Editing UNIT (section)

== Creation ==
[[File:UNIT logo.jpg|200px|left|thumb|U.N.I.T logo, first seen in the 1968 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''[[The Invasion (Doctor Who)|The Invasion]]'']]

In a 2014 interview, former script editor [[Terrance Dicks]] recalled that he was present at the "birth" of UNIT during the production of the 1968 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''[[The Invasion (Doctor Who)|The Invasion]].'' He credited writer and script editor [[Derrick Sherwin]] and producer [[Peter Bryant]] as having come up with the idea beforehand, saying that they were testing the concept in ''The Invasion'' before it had become central to the show in the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'' (1970).<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Dicks |first1=Terrance |author-link=Terrance Dicks |last2=Adams |first2=Matt |last3=Southwell |first3=David |date=August 2014 |title=A Ferocious Appetite for Words... |magazine=[[Doctor Who Magazine]] |location=Tunbridge Wells |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini UK Ltd]] |issue=475 |page=24}}</ref> In a series of interviews originally recorded for the 2006 DVD of the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''[[Inferno (Doctor Who)|Inferno]]'' (1970), actor [[Nicholas Courtney]], who played [[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]] in ''The Invasion'', similarly described ''The Invasion'' as a "dummy run" for the idea of [[The Doctor (Doctor Who)|the Doctor]], the main [[protagonist]] of ''Doctor Who'', being exiled to Earth. Dicks also said that the idea of exiling the Doctor was done because making every serial take place on Earth was cheaper to produce than if every serial had to have a new alien planet built, and that UNIT was an idea Sherwin had come up with to answer the question of what to do with the Doctor after he was exiled to Earth.<ref name="unit family">{{cite AV media |people=[[Nicholas Courtney|Courtney, Nicholas]]; [[Terrance Dicks|Dicks, Terrance]]; [[Caroline John|John, Caroline]]; [[Barry Letts|Letts, Barry]]; [[John Levene|Levene, John]]; [[Derrick Sherwin|Sherwin, Derrick]]; [[Derek Ware (actor)|Ware, Derek]] |date=2006 |title=The U.N.I.T Family part one |type=DVD |publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]] |id=BBCDVD3671 }}</ref> Speaking in an interview on the 2012 DVD of the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''[[The Krotons]]'' (1968–69), Sherwin said that he wanted ''Doctor Who'' to be "down on Earth anyway, for credibility", and described UNIT as "the ideal vehicle" for this.<ref>{{cite AV media |first=Richard |last=Heffer |author-link=Richard Heffer |first2=Anneke |last2=Wills |author-link2=Anneke Wills |first3=Robert |last3=Shearman |author-link3=Robert Shearman |first4=Gary |last4=Russell |author-link4=Gary Russell |first5=Christopher |last5=Barry |author-link5=Christopher Barry |first6=Patrick |last6=Troughton |author-link6=Patrick Troughton |first7=Jon |last7=Pertwee |author-link7=Jon Pertwee |first8=Frazer |last8=Hines |author-link8=Frazer Hines |first9=Deborah |last9=Watling |author-link9=Deborah Watling |first10=Victor |last10=Pemberton |author-link10=Victor Pemberton |first11=Derrick |last11=Sherwin |author-link11=Derrick Sherwin |first12=Terrance |last12=Dicks |author-link12=Terrance Dicks |first13=Wendy |last13=Padbury |author-link13=Wendy Padbury |date=2012 |title=Second Time Around: The Troughton Years |type=DVD |publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]] |id=BBCDVD3480 }}</ref>

In another 2014 interview in ''Doctor Who Magazine'', Sherwin recalled that after submitting his scripts for ''The Invasion'' to Bryant, which included UNIT, Sherwin, who was also working freelance as a script editor, was told by Bryant to introduce his UNIT idea earlier, as it could "take some of the weight off [the] shoulders" of actor [[Patrick Troughton]], who played the Doctor.<ref name="dwm sherwin interview">{{cite magazine |last1=Sherwin |first1=Derrick |author-link=Derrick Sherwin |last2=Adams |first2=Matt |date=December 2014 |title=Down to Earth |magazine=[[Doctor Who Magazine]] |location=Tunbridge Wells |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini UK Ltd]] |issue=479 |page=57}}</ref> Speaking in an interview on the 2011 special-edition DVD of ''Spearhead from Space'', Sherwin said that he had created UNIT because he wanted to give some "considerable support" to the Doctor, "so that [Troughton] didn't have so many damn lines to learn each week".<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Kennedy, Carl; [[Derrick Sherwin|Sherwin, Derrick]]; [[Terrance Dicks|Dicks, Terrance]]; [[Jon Pertwee|Pertwee, Jon]]; [[Christine Rawlins|Rawlins, Christine]]; Squire, Robin; [[Barry Letts|Letts, Barry]] |date=2011 |title=Down to Earth: Filming Spearhead from Space |type=DVD |publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]] |id=BBCDVD3135A }}</ref>

Sherwin said in 2014 that while working as script editor on the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''[[The Web of Fear]]'' (1968), which involved [[British Army]] characters, he told scriptwriters [[Mervyn Haisman]] and [[Henry Lincoln]] to include all of the characters that he had originally invented for ''The Invasion''. Sherwin was uncertain if the army forces featured in ''The Web of Fear'' appeared as UNIT, but was "convinced" that, as a teaser for UNIT's more substantial role in ''The Invasion'', ''The Web of Fear'' was supposed to have replaced the basic army forces that were seen in the story.<ref name="dwm sherwin interview"/> Sherwin asserted that he held the copyright on Lethbridge-Stewart, as he "created him in ''The Invasion''".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Sherwin |first1=Derrick |author-link=Derrick Sherwin |last2=Adams |first2=Matt |date=December 2014 |title=Down to Earth |magazine=[[Doctor Who Magazine]] |location=Tunbridge Wells |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini UK Ltd]] |issue=479 |page=60}}</ref> In an interview recorded for the 2006 DVD release of ''Inferno'', Sherwin described ''The Invasion'' as the start of UNIT and the beginning of the Doctor "coming down to Earth".<ref name="unit family"/> Production notes in ''Doctor Who: The Complete History'' credit Haisman and Lincoln as the owners of Lethbridge-Stewart, who was the army commander from ''The Web of Fear'', and mention how Bryant and director [[Douglas Camfield]] were negotiating the use of the character for ''The Invasion'' from Haisman and Lincoln in May 1968,<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Ainsworth |editor1-first=John |date=2015 |title=Doctor Who: The Complete History |volume=13 |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini Magazines]]/[[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette Partworks Ltd]] |pages=57–58 |issn=2057-6048 }}</ref> subsequent to ''The Web of Fear'' being broadcast in February and March.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Ainsworth |editor1-first=John |date=2016 |title=Doctor Who: The Complete History |volume=131 |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini Magazines]]/[[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette Partworks Ltd]] |pages=138–140 |issn=2057-6048 }}</ref> ''The Web of Fear'' is also described in the notes as being a "major influence on ''The Invasion''".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Ainsworth |editor1-first=John |date=2015 |title=Doctor Who: The Complete History |volume=13 |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini Magazines]]/[[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette Partworks Ltd]] |page=57 |issn=2057-6048 }}</ref>