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Doctor Who: UNIT – why you should check out the spin-off series

By James Aggas

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With the eighth series coming out next week, we take a look at the Doctor Who spin-off UNIT, and why it’s well worth checking out.

Since 2015, Big Finish have been making a Doctor Who spin-off series based on the new UNIT team, as established by both The Power of Three and The Day of the Doctor.

Taking place before those key episodes, UNIT not only focuses on previously established characters Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Osgood (Ingrid Oliver). The series also features its own original characters, including Colonel Shindi (Ramon Tikaram), Captain Josh Carter (James Joyce) and Sam Bishop (Warren Brown).

UNIT initially began telling four-part stories of epic invasions. Extinction got the series off to a great start; Shutdown featured an interesting look at a more original alien, and the team have recently gone up against Cybermen in Cyber-Reality. These box sets provide tons of popcorn entertainment, and the series really knows how to put the team in high stakes situations.

However, of these kind of epic stories, two in particular stand out. There’s the third series Silenced, which deals with the consequences of the two-part story The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. With UNIT up against an enemy that they can’t even remember after seeing, this is probably their most dangerous adversary yet.

The second highlight? Assembled, which not only features the UNIT team of this era, but of the Classic era, too. This set features the return of Jo Jones (Katy Manning), Mike Yates (Richard Franklin) and John Benton (John Levene), in a huge epic that has them facing the Silurians once more. Hearing the mix of eras is an absolute joy, and well worth checking out for fans of the Classic Series.

Exploring the team

Along with these four-part epics, there’s also a nice amount of variety, too. Encounters features four very different adventures (linked by the presence of a new major threat, the Auctioneers), while both the previous box set Revisitations and upcoming release Incursions feature a mix of both stand alone and two-part stories. The former featured the return of the Wirrn in a full-on battle against UNIT, while the latter will have the team encountering River Song for the first time!

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Beyond how entertaining the stories are themselves, the series is also great at exploring and developing the characters, too. We get to hear more of both Kate and Osgood’s private life, and how they manage it with their very busy work lives.

We also get to see them in highly pressured and complex situations that really push them to their limits, while also giving us a glimpse of their sense of morality and their private thoughts and fears. (Both Breach of Trust and Open the Box are two fantastic examples from the Revisitations box set.)

The end of an era?

Vortex, the free magazine from Big Finish, has revealed that while more UNIT box sets are coming, Incursions will be the last of the current era. What does this mean? Well, I suspect that the series will move from its current pre-The Day of the Doctor setting, and will now be moving into the Capaldi era, complete with the two Osgoods. The fact that we recently had a two Osgoods story feature in the box set The Eighth of March is already promising.

Regardless, this initial era of UNIT has been a strong one. If you’re missing stories featuring the organisation on television, particularly stories with alien invasions, action and excitement, then this series is highly recommended. I’m already eager to both listen to and review Incursions next week.

Next. Ranking all the regeneration stories. dark

Are you a fan of UNIT, both the organisation and the series? Do you think the team should return to television? What’s your favorite UNIT story? Let us know in the comments below.

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