it’s bittersweet as Rob Grant passed sadly away on 25th February 2026, just as edits of Red Dwarf: Titan were completed. So this is not just his final contribution to his beloved creation, but his final work.
Red Dwarf: Titan is not related to any of the previous Red Dwarf books. And unlike the other novels, there is no adaptation of any of the TV episodes. As the cover declares, it is set ‘one universe to the side’ and that means that it picks its canon from both the TV series and the books. For example, Lister still went on his Monopoly-board pub crawl in London as depicted in the first book which ended with him trapped on Mimas. That’s never mentioned on the TV show. However, the captain of Red Dwarf is Hollister with his first officer Todhunter, which is the case in the TV show but not the books. But here his name is Randy, which definitely hasn’t come up before in either media. And there are other changes which feel a little odd; you’ll never convince me Kristine Kochanski is from Yorkshire. Holly is now not just the computer on board Red Dwarf, but a product for both commercial and personal use, a little bit like the AI assistants that are so prevalent today. It all feels comfortingly familiar, but a little different. And that’s absolutely the point.
Red Dwarf: Titan takes place around three months before the accident that (in the original universe) wiped out the 11,000-strong crew of Red Dwarf, just as the ship arrives on Saturn’s largest moon Titan for the crew to get some shore leave. We follow multiple groups of characters as they embark on their very different experiences in the settlement of Xanadu, which is split into an Uptown, which is a resplendent luxurious resort where the officer class can relax, and Downtown, where you’ll be lucky to make it back to the ship alive.
In Uptown, the story follows the Hollister and Todhunter as they golf, and Kristine Kochanski, who is there for her hen party, but soon gets sucked into a procedural mystery where she must discover what happened to her missing booking agent.
Meanwhile in Downtown, crew members are manacled in pairs in order to keep them safe. So junior pursur Clifford Pear, who wants to visit museums and attend poetry readings, is teamed up with Olaf Petersen who only wants to crawl through the various pubs in town. Lister and Rimmer are trapped together (as always) and have different agendas. Rimmer wants to find some kind of technology so he can cheat at his exams, and Lister wants to find a street cat so that he’ll get thrown in stasis so he can get over his heartbreak following his split with Kochanski as she prepares to marry the far-more-dependable Eric. They’re soon joined by a Series 2000 mechanoid Carzon, who they borrow to help them with their goals, completely unaware that he belongs to Xanadu’s most powerful crime lord. And they’re all being pursued by the masochistic shore patrol woman Ingrid Byle, who is more than a little fond of hurting people.
And back on board Red Dwarf, Holly is grappling with the collapse of reality as duplicates from another universe keep showing up. You know, it’s just another typical day.
So essentially, we are touching on original story areas which are similar to the first novel. That’s a dangerous thing to do because it invites comparisons. Infinity Welcome Careful Drivers is my absolute favourite book and I’m sure that I’m not alone in that. That first novel builds the world of Red Dwarf and scales it up in an incredible way and also fleshes out the characters, their motivations, their dreams and their regrets. There is no better description of procrastination than that of Rimmer’s studying technique. You get real insights into the loneliness and homesickness experienced by Lister as he gets used to life on board a mining ship. There is a depth and brilliance to that book that makes it something special, that exceeds anything else produced under the Red Dwarf name, TV included.
So why would we want another version of that? You can’t possibly compete. Well, it isn’t really the same origin story. While the timeline lines up, Titan is far more plot heavy. It’s more of an ensemble, it has other point-of-view characters beyond the regulars, and it has multiple mysteries at play.
It’s also interested in the concept Red Dwarf’s lore. What was the real cause of the accident that wiped out the crew? How does that tie-up with one of our beloved characters? One plot point deals with Lister receiving a message from the future. He gets knowledge of his destiny to end up trapped 3 million years in the future with only Rimmer for company. And can he avoid that destiny? Should he? In many ways, this is the book grappling with its own identity. Is it really Red Dwarf if you take away the future? Is it Red Dwarf without all the key characters? Is it Red Dwarf take away the idea of Lister being the last man and play in the pre-stasis era? All of these questions are answered in some form.
There is a lot going on, perhaps too much at times and too many characters. It also feels like it takes a long time to get going as new characters and this new world are introduced. Most of the main strands intertwine, but one grouping feels almost entirely extraneous despite taking up huge sections of the novel. When the multiverse is collapsing, there should probably be a bit less focus on the comic relief plot.
And as the pace moves at a million miles an hour, some of the character motivation feels very weak. For example, Kochanski’s decision for taking on a missing person’s investigation seems somewhat underwritten.
However, this is perhaps the first time that we get a well-rounded Kristine Kochanski, at least in the novels. In the early books, she was barely a character, just a smile and some wish fulfilment for Lister. Here, you get a better understanding of her motivations in her relationships, why she was with Lister, and why she broke up with him. For the first time, we actually get some closure to that relationship, which is nice.
And you get to see a different side of certain characters. This Rimmer is still a cowardly failure but he’s somehow more hopeful, more of a dreamer, naïve rather than bitter about his failings. He still has some hope, which is probably easier when you’re not dead.
There are a few moments that feel a little too cartoony such as Rimmer being hit by a Honda leaving an ‘H’ on his head. In that light, it’s interesting that co-writer Andrew Marshall has mentioned that there was a proposed animated version of Titan. That said, Red Dwarf has often been broad. And if you want to be picky, there is a bit of repetition in the plot. There’s a new message, here’s a quest to go to a place and retrieve a vital clue or character. But the outcomes are usually fairly satisfying.
There are also some curious parallels with the TV show in the post-Grant era. The use of Kochanski as lead is the most notable, as happened in Red Dwarf VII. But there are more incidental things, like Rimmer’s salutes becoming more elaborate as they did in series VIII, the dumbing down of Hollister and even a Duane Dibley disguise gag. Maybe Rob and Doug were more in sync that we imagined.
Curiosities aside, the novel becomes an intriguing page-turner and gets stronger as it goes along. The secondary mystery is satisfyingly resolved and the bigger arc grows in scale. It grows so much, that this book can’t even contain it.
If you’d like me to compare it to something, then this is Red Dwarf’s Star Trek (2009), that film which cast young versions of Kirk and Spock as Leonard Nimoy showed up to pass the baton. This is a new take on the old myth, younger and at the beginning of their journey, but aware of their ultimate fate, and taking steps to avoid it, a but like Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. What do you mean you don’t watch Star Trek? To put in Community terms, it’s a re-pilot, starting again, but a bit different, possibly for rights reasons.
So, is it good? Yes, I’d recommend this to any Red Dwarf fans. It’s a satisfying and you’ll be rewarded for understanding the mythology. For newcomers, there may be some questions, but it very much exists as its own thing and tells a new story. And ultimately, it leaves you wanting more. And that’s a bit of a tragedy. This was clearly intended as a part 1, and with the passing of Rob, it seems fairly unlikely (but not impossible) that we’ll get more. It could be the real end of Red Dwarf, and if that’s the case, there are worse ways to go. It left us doing something new, refreshed and ready to be enjoyed by a new generation.
Red Dwarf Titan is written by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall and published by Victor Gollancz Ltd. It arrives in all good bookstore (and even some bad ones) on 16th July 2026.