The Network broadcasts entertainment to the planets of the Meson system: Death-hunt 3000, Prisoner: The Next Generation, Bloodsoak Bunny... Sixteen channels, and not one of them worth watching. but for the citizens of poverty-striken Torrok, television offers the only escape from a reality too horrible to face.

Angela, a young inhabitant of Torrok, leaps at the chance to travel to the Network with a hermit who calls himself the Doctor.
However, all is not well on the giant, chaotic space station.
A soap star has murdered his wife's lover; the robotic regulars of Timeriders are performing random kidnappings; and a lethal new game show is about to go on the air.

Can the Doctor uncover the cause of the apparently random disturbances - or will his appearance as a competitor on Death-hunt 3000 be the last of his life?

This adventure takes place immediately after the television story THE ULTIMATE FOE.

STEVE LYONS is the author of CONUNDRUM, one of the most populat Doctor Who New Adventures, and is a co-author of the best-selling RED DWARF PROGRAMME GUIDE.