Business Unusual (novel)

Business Unusual was the fourth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Gary Russell, released 1 September 1997 and featured the Sixth Doctor, Melanie Bush and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

It was Gary Russell's attempt at depicting Mel's first adventure with the Sixth Doctor and also the Sixth Doctor's first meeting with Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

Publisher's summary
''A security force with no official identity... a managing director with no name... a sinister creature on guard patrol resembling some kind of hellhound... SenéNet is no ordinary multinational company.''

The Doctor arrives in Brighton, 1989, travelling alone. He soon discovers his old friend, the Brigadier, has gone missing investigating SenéNet, whose new interactive games console is soon to be released at an absurdly reasonable price. He was last seen at their headquarters — based in the picturesque Ashdown Forest...

Investigating further, the Doctor becomes more and more entangled in a deadly web of intrigue. Together with Mel, a plucky computer programmer from Pease Pottage, the Doctor must overcome the conspiracy of silence, rescue the Brigadier and save the world once again — something that would be a lot easier if he just knew where to start...

Plot
Called by Bob Lines to July 1989 by space-time telegraph, the Doctor thwarts the attempts of the Master and the Usurian Company to defraud the Dow-Jones and conquer the Earth. He goes to Brighton to rest and spots Mel, whom he has been avoiding meeting for some time in the hopes of averting the High Council's creation of the Valeyard, before heading back to his TARDIS and feeling her American friend Trey Korte unwittingly attempting to read his mind with his latent esper abilities. The Doctor takes Trey by taxi to 36 Downview Crescent after he collapses and tries to hurriedly leave upon realising that it is Mel's house, but she arrives before he can do so.

to be completed

Characters

 * Sixth Doctor
 * Melanie Bush
 * The Brigadier
 * Robert McLaughlin
 * Ciara
 * Cellian
 * Lawson
 * Jones
 * Robert Lines
 * Stephanie Rowe
 * Christine Bush
 * Trey Korte
 * Joe Hambridge
 * Luke Aspinall
 * Alex Simmons
 * John Sudbury
 * Pale Man
 * Alan Bush
 * Rupert Illingworth
 * Anne Macko
 * Ryuichi Futayomoto
 * Roberta
 * Shaun Lyon
 * Ashley Moby
 * Bryan Erskine
 * Ingrid Krafchin
 * Janine Gilbert
 * Susan Illingworth

Foods and beverages

 * The Doctor buys a Lochie burger from Nessie's in Brighton and devours it in a single mouthful.

Continuity

 * The Sixth Doctor is desperately trying to avoid contact with Mel, because he fears that if she meets him, she will somehow become his companion and he will be set on the path towards becoming the Valeyard. This would lead the Doctor to hide himself in the past in an attempt to settle down. (PROSE: The Spindle of Necessity)