UNIT

[close] UNIT was a military organisation which operated under the auspices of the United Nations, initially under the name of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce until being renamed the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. Its remit was to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. UNIT was not the only alien defence organisation, but it was the one with which the Doctor had the closest personal involvement.

An incident which led directly to the creation of UNIT was the takeover of London by the Great Intelligence, with robot Yetis and a deadly cobweb-like fungus. Assisted by the Second Doctor, another group of British infantrymen, led by then-Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, beat back the Yeti from the tunnels of the London Underground. In reaction to the London Event, the British government formed the Home-Army Fifth Operational Corps to combat alien threats, headed by Lethbridge-Stewart. Lethbridge-Stewart was part of the organisation until the formation of UNIT in 1971.