Prime Time is a BBC Books

BBC Books

BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...

 original novel written by Mike Tucker

Mike Tucker

Mike Tucker is a special effects expert who worked for many years at the BBC Television Visual Effects Department, and now works as an Effects Supervisor for his own company, The Model Unit. He is also the author of a variety of spin-offs relating to the television series Doctor Who and...

 and based on the long-running British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 science fiction television

Science fiction on television

Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...

 series Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

. It features the Seventh Doctor

Seventh Doctor

The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....

 and Ace

Ace (Doctor Who)

Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

.

Synopsis

Detecting a mysterious sub-space signal in the Time Vortex

Time vortex (Doctor Who)

In the science fiction television series Doctor Who, the time vortex is the medium that the TARDIS and other time machines travel through...

, the Doctor and Ace land on the planet 'Blinni Gaar'. They soon discover that the native population are little more than zombies, addicted to the programmes of the dangerously powerful Channel 400. As the Doctor investigates, he finds that the television company has a sinister agenda that has nothing to do with entertainment.

Continuity

• The Master is offered a new body by the Fleshsmiths, as he is infected by the Cheetah Virus, last seen in the story, Survival
  Survival (Doctor Who)
  -Writing:Writer Rona Munro approached script editor Andrew Cartmel at a BBC scriptwriting workshop and said that she'd "kill to write for Doctor Who." The story Munro developed incorporated themes including the morals of hunting...
  
  .
• The TARDIS
  TARDIS
  The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
  
   is revealed to have an onboard gym.
• The episode Bad Wolf
  Bad Wolf
  "Bad Wolf" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on June 11, 2005. The TARDIS crew find themselves trapped in the Gamestation, also known as Satellite 5, where they must battle to survive the cruel games...
  
  bears similarities to this novel: mainly the fact the public are obsessed with reality
  Reality television
  Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
  
   and quiz shows on television.
• References are made to the Foamasi, who appeared in the story The Leisure Hive
  The Leisure Hive
  The Leisure Hive is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 August to 20 September 1980.-Plot:...
  
  .

Outside References

• The Doctor has a model railway and a working model of the Flying Scotsman
  LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman
  The LNER Class A3 Pacific locomotive No. 4472 Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of H.N. Gresley...
  
   running through the TARDIS. It runs through the control room and through the corridors.
• The Doctor and Ace claim to be an alternative comedian and a children's TV presenter respectively; a reference to the pre-Doctor Who careers of Sylvester McCoy
  Sylvester McCoy
  Sylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
  
   and Sophie Aldred
  Sophie Aldred
  Sophie Aldred is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of The Doctor's companion Ace in the television series Doctor Who during the late 1980s.-Early life:...