The Second RTD Years: 2023 -

 Coming soon...

The Chibnall Years: 2018 - 2022

“Doctor Who: Flux”

"Survivors of the Flux"

After a 5-year absence, UNIT finally returned in the series 13 episode “Survivors of the Flux”, which was Part 5 of the Doctor Who Flux story arc. Notably, not only did we see modern, current-day UNIT, we also saw the earliest chronological appearance of UNIT, pre-dating their first appearance in “The Invasion”.

I am not going to go into the timeline, and the dating of the UNIT stories here, because there are other websites that will go into far more detail about it than I. Needless to say, this episode merely added to the already confused chronology of UNIT and certainly raised a whole host of questions.

We learn in this episode that the very first Commanding Officer of the British branch of UNIT (and indeed the man who set it all up – presumably as part of a concerted United Nations operation) was General Farquhar. The general wears a standard British Army general’s Service Dress uniform.

 

On his upper left arm he wears a UNIT patch, which matches the patches worn by the likes of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Captain Yates, and Sergeant Benton on their Service Dress uniforms.

 

Farquhar was also correctly wearing the red lanyard that we saw UNIT officers wearing during this period – except he was wearing on the wrong arm. The Brigadier and other officers always wore their lanyards on the right. It should be noted that we did sometimes see Sergeant Benton wearing his lanyard on the left, however.

 

One final observation about the general (technically an error, but an eminently forgivable one); you can see on a number of occasions that the rank insignia on the general’s epaulettes are attached using clip pins. 

This is the modern way to attach rank insignia.

In the 1960s it would have been attached using split pins.

This is very nit-picky and I wouldn’t expect the costume department to go to the lengths of finding old-style insignia. I merely mention it as interesting.

The UNIT soldiers in this episode are wearing British Battledress uniform.

This is an anachronism for two reasons. Firstly, UNIT troops in these early years wore the beige uniforms seen in “The Invasion” and “Spearhead from Space” etc. (UNIT Uniforms: The Early Years: 1968 - 1970) – of course, it’s entirely possible that UNIT troops were initially kitted out with uniforms from their home-country’s armed forces, before switching to the beige uniform a year or two later. But that brings us to the second problem; the British Army stopped wearing Battledress uniforms in 1961, so they are seven years out of date. But look closer and it’s even more anachronistic that it seems.

 

There were three styles of Battledress worn by the British Army – 1937 pattern, 1940 pattern, and 1949 pattern.

1937 pattern

1940 pattern

1949 pattern

 The style worn by the UNIT soldiers in this episode is the 1937 pattern, so it is the oldest and most out-of-date of all the Battledress uniforms. This style was not seen worn much after the Second World War, 20 years before the events of this episode.

 

Having said all that, there is precedent for UNIT troops wearing out-of-date uniforms. During the Golden Years of Pertwee’s Third Doctor, UNIT were kitted out in 1960s combat fatigues, despite being in the 1970s (or was in the 80s?). Ironically, the combat fatigues they wore in those days are what they should more correctly be wearing in this episode, since it is set in 1967.

 

The soldiers in this episode wear their Battledress open at the collar, with a shirt and tie beneath.

 Like Farquhar, they have a UNIT patch on their left sleeve.

The soldiers wear the correct sand-coloured beret for this era, but for some reason, they all wear it backwards! The badge should be above the left eye with the beret folded over the right ear, but Jennings and the two soldiers in the corridor wear them the opposite way around.

 

 You can just about see that the beret has the old-style UNIT badge on (although slightly smaller than the original). Private Jennings also wears this UNIT badge on the collars of his Battledress uniform, which is a nod to the collar badges worn by Yates and Benton on their Service Dress uniforms.

 So, in summary, the UNIT soldiers in this scene certainly evoke the feel of the 1960s UNIT troops, but on closer inspection are in fact, entirely anachronistic.

 

We also get a very brief glimpse of modern UNIT in this episode. In addition to Kate Stewart, we see a female UNIT soldier ordered to aim missiles at Earth. She is wearing a black shirt which was last seen being worn by UNIT personnel at the UNIT command post in Turmezistan in “The Zygon Invasion”.

 Like the UNIT troops in Turmezistan, this soldier wears the new UNIT logo on a badge on her chest. At first it appears that this badge is now on the left breast rather than the right – but if you look closer you can see that UNIT is written backwards on it, and also on the screens behind her. This means that this image has been flipped in post-production, so the badge was still actually worn on the right. Here's how it should have looked...

She also wears the old RTD style UNIT wings as a patch on her upper sleeves, and as a badge on her red beret, which is folded under her epaulette.

 A final note:

 

In the scene at UNIT HQ, General Farquhar hears the voice of Lethbridge-Stewart (taken from an audio-clip of Nicholas Courtney in the episode “Terror of the Autons”). Farquhar then says, “That’s our new Corporal”.

This line entirely ruins the whole UNIT scene for me. Corporals are NCOs, whereas Lethbridge-Stewart was an officer. These are two entirely different career routes in the army, and someone who was a corporal (which is a very junior rank), would never rise to the rank of Brigadier – as you can see from the table below.

 It is certainly possible for someone to be ‘promoted from the ranks’ – for example, experienced Warrant Officers will be given officer training and granted a commission, thusly then being promoted to a junior officer rank like captain - but in these cases you have older soldiers in junior officer roles, and Lethbdridge-Stewart is not old enough for this to be the case.

 If he were a corporal in 1967, there is no way he could then be a lieutenant colonel in 1968 in “The Web of Fear”. And he certainly wouldn’t rise to the rank of brigadier.

(And on another note, based on this episode, are we now also assuming that he was with UNIT all along in “The Web of Fear”?)

 

Frankly, the “Corporal” line was an example of lazy writing and no research on how the military works. What would have been better is if Farquhar had said, “That’s our new Colonel.” That would have made far more sense.

 

The Lethbridge-Stewart cameo had the potential to be a highlight of the episode and have me squealing in delight. Instead, the glaring mistake just had me sighing and rolling my eyes.

 

It is not just Doctor Who that is guilty of this (although it has been a major offender in recent years), but I do wish that if modern writers are going to write about the military, they would actually do some research to find out how it actually works. The Ministry of Defence has a very useful page on their website about it:

 

Rank Progression - British Army Jobs (mod.uk)

Doctor Who Figurine Collection

 The Doctor Who Figurine Collection has released this wonderful "Day of the Daleks" set - highly recommended.

The Third Doctor, Jo Grant, Brigadier & Benton Figurine Set | All Doctor Who Collectables and Memorabilia (eaglemoss.com)

I was lucky enough to be able to provide some insight into the UNIT uniforms in the accompanying magazine.

The Chibnall Years: 2018 - ?

Coming soon...

Commanding Officers

After completing my chronicle of the UNIT uniforms (to date), it got me thinking about the officers who have commanded the UK branch, so here is a list of all the Commanding Officers of the UK branch of UNIT that we have yet seen.

                                                                                                                 

Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
c.1968 – 1976

Lethbridge-Stewart was the first Commanding Officer of the UK Branch of UNIT having being appointed to this position when the organisation was founded.

We do not know what date UNIT was founded due to the UNIT Dating Controversy, but 1968 was the year “The Invasion” first aired, which was UNIT’s first onscreen appearance. Lethbridge-Stewart retired as CO in 1976, as stated in “Mawdryn Undead”. However, he continued to be called back into service by UNIT on a number of subsequent occasions.

                                                                                                                 

 Colonel Faraday
1976 – c.1980

Colonel Faraday appears in “The Android Invasion”. Though not explicitly stated in the show, I would argue that it was Faraday who took over command of UNIT when Lethbridge-Stewart retired (for my reasons why I believe Faraday to be UNIT's CO, see my entry on The Sporadic Years).

We do not know when Farady left UNIT, but according to the audio drama “The Oseiden Adventure”, he is still with the organisation in 1979. 

                                                                                                                 
 
Colonel Charles Crichton
c.1980 – Late 1980s

All we know about Crichton is that he was Commanding Officer of the UK branch of UNIT in 1983.

In the show, Colonel Crichton is listed as being Lethbridge-Stewart’s replacement. However, this is a throwaway line in “The Five Doctors”, and it is not explicitly stated that Crichton is his immediate replacement. If he was indeed the immediate successor of Lethbridge-Stewart, then by the time of “The Five Doctors” he has been UNIT’s CO for seven years. According to the novelisation of Downtime, he was still UNIT’s CO in 1995, having been promoted to Brigadier. This means that he has been UNIT’s CO for almost 20 years, which is a ridiculous assertion. Military postings just don’t last that long (not to mention the fact that his appearance in the Downtime novelisation is contradicted by the UNIT Dominion audio dramas, and I always give precedence to the audios over the novels since they contain the real cast members. In addition to that, the Downtime novelisation has Bambera as a Captain, meaning that within two years she will be promoted to Brigadier to replace Crichton. A promotion from Captain to Brigadier, missing out the intervening ranks of Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, in less than two years is preposterous! It was clearly written by someone who has no idea how the military really works (which is an accusation that can be levelled more and more at Doctor Who these days!!) and resultantly I don’t hold that novelisation in very high regard. Thankfully, neither Crichton nor Bambera were in the video version of Downtime, which is the version I count as the ‘real’ one).

 

It is far more reasonable to surmise that Crichton did not immediately replace Lethbridge-Stewart (I would argue that, based on “The Android Invasion”, Colonel Faraday did that). It is also possible that there was at least one more Commanding officer who came between Crichton and Lafayette, but if this is the case, we have, as yet, not seen him or her. Alternatively, Lafayette could have been Crichton’s immediate successor.  

                                                                                                                 
  

Colonel Lafayette

Late 1980s

 

 

 

Colonel Lafayette appears in the “UNIT Dominion” audio dramas, in which he is stated to have been in charge of the UK contingent of UNIT for “three months”.

 

"UNIT Dominion" does not give a setting, but we can reasonably assume that it is in the late 1980s (for a start, Dr Klein, UNIT’s Scientific Adviser, records things onto cassette tapes rather than CDs). Additionally, the Doctor meets Dr Klein again in a later adventure (“Persuasion”), which is set in 1990, so we know that Dominion comes before then chronologically.

 

Note that the artwork in the CD gives Colonel Lafayette the gorget patches of a General. A Colonel’s gorget patches are plain red and do not have the gold oak leaves on them. 

                                                                                                                 

 

Major Wyland-Jones

Late 1980s

 

 

 

Major Wyland-Jones replaces Colonel Lafayette when the latter is killed in “UNIT Dominion”.

 

As a Major, Wyland-Jones is the lowest ranked Commanding Officer we’ve yet seen. The story tells us that Geneva had been grooming to him to replace Lafayette for “weeks”, but that doesn’t explain why they would be preparing an officer of that grade, when all the previous Commanding Officers have been substantive Colonels or above. One wonders if he was promoted shortly after this adventure (to Lieutenant Colonel?). Perhaps UNIT cutbacks meant that they were trying to save money on higher salaries.

 

Note that in the CD artwork, Wyland-Jones is wearing neither a UNIT beret nor UNIT cap badge. Presumably he was given a red beret as that is the colour associated with UNIT thanks to the new series (despite it being inaccurate for the time period this story is set in), but surely they could have Photoshoped the UNIT globe on at the very least.  

                                                                                                                 

 

Brigadier Winifred Bambera

c.1990s – early 2000s

 

 

 

We see Brigadier Bambera as Commanding Officer of UNIT UK in “Battlefield”, set in 1997. We are given no indication of how long she has been in charge. She is one of only two Brigadiers to command the UK branch, as all other COs hold the rank of Colonel. It is entirely reasonable to suggest that there was at least one other Commanding Officer of UNIT who served between Wyland-Jones and Bambera, whose post would cover the period of the early to mid-1990s.

 

We later meet Brigadier Bambera again in the audio adventure “Animal”, set in 2001, which means she retained her command into the early years of the 21^st Century. Presumably she was succeeded by Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood, though it would be entirely possible for another CO to have been in post between them.

In the audio drama "UNIT Assembled", Lieutenant Sam Bishop mentions "General Bambera" as being in Peru, so she is still presumably a very senior officer with UNIT in the 2010s. 

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Ross Brimmicombe-Wood

Early 2000s – Early 2005

 

 

 

Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood is the CO of UNIT UK in the first series of UNIT audio dramas (though it turns out he was a traitor and working for ICIS all along).

 

I would surmise that Brimmicombe-Wood became the CO in 2003 (in the winter of 2004/2005, Colonel Chaudhry mentions that Brimmicombe-Wood got to know her at the staff Christmas party, which presumably was the previous year’s). 

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Robert Dalton

2005

 

 

 

Colonel Dalton was brought in as Acting Commanding Officer when Brimmicombe-Wood was kidnapped. He only held the post for a month or so before being killed by a bomb blast in Downing Street. 

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Emily Chaudhry        

2005 – c.2007  

 

 

 

Colonel Chaudhry was originally UNIT UK’s Press and PR Officer, but was promoted to the role of Commanding Officer after Brimmicombe-Wood’s treachery was exposed.

 

On a side note, I loved the UNIT audio dramas, but found it eminently unbelievable that UNIT has two substantive Colonels in the form of the Commanding Officer and the Press Officer. Chaudhry even mentions that UNIT’s budget has been slashed, so why are they funding two such high-ranking officers. They should have made her a Lieutenant Colonel or Major to make it a little more believable. In reality, regimental press officers in the British Army tend to be much lower ranked officers (like Lieutenants or Captains). However, given the nature of UNIT, one can see why a higher ranked officer might be necessary, though I still assert that a full Colonel is unlikely.  

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Alan Mace

c.2007 – 2009

 

 

 

 

The first UNIT commander we see in the new series of Doctor Who is Colonel Alan Mace, who we meet in “The Sontaran Stratagem”; a story set in 2009. We are given no indication of how long he has been in charge of the UK contingent prior to this; however, he appears to be in charge of UNIT during the Racnoss incursion of Christmas 2007, as seen in “Turn Left”. It is entirely feasible that he took over from Colonel Chaudhry sometime between 2005 and 2007.

In the audio drama "UNIT Assembled", Lieutenant Sam Bishop says that "Mace" is in Japan. This implies that Mace is still with UNIT in the 2010s, although it doesn't state his rank at that point.  

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Augustus Oduya

2009 – Early 2010s

 

 

 

Colonel Oduya appears in Torchwood “Children of Earth”. Dialogue suggests that he succeeded Colonel Mace, who is said to have been posted to Vancouver. This story is dated to September 2009. We do not know how long he lasted in the role.

 
The next time we see UNIT on screen (In “The Power of Three”) we are told that Kate Stewart, the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, is now in overall charge of the organisation. However, Kate is a scientist, in charge of UNIT’s scientific research; the military side of UNIT would still have a Commanding Officer (it is unlikely that any military organisation would suddenly relinquish their authority to a civilian). 

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Shindi

c.2013

 

 

 

The new series of UNIT audios, beginning with “UNIT Extinction” introduces us to the character of Colonel Shindi. These stories are set between “The Power of Three” and “The Day of the Doctor”, so we can tentatively date them to 2012 or 2013.

 

Note that the CD artwork for Colonel Shindi shows him with unkempt hair, a beard and moustache. Military regulations would never allow him to have either the length of hair that he has, or the beard (the moustache, however, is acceptable, making him the first CO with a moustache since Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Faraday). Obviously, one can’t expect an actor to change their appearance for an audio adventure, but surely Photoshop could have been used to make him look more realistically military.  

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Ahmed

c.2014

 

 

 

 

The character of Colonel Ahmed appears as the highest ranking UNIT officer aboard Boat One in “Death in Heaven”. However, he is killed by the Cybermen. 

                                                                                                                 

 

Colonel Walsh

c.2015

 

 

 

 

Colonel Walsh was in command of a contingent of UNIT troops in Turmezistan in “The Zygon Invasion”, however, we can safely assume that she is a British officer (or, at the very last, an officer in a Commonwealth army) because both she and Major Hitchins wear British rank insignia. 

                                                                                                                 

 

And that brings us up-to-date. I really hope that we will soon see another Commanding Officer for the UK branch of UNIT, maybe even one who can become a recurring character alongside Kate Stewart; possibly even Colonel Walsh since she, as far as we know, survived the Zygon gambit. 

                                                                                                                 

 

Dishonourable mentions:

 

Colonel Tia Karim

c.2010

 

 

 

The Sarah Jane Adventures introduced us to the character of Colonel Karim, but I personally do not count her as one of UNIT’s COs (despite her being referred to as a Colonel), simply because I prefer to think of her more as the Officer Commanding UNIT’s Mount Snowden Base (plus her rank insignia displays the pips of a Lieutenant not a Colonel). Thankfully, it is not stated in the episode that she is UNIT’s Commanding Officer, so my theory doesn’t contradict on screen evidence. 

 

Personally, I think that these days whenever the Doctor Who writers need a military character in a position of authority they seem to just plump for a Colonel, regardless of how realistic this would actually be. It is perhaps my biggest criticism of NuWho that there doesn’t seem to be anyone who actually understands how a military organisation works (the same criticism can be levelled at Sherlock – there are so many mistakes it brings me right out of the narrative!).