IT WAS only a matter of time and space. Now science fiction has overtaken reality shows as space-and-time travel becomes the new hit formula on TV.

David Tennant’s first appearance as the Doctor in the Christmas Day episode of Doctor Who was watched by 9.4 million viewers, beaten only by BBC One, with more than ten million switching on to EastEnders.

In America, entire channels are devoted to big-budget space dramas. Now digital technology has made convincing sci-fi epics affordable on British budgets. ITV is responding to Doctor Who with Primaeval, a £6 million, six-part epic about scientists who travel into prehistoric times through black holes. The team behind Walking with Dinosaurs is creating the graphics.

Next year the BBC will follow up the success of Red Dwarf, the sitcom set on a spaceship, which has spawned four million DVD and video sales. A new BBC Two sci-fi comedy Hyperdrive consciously echoes its predecessor, the channel’s highest-rated sitcom with eight million viewers.

Hyperdrive follows the spaceship HMS Camden Lock on its mission to protect British interests in a changing galaxy. Instead of exploring new worlds, the crew encourages aliens to relocate their businesses to Peterborough or take holidays in the Lake District.

It is written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, who were responsible for the award- winning Channel 4 series Black Books and stars Nick Frost (of Shaun of the Dead), and Kevin Eldon (Nighty Night).

The resurrection of sci-fi has surprised some. Senior BBC figures were sceptical about Doctor Who, believing a revival would fail to reach a mass audience despite a much bigger special effects budget for the £13 million series. In fact there is a large international audience for British sci-fi. The new Doctor Who has been sold to 12 countries, including South Korea and Australia.

Patrick Stewart, the former Star Trek captain, stars in a new ITV1 series, Eleventh Hour.

He plays a problem-solving physics professor who is called on by the Government to avert disasters caused by scientific developments. Like the Doctor, the Professor has a younger female assistant, played by Ashley Jensen, the Extras actress who won two British Comedy Awards.

BBC One has high hopes for Life on Mars, an inventive series in which John Simm, a Manchester detective, is catapulted back to 1973 after a road accident. Simm learns to cope with Sweeney-style tactics and appalling casual wear as he begins life as a Seventies cop. After Doctor Who dominated Saturday evenings this year, the BBC has commissioned two further series. David Tennant has already endeared himself to sci-fi fans by describing his wardrobe as “ geek chic”.

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