Grant Naylor

Grant Naylor was the collective name used by writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor for their collaborative work, particularly the television series Red Dwarf. Grant and Naylor themselves called this pseudonym a "gestalt entity" (i.e. something which is greater than the sum of its parts).

The collaboration began in the mid-1980s when the duo co-wrote BBC Radio 4 programmes such as Cliché and its sequel Son Of Cliché, and television programmes such as Spitting Image, The 10 Percenters, and various Jasper Carrott projects. The pair are also credited with writing the lyrics to "The Chicken Song" and a number of other musical parodies for the British satirical television show, Spitting Image.

The "Grant Naylor" collaboration, as it had become known, was best known for the creation of the cult science-fiction comedy series, Red Dwarf. (Rob Grant appeared uncredited in the third series episode "Backwards" (1989), as a man who 'un-smoked' a cigarette). Later episodes of Red Dwarf were made by a company named after this pseudonym, Grant Naylor Productions.

At some point in the mid to late nineties, after the success of Series VI of Red Dwarf, the "Grant Naylor" collaboration ended leaving Naylor with all the writing duties for the show. When Doug Naylor was apparently left with control of Red Dwarf, Rob Grant cited creative differences as the reason for his departure. His main reason however, he said, was that he "wished to have more on his 'tombstone' than Red Dwarf."

Doug Naylor went on to write series seven and eight of Red Dwarf in collaboration with other writers.

In 1999 and 2000, Rob Grant independently wrote two television series, Dark Ages and The Strangerers, and script edited the series Stressed Eric. In the past few years he has written four solo books and is rumoured to be working on an animated series entitled Cruel Aliens.

As of 2007, Grant Naylor Productions under Doug Naylor is primarily focused on the production of the DVD releases of Red Dwarf and the return of Red Dwarf in the three part special Red Dwarf: Back to Earth. Back to Earth received record ratings for freeview channel Dave.