There were going to be 10 episodes. The ninth, Death on the Moon, written by Philip Martin, was never made owing to industrial action at the BBC.
The series takes place in 2027.
The series suffered from a number of problems, including the very different approaches of the two directors assigned to the series, Christopher Baker and Graeme Harper, which led to a noticeable lack of continuity between episodes, and the strained relationship between writer Chris Boucher and producer Evgeny Gridneff. Boucher has said that he did not feel Gridneff consulted him with certain key decisions regarding the series and he never liked Gridneff's choice of the theme song and incidental music, which he considered completely inappropriate. Boucher also disliked the decision by the BBC to make the show entirely on videotape, as he had hoped it would also have a film budget. He was also critical of the BBC's decision to schedule the programme in the summer months at 8:30 in the evening on BBC2, thereby almost guaranteeing a small audience.