Red Dwarf - The Movie lies in a state of ruin, with the project never even entering the proper pre-production stage. Plenty of questions have been thrown up asking what went wrong and it seems that not even Mr Flibble can offer an answer as to what the current state of play is.

Series co-creator and the film's scriptwriter/producer Doug Naylor attempted to shed some light on his plight. For example, at one stage a fraudster posing as the 'Duke of Manchester' offered £60 million investment - but only if Naylor would pay for his airfare to attend a meeting plus let him sleep on his couch.

Efforts to find funding on home soil were greeted with a series of rejections on bizarre grounds, according to Naylor's letter: "The film has been rejected by many, many people," he wrote. "They usually say they think it's really funny but isn't what they're looking for right now - or ask us to recast the leads. BBC Films, the same BBC who rejected the original TV script three times, have rejected the film script twice - two versions. How much money has Red Dwarf made them? They said it wasn't what they were looking for. Don't they like hit movies?"

So where do things stand now? In stasis it seems, ironically the same occurence that saved Dave Lister and the human race from extinction all those years ago in the first ever episode of the series. Running for eight seasons on BBC2 with ratings higher than those many primetime shows now achieve on BBC1 or ITV1, spawning best selling DVDs and even attracting enough US interest for two pilots to be made across the pond - it would be a great shame if we never see the boys from The Dwarf back in action.

Lister, Rimmer, Kat and Kryten have had to face many gruesome threats along the years such as kebab-disguised polymorphs, horny emohawks and rampaging rogue simulants. But their biggest obstacle now appears to be the filthy lucre itself - money.

So, any ideas how to raise £60 million? Suggestions below.


Joining another franchise was not the success they hoped for...