Elements of the game borrow heavily from the failed Electronic Arts subscription game 'Majestic', which was shut down early in 2002 after failing to reach the required number of paying players.

The BBC commissioned development of the game in February 2004, shortly before the publication of the independent report by Philip Graf on the BBC's practice in May 2004, which saw the BBC cease its involvement in online fantasy football and surfing stories. The game was initially scheduled for release in early 2005.

On 2005-08-13, the game incurred further controversy when the original entry about "Jamie Kane" in English Wikipedia reported the fictional biography of the game's central character as if it were fact. Questions were asked about the possibility that the article had been written by someone within the BBC itself with the intention of promoting the game. Rob Cooper responded for the BBC saying that "the BBC would never use Wikipedia as a marketing tool."

The new television series of Doctor Who features a series of interlinked websites which are tied into the official Jamie Kane Website. The site can be accessed by following a series of links set out from the page of Deffry Vale High School which launched on 2006-04-29 to coincide with the broadcast of School Reunion.