In addition to being a Multiversity staffer and podcaster, Chris Thompson is the brand manager for Dr. Who’s publisher, Titan Comics.
Doctor Who has enjoyed a wealth of supporting characters over its lengthy run, but few are as enduring (or endearing) as the men and women of U.N.I.T. What was once the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce has become the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, but their mandate remains the same: to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to Earth.
Debuting in the classic Second Doctor serial, The Invasion (with seeds going right back to The Web of Fear), UNIT really came to prominence during the Third Doctor’s run – starting with Jon Pertwee’s first appearance in Spearhead From Space – where they appeared regularly until the Doctor’s exile was lifted during The Three Doctors adventure.
UNIT continued to interact with the Doctor over the years – most notably with the Fourth Doctor and his occasional companion Lieutenant Harry Sullivan – then made their last classic television appearance in the Seventh Doctor serial, Battlefield. Since then they’ve returned in the new TV series, as well as appearing in novels, comics, and audio adventures (including their own series from Big Finish).
Although the latest incarnation of UNIT has been seen in both the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor comics, the classic line-up have only just made their Titan Comics debut – first in the pages of Paul Cornell & Christopher Jones’ Third Doctor #1, then in the pages of Cavan Scott & Adriano Melo’s Ninth Doctor #6.
We sat down for a chat with writers Cavan and Paul to find out what UNIT means to them, and how they view their role in the wider Who-niverse:
Chris Thompson – Casting your mind back a little, do you remember when and where you first encountered UNIT?
Cavan Scott – For me it was through the Doctor Who novelisations of the 1970s rather than on TV. Back then, pre-video tapes, Target Books used to novelise past adventures, mostly written by former-script editor Terrance Dicks. I can’t remember the first one I read that featured UNIT. I think it was Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders or maybe Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion by Malcolm Hulke. Either way I was hooked, and would nag my parents for the latest book or rifle through the shelves of the local library, anything to find a UNIT story. Of course there were also mentions in Doctor Who Monthly, accompanied with black and white photos of the Brigadier, Benton or Captain Yates.
I remember playing at being UNIT in the playground long before I’d seen them on TV. I was never the Brigadier, always a sergeant like Benton. Little could my eight-year old self imagine that 30-odd years later I would be seen as a UNIT Sergeant on the front of a Doctor Who comic, thanks to the Photoshop skills of Will Brooks.
The first time I saw UNIT in action, sort of, was the 20th Anniversary story, The Five Doctors, which has the Brigadier meeting the second Doctor at a UNIT reunion. Soon after that, I saw my first bootleg Doctor Who video. Back then Doctor Who fans swapped VHS tapes that usually contained copies of a copy of a copy of a Doctor Who broadcast, usually from Australia. I think the first I saw was The Claws of Axos. The quality was awful. The picture kept wobbling and most scenes appeared to be entirely green. But I lapped it up. Every tape seemed like a new treasure and UNIT stories were always my favourites. Of course, when the official VHS tapes came out I lapped them up. I still remember the joy of finally seeing a decent print of The Claws of Axos. Not a wobbly screen to be seen.
I’m making myself sound really old here, aren’t I?
Paul Cornell – It was on the back cover of Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters, my first encounter with Who in any form. The novel blew my little mind. When I then dared to watch Who on TV, I was surprised UNIT weren’t in it, or when they were (as in The Seeds of Doom) they seemed different, a bit distant and odd.
Continued belowCT – Do you have any favourite UNIT moments from the original TV series (or other sources) that spring to mind?
CS – All of Terror of the Zygons, one of the best Doctor Who stories ever made, and I suppose slightly controversial as it’s the Fourth Doctor rather than the Third. But it’s a good story for Harry Sullivan, UNIT’s medical officer and some-time companion to the Fourth Doctor. Harry is simply wonderful. A heart of gold, plenty of derring-do and a charming vulnerability. He’s a man constantly out of his depth, but always ready to do the right thing, even if he messes up from time to time.
A highlight for many, and rightly so, is The Daemons which sees the Doctor and UNIT facing the diabolical deeds of the Master in an English village. There’s lots of action as you expect, and we meet Sergeant Osgood, who may or may not be related to the modern-day Osgood (in my head canon she definitely is). We also get to see how close the UNIT family really are. The story even ends with the Brigadier and Captain Yates going for a pint. I love the fact that you really believe these are people who work and socialise together. Yates and Benton watch the rugby together, the Brigadier heads off to a regimental dinner… They have lives away from the action.
Of course, at the other end of the scale you have Doctor Who and the Silurians, which sees the Doctor often at odds with his allies, especially at the explosive climax of the story. Their relationship softens over the years, but here the Brigadier and the Doctor seem to be diametrically apposed. I guess that opposites attract and all that.
There’s a wonderful line in the Brigadier’s last televised encounter with the Doctor, back in 1989 in Battlefield. Morgaine, the villain of the piece says to him: ‘Can this world do no better than you as its champion?’ to which he replies: ‘Probably. I just do the best I can.’ That sums up the Brigadier to me. He’ll do what he can to save his planet, but with a sly smile and a good line in self-deprecating humour.
Then there’s when the Brigadier meets the Eighth Doctor in Minuet in Hell, a Big Finish audio from 2001. The Doctor describes the Brigadier as his ‘best friend’. Never a truer word said. There’s a warmth and history between these two men; a connection.
PC – The Brigadier’s humanity is always a wonderful foil to the Doctor’s higher aspirations. Invasion of the Dinosaurs has an interesting interrogation of the ‘UNIT family’, who really had grown a bit comfy before that.
CT – In many ways UNIT were a product of budgetary concerns and provided a way to anchor Earthbound adventures in the TV series. Given that comics don’t suffer from the same limitations, what is the appeal of using UNIT for you?
CS – It was the chance to see the Ninth Doctor interacting with the characters as they looked in the ’70s. It can only be done in comics and an idea I’ve had for a long time. A modern Doctor goes back in time to team up with UNIT and as they were in their prime, while they’re still a team. It’s proper time travel.
There’s also a rather handy gap in continuity. We see UNIT in Terror of the Zygons and The Android Invasion, both Tom Baker stories, and then don’t really see them again until Battlefield in 1989, when it’s a completely different team. So Official Secrets fits into that gap. The Brigadier isn’t that far off retiring, and Harry and Benton are pretty much as we last saw them.
PC – We can legitimately go bigger with them, they invite it. Unlike so many classic Who formats where the lack of budget shapes the show, here they were reaching for a bigger picture at the time, so it feels legitimate to show what they tried to use CSO to depict.
CT – Beyond what UNIT represents for you personally, what do they represent for the Doctor? How would you say the Third and the Ninth view them differently – especially considering that Nine is very much a PTSD survivor of the Time War?
Continued belowCS – Nine is really interesting incarnation. It’s as if he’s trying to remember how to be the Doctor. Time and time again we see him covering up his pain and anguish by cracking really bad jokes and goofing around, as if he thinks that’s what the Doctor should do. And then you get beautiful moments when he breaks into a genuine grin or expresses real joy, like at the end of The Doctor Dances. I thought it would be interested to have him go back and meet some old faces, revisiting a time that he remembers fondly. What would it mean to him now?
What we see is a man who never really relaxes. He pokes fun at Sergeant Benton and is genuinely happy to see Harry Sullivan, but seems slightly on the back foot. He loses his temper with his old friends, and seems shocked when they put him in his place.
And then there’s the Brigadier. I was fascinated to know how they would relate. Would the Brig notice something is wrong with his friend, that the Doctor has seen and maybe done terrible things. It puts their relationship on a different footing. They’re both old soldiers now.
Using UNIT was a way to show how much the Doctor has changed.
PC – I’d like to see a meeting between the Third Doctor and the Ninth. That would be harsh and personal and uncomfortable. We see a bit of self-analysis and criticism of the Doctor about how he’s worked so hard to fit in with contemporary Earth in my mini-series.
CT – Did you think about how to make UNIT relevant for today’s audience, especially if they’re not familiar with previous incarnations? Was that a consideration in your presentation of them now?
CS – I tried to remain true to their tone and character. It was certainly odd writing Harry’s own brand of ‘boys-own adventure’ dialogue, like something out of a war movie. But you need that for the character.
But there’s a lot in our story that will hopefully resonate with 21st Century readers. UNIT are facing being replaced by a privately-owned security service, and there’s that sense that we’re not being told everything by those in charge. Plus, as the arc continues, we see UNIT having to deal with a whistle-blower, again something very familiar these days.
PC – They certainly can be relevant, as shown in the last season of the show. Of course, I didn’t have to deal with that issue. I’m just trying to make each of those characters a bit deeper, while still keeping them sounding right.
CT – How do you approach writing these characters when you essentially need to put all the toys back in the toy box when you’ve finished?
CS – Well, in a way I was lucky as this is set after Harry and Benton’s last appearance so I had a little freedom with what I did with them. Harry especially has moved on, he’s now in charge of an operation, a fact that amuses the Doctor no end.
But I also wanted to include a new character. We meet Tara Mishra, a relatively new recruit to UNIT. She’s a military nurse who’s been working with Harry and is a bit in awe of the Brigadier. She takes matters into her own hands, which changes her life and her role within UNIT completely. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens to her.
PC – I don’t feel I do have to do that. Bit limiting. Certain things in this series set up where the show itself went a little later, so I’m rather easing myself into an existing space.
Elsewhere in the Who-niverse.
The Tenth Doctor: Year Two #15 – Nick Abadzis says:
“In Tenth Doctor #2.15, we have threads that have been boiling away for a couple of years coming to a head of steam. You’ve heard of multi-Doctor stories – well, this is a multi-Osiran story. As epics go, it features a small number of players, but some of them are very, very powerful and there are callbacks to many previous Doctors’ TV adventures, plus the return of a couple of creatures who have been plaguing the TARDIS crew in the pages of this comic all year. It is a serious, major showdown and I really can’t see how the Doctor, Gabby Cindy and their friends are going to get out of this one…! I’d like to make mention of the work Giorgia Sposito and Arianna Florean are doing on this comic – they are taking my scripts and turning them into strange and beautiful works of art, genuinely alien vistas, and great Doctor Who. I know everyone says this in comics, but I’m very lucky to be part of a team who is this talented and dedicated to making these stories special. They work incredibly hard – we all do – and you should applaud them!”
The Eleventh Doctor: Year Two #14 – Si Spurrier says:
“Issue #14 of our season is the first half of the endgame, in which all the Doctor’s transgressions catch him up, the crimes he committed in the Time War can’t be excused any more, and the mysterious racial curse known as the Malignant exposes its true colours. Can you say “Dalek Gods”? EXCOMMUNICATE! EXCOMMUNICATE!”
The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #11 – Robbie Morrison says:
“En garde! The Doctor journeys to 17th Century France, where he crosses swords with the notorious adventuress and opera singer Julie d’Aubigny and the even more notorious Cardinal Richelieu – and encounters an alien race that really will make you scared of the dark.”
Doctor Who: Supremacy of the Cybermen #4 – George Mann says:
“CyberKings on Sontar! Exploding TARDISes. Everything going wrong… in all eras at once! This is an all-action issue, as Rassilon and the Cybermen begin to cement their control over time, and we’re finally given an insight into the true nature of Rassilon’s plan…”
Finding Your Local Comic Shop.
How can you get your hands on these delightful gems? Well, your friendly local comic shop can help. Most of them do mail order, and you can find your closest store with the Comic Shop Locator.
Looking Further Afield.
* Candy Jar Books are doing some excellent work on their Lethbridge-Stewart series of books which focus on the Brig before he became the Brigadier. You can read more about them here.
* Our friends over at Big Finish are also continuing the adventures of UNIT, with the latest incarnation of the team as seen in the new series. Producer David Richardson stopped by to answer some questions:
Chris Thompson – We’ve been talking about the classic UNIT line-up, while Big Finish are forging ahead with new UNIT stories. Do you give much thought to striking a balance between who UNIT were before and the way they’ve been represented in the new series?
David Richardson – We felt very strongly going into the audios that they should be focused on the new series UNIT. After all, we’d gone to the trouble of getting the new series licence and negotiated for the actors, so it made total sense for us to be working solely in the era of Kate Stewart. Having said that… I can tease that one upcoming box set might make a little room for UNIT of old. After two years of making these audios, we felt it was time for a love letter to the past…
CT – You’re about to release the third box set in the new UNIT series, so what can you tell us about that? What kind of stakes are involved for the team this time around?
DR – UNIT: Silenced is a very different story to the two box sets that preceded it. The emphasis previously has been on high stakes action and adventure; this one is a very dark thriller with some horror undertones – but of course it is, because we have the Silence, one of the most brilliant Doctor Who monsters ever… And this time, Kate, Osgood and the team are facing an enemy they don’t realise is there, because every time they learn about them, they then forget…
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this glimpse backwards – and look ahead – at the enduring position UNIT occupies within the Who-niverse. Keep your eyes peeled for The Third Doctor #2 and The Ninth Doctor #6, as well as our other exciting Doctor Who releases. Feel free to send us your comments and feedback @ComicsTitan on Twitter and Facebook.
