UNIT Uniforms

The Second RTD Years: 2023 -

2022-05-23T14:57:00.001-07:00

Coming soon...

The Chibnall Years: 2018 - 2022

2021-11-29T03:42:00.112-08:00

“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

2021-03-10T03:17:00.001-08:00

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 - ?

2017-06-15T06:29:00.000-07:00

Coming soon...

Commanding Officers

2016-01-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

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!).

The Moffat Years: 2010 – 2017

2016-01-20T03:27:00.000-08:00

From the eras of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors:

“The Power of Three”

UNIT’s first appearance in the Moffat era is in “The Power of Three”, where they turn up unannounced at Amy and Rory’s house; a scene that introduces us to the character of Kate Stewart, the daughter of Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart.

The UNIT soldiers themselves look a little more ‘heavy duty’ than they did in the RTD era. They still wear black jumpsuits and tactical vests, but in addition to the armoured gauntlets they also wear armour on their legs and protection on their shoulders/upper arms.

The UNIT logo is still on the right breast of the vests, but it is no longer worn on the sleeves of the jumpsuits (or, if it is, it is no longer visible due to the shoulder pads). The UNIT ID cards, previously worn on the right breasts, are also now absent.

The red UNIT beret has been replaced by a black helmet and protective goggles. In this serial, they actually wear the goggles too (unlike their later appearances when they are just worn on the helmet).

“The Bells of Saint John”

UNIT soldiers made a very brief appearance at the end of “The Bells of Saint John”. Their appearance was consistent with their look in “The Power of Three”.

“The Day of the Doctor”

In the 50^th Anniversary Doctor Who Special, UNIT troops again appear in their ‘heavy duty’ SWAT gear, but the goggles are now pushed up on to their helmets rather than being worn over the eyes.

This would also mark the last appearance of the winged UNIT globe, worn on the left breast of the tactical vests.

At the end of this episode we get a glimpse of a new UNIT logo in the Black Archive. It consists of a globe with stylised wings that point upwards, rather than outwards.

“Death in Heaven”

For their appearance in this story UNIT are now emblazoned with the new logo seen briefly in the Black Archive in “The Day of the Doctor”. It appears to have completely replaced the winged globe used since “The Christmas Invasion”, and appears on uniforms and hardware.

UNIT troops again wear black jumpsuits, with tactical vests, armour and helmets, but the patch on their left breast is now the new logo.

For the first time in the Moffat era we get to see some UNIT officers in this episode, aboard Boat One (the UNIT aircraft), in the form of Colonel Ahmed, and two other officers (a male and a female). Similar to the uniform worn by Captain Magambo, the officers are clad in black Service Dress-style jacket and trousers over shirt and tie. Medal ribbons are worn, but there are no insignia on the lapels; nor is there a UNIT patch on the breast or any sign of the white lanyard. Rank is displayed on the epaulettes.

Something to note is that the buttons and rank insignia on these uniforms are silver, not gold. This suggests that the costume department used police uniforms rather than army uniforms when assembling the costumes.

The uniforms are worn with a leather belt and pistol holster.

This story also witnesses the return of the red beret, worn by one of the officers as they board the plane. However, it is too far away to see what cap badge they are wearing.

“The Magician’s Apprentice”

UNIT have a brief cameo in the Series 9 opener, focussing mostly on the scientists (such as Kate and Jac). However, a number of UNIT troops are briefly glimpsed in both the Tower of London and when Clara meets Missy. Their uniforms remain the same as those worn in “Death in Heaven”.

There are also UNIT Agents who appear to be close protection bodyguards. They are dressed in the style of the so-called ‘Men In Black’, with dark suits and dark glasses.

On a slightly unrelated note, this was the episode of Doctor Who that I appeared in playing a Dalek. My own Dalek, as it happens. To read about my experiences please check out my other blog: http://thatwasmydalek.blogspot.co.uk/

That's me, in my Dalek (left) exterminating Missy

“The Zygon Invasion” / “The Zygon Inversion”

This two-part serial tweaked UNIT’s look slightly to keep up with the times and make it a little more modern. The tactical vests, which have been worn by soldiers since NuWho returned, have now been updated to a newer style.

The new UNIT logo is now worn on the right breast instead of the left.

They continue to wear the helmets, gauntlets and leg protection that they have worn throughout the Moffat era.

UNIT troops now no longer appear to wear the jumpsuits under their armour. Instead, they wear black trousers and a black roll-neck (similar to the roll-necks they used to wear under the jumpsuits).

When on Boat One, the UNIT soldiers substitute their helmets for the red UNIT beret. However, despite the updated UNIT logo being displayed prominently on clothing and hardware, the beret cap badge is still the old style of the winged globe.

Officers, such as Walsh and Hitchley, when taking part in military operations, now don the same tactical vests and combat armour that the UNIT ORs do. However, officers wear military-style jumpers over their roll-necks.

Behind the scenes photo showing UNIT officers wearing jumpers under their tactical vests

Colonel Walsh wears what appears to be a police jumper rather than a military jumper. It is V-necked and has a pocket patch on the left sleeve. It is also made from thinner wool than the military equivalent. Her rank is displayed on the epaulettes.

The character of Hitchley is only referred to in the episode as “Johnny” Hitchley, but we can see that he wears crowns on his epaulettes, which identify him as being an officer holding the rank of Major.

Under his tactical vest, Major Hitchley wears a standard black military V-neck pullover.

Colonel Walsh also wears her Service Dress in this story, which again is shown to be the black jacket over shirt and tie. Unlike previous female officers, Walsh wears trousers instead of a skirt (Note that Walsh’s uniform only has a three-button fastening up the front, unlike Captain Magambo who had four buttons).

The uniform buttons and rank insignia are once again gold, unlike the silver ones the officers wore in “Death in Heaven”. Also, the ‘grenade’ insignia on the lapels has returned. Oddly, Walsh wears these lapel badges despite being a full Colonel and entitled to scarlet gorget patches.

A bonze-looking badge displaying the UNIT logo is now pinned to the right breast of the uniform jacket.

The uniform is topped off by the red UNIT beret.

Another UNIT uniform is worn by the personnel at Colonel Walsh’s command post in Turmezistan. It consists of black trousers and a long-sleeved black shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The bronze UNIT badge is worn on the right breast.

It appears, from this blurry image of a background character, that the old UNIT logo of the winged globe is worn as a patch on the shirt’s left sleeve.

“The Return of Doctor Mysterio”

UNIT made a brief appearance in the 2016 Christmas special, where they were represented by a squad of American UNIT soldiers. The uniforms they wore were the same as those worn by the British contingent in their previous appearance in “The Zygon Invasion” and “The Zygon Inversion”. Clearly the slight modification to the UNIT uniforms that we saw in series 9 was a UNIT-wide change for all divisions around the globe, and not just limited to the UK branch.

And that bring us up-to-date with the uniforms worn by UNIT in stories thus far appearing in Doctor Who. We have one more series under Moffat's tenure, and if UNIT appear I will update this post accordingly. After that, we will be on to the Chibnell years...

SPECIAL MENTION

“The Pyramid at the End of the World”

UNIT do not appear in this episode, but the United Nations does, and since UNIT is (or was) part of the UN, I thought I would include these UN troops as an addendum.

The first soldiers we see are in Bill’s flat in London, accompanying the United Nations Secretary General (and interesting change since previously in the show, it was said the UN was commanded by a “Commander General” See: “The Stolen Earth”). They are dressed in Combat Soldier 95 camouflage uniforms, which are actually now years out of date. This DMP pattern has since been superseded by a uniforms known as PCS-CU that was introduced in 2011! Having said that, the UNIT soldiers of the 1970s also wore combat uniforms that were out of date. In truth I suspect these older uniforms were easier to acquire by the production team.

The UN soldiers wear UN blue berets with the wreathed United Nations badge, as well as blue United Nations patches on the sleeves.

The officer in charge is simply credited as “the commander”, but since he wears a crown on his rank epaulette, he would actually be a Major. Two observations I’d make about him are that 1) the badge on his beret is metal, whereas British officers, including UN ones, wear cloth beret badges, and 2) his rank insignia is a cloth crown sewn onto his uniform, which is a practice that is decades out of date. Rank these days is printed onto slides.

Having said that, he may not be a Major after all. The size of the rank crown is actually too large to be that of a Major, and is actually the crown of a Warrant Officer Class 2 (a rank usually given the position of Sergeant Major). So if he is a Warrant Officer and not an commissioned officer, this would explain the metal cap badge too.

What it doesn’t explain is why his right ear is tucked under his beret!

When we arrive in Turmezistan (the fictional country that we last saw in “The Zygon Inversion”), we see further UN soldiers. They are dressed in UN blue helmets and body armour, as well as desert combat uniforms that, like the Combat 95 uniform, is also out of date. In 2017, they too should be in PCS-CU.

I feel I should also point out the character of Don Brabbit. He was not a member of the United Nations forces, and was actually the commander of the US troops. He was addressed numerous times as ‘Colonel’, yet the rank insignia on both his chest and beret clearly show that he is in fact a four star General! Which leads one to wonder whether it was the script writer or the costume department who was at fault.

It pains me to say it, but Doctor Who these days shows a complete disregard for showing the military accurately on screen. Whether it is down to sheer laziness, or lack of resources, or bad research, I’m not sure; but it just seems to be a case of stick any old uniform on a character and the audience will believe he’s in the army. Alas, the more mistakes I see, the more it draws me out of an otherwise fantastic programme. I don’t blame Moffat for this, but it is certainly under his tenure that this trend has reached its nadir.

The RTD Years: 2005 – 2009

2016-01-13T04:10:00.001-08:00

From the eras of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors:

“Aliens of London”

UNIT’s first appearance in the new series was a minor cameo as alien experts in “Aliens of London”. They were represented by a number of high ranking officers in American military uniforms (army and navy).

US UNIT officers arrive at Downing Street

US UNIT officers sit down for a briefing

US UNIT Colonel

The only UNIT insignia we see, however, is the UN peacekeeping patch worn on the upper left sleeve.

United Nations Patch

The UN patch can be seen on the Colonel's left sleeve (right)

This US General (left) also displays a UN patch on her sleeve

This episode also marks the last time on-screen that UNIT is referred to as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce.

“The Christmas Invasion”

The first major appearance of UNIT in the new series came in “The Christmas Invasion”, where we saw their new headquarters, underneath the Tower of London.

The UNIT logo has now been updated; whilst still based on the winged globe from “Battlefield”, the new logo is now white, and the wings have been modified to look a little ‘cleaner’ and less feathery.

The new UNIT logo of the 2000s

UNIT logo on lift doors

UNIT logo displayed on glass panels

UNIT soldiers are now dressed in black jumpsuits and tactical vests, with the UNIT logo on either arm of the jumpsuits and on the left breast of the tactical vest.

Tactical Vest worn by UNIT troops

UNIT troops outside the Tower of London

UNIT Headquarters underneath the Tower of London

A UNIT (left) soldier guards the Prime Minister (centre)

UNIT troops on the roof

The berets have changed colour again and are now scarlet red, the same as those worn by the Royal Military Police. The beret also displays the winged UNIT logo.

Red beret worn by the Royal Military Police

UNIT officers continue to wear Service Dress. Three officers are present in this episode: Major Blake, and two background officers (one male; one female). Their uniforms are standard British Army Service Dress, with the exception of the UNIT wings on the left breast. Their peaked caps also display the logo, and the two male officers wear a white lanyard on their right arm. Oddly, the female Captain does not.

Major Blake in Service Dress, with his peaked cap

The new UNIT logo is worn on the left breast

Major Blake (left) and a UNIT Captain (centre rear)

A female UNIT Captain (left)

A slightly blurred image of the same Captain (foreground)

Behind the scenes shot of a UNIT Captain

White lanyard

One interesting thing to note is that Major Blake’s Service Dress is a slightly different cut to everyone else’s (the hip pockets are slanted and he doesn’t have the pleats on his pockets). This, in fact, is the style of Service Dress worn by the Army Air Corps, which might suggest that this is the regiment Blake came from before joining UNIT.

Major Blake (left) wears the Service Dress uniform of the Army Air Corps

Instead of the old-style UNIT globes, the insignia badges worn on officer’s lapels are now ‘exploding grenades’, similar to the lapel badges worn by the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers.

Collar insignia of the Royal Engineers

All UNIT personnel wear ID badges on their right pockets (in this serial, the officers wear their badges on their left pocket, but would change in-line with the soldiers for their next appearance).

Major Blake (left) wears his UNIT ID card on his left breast pocket

UNIT ID card

“The Sound of Drums” / “Last of the Time Lords”

UNIT next appeared in the Series 3 finale, but only really as background characters. The appearance of UNIT soldiers is unchanged since “The Christmas Invasion”, and we don’t see any UNIT officers.

UNIT soldier (right) aboard the HMS Valiant

“Fragments”

Although mentioned earlier in the series (and represented in the form of Martha), UNIT soldiers make a brief appearance in the penultimate episode of series 2 of Torchwood. They seem to have a secret prison along the lines of Guantanamo Bay, where they hold people captured in possession of alien artefacts. The soldiers are only seen for a few split seconds, but their appearance remains unchanged from their previous appearances in Doctor Who.

UNIT soldier

“The Sontaran Stratagem” / “The Poison Sky”

UNIT return in force in this Series 4 two-parter. Again the ORs wear the black SWAT gear as seen in their previous appearances.

UNIT troops arrive in force at the ATMOS factory

Privates Harris (centre) and Grey (right)

Private Steve Grey

Private Harris

Private Grey looks worried

Private Grey on his back

UNIT troops open fire

Private Ross Jenkins wears a slight variation of this uniform when he accompanies the Doctor to the Rattigan Academy. His jumpsuit is fastened up using buttons rather than a zip, as the other UNIT troops are, which results in it appearing more open-necked as it doesn’t fasten up as high. He wears a T-shirt rather than a roll-neck underneath. Also, he doesn’t wear the armoured guantlets on his forearms.

Private Ross Jenkins

Private Jenkins (left) arrives at the Rattigan Academy with the Doctor (centre)

Private Jenkins wears a different jumpsuit to his colleagues

Private Jenkins (right) draws his firearm

The Doctor (left) and Private Jenkins (right)

Private Jenkins is killed by the Sontarans

The officers, in the form of Colonel Mace and Captain Price, wear Service Dress uniforms.

Colonel Mace (left) and Captain Price (right) in Service Dress

Colonel Mace (left) and Captain Price (right)

Colonel Mace

Captain Price

As befits his rank as a substantive Colonel, Mace wears scarlet gorget patches on his lapels.

Colonel Mace wears gorget patches commensurate to his rank

He also wears a pistol holster on his Sam Browne belt, and brown leather gloves.

Colonel Mace (centre) wears a pistol on his belt

Colonel Mace (left) and Doctor Martha Jones (centre)

Note that Captain Price isn’t wearing the white lanyard. Nor is she wearing a Sam Browne belt (or indeed, a belt of any kind).

Captain Price wears neither belt nor lanyard

The only other female officer we have seen in the RTD era at this point was the background Captain in the Tower of London in “The Christmas Invasion”, and she, like Price, wore neither the white lanyard nor the Sam Browne belt (yet the background male Captain in that story wore both).

One little niggle I have with this otherwise excellent story, is that we see Colonel Mace saluting the Doctor. Now, the first thing you learn about saluting in the Armed Forces is that you do not salute the person; you salute the Queen’s Commission. Civilians do not get salutes as they don’t hold a commission! Having said that, Mace salutes the Doctor as a mark of respect, so I can let that slide. What is unforgivable, however, is that Mace salutes when he is not wearing any regimental headwear. This is a massive breach of military regulations and as a senior British officer he should know better.

Colonel Mace salutes the Doctor

On the subject of headwear:
The hats worn by modern UNIT officers are standard British Army peaked caps, worn with both No1 and No 2 dress. UNIT wear the standard infantry pattern, consisting of a scarlet band under a midnight blue crown. The shiny peak of the cap varies depending on the wearers rank. Lieutenants and Captains wear a plain peak (as seen on Captain Price in this serial and the unnamed male background Captain in “The Christmas Invasion”); Majors and Lieutenant Colonels feature a gold band on their peaks (as seen on Major Blake in “The Christmas Invasion” and Major Kilburn in The Sarah Jane Adventures); Colonels and Brigadiers wear an oak leaf pattern on their caps; and all ranks of General have a double row of oak leaves.

Officer's No 1 Dress Cap
Captains, Lieutenants, and Second Lieutenants
Example used is for the Royal Artillery

Field Officer's No 1 Dress Cap
Majors, and Lieutenant Colonels
Example used is for the Royal Artillery

Staff Officer's No 1 Dress Cap
Brigadiers, and Colonels

Command Officer's No 1 Dress Caps
Field Marshals (left), Generals, Lieutenant Generals, and Major Generals (right)

This means that the hats worn by Colonel Mace in this story, and by Colonel Oduya in Torchwood, are actually displaying the wrong peak affectation; they are wearing hats for the ranks of a lower grade! And we know that UNIT adheres to this cap peak banding because the General seen in “The End of Time” has the correct oak leaves, and the lower ranks of Captain have plain peaks.

A closer look at the peaks of the caps worn by Colonel Mace (left) and Captain Price (right)

This is the hat that Colonel Mace should have worn:

The No 1 Dress peaked cap of substantive Colonels and Brigadiers

“Turn Left”

This story introduces us to a variant uniform available to officers. Captain Erisa Magambo wears a Service Dress-style uniform that appears black (but is actually midnight blue), worn over a white shirt and black tie.

Captain Magambo and the TARDIS

The uniform sourced by the costume department for this is actually not a military uniform, but one worn by female Police Officers. The giveaway is the seams running horizontally down the front; military uniform seams run from top to bottom, but the Police uniform seams stop at a yoke above the breasts. The lapels are also slightly wider (so much so that they hide the buttons on the epaulettes, whereas the military equivalent doesn't). However, the costume department appear to have replaced the silver Police buttons with gold military ones.

No 1 Dress uniform of a female Police Officer

The uniforms has all the affectations of the standard Service Dress, including the ‘grenades’ on the lapels, winged globe on the left breast, and rank insignia on the epaulettes. The white lanyard is absent. The uniform is topped off with the standard red beret.

Captain Magambo

Captain Magambo (left), Rose Tyler (centre), and Donna Noble (right)

It should be noted that Captain Magambo doesn’t wear a UNIT ID badge; the first officer to appear in the RTD era thus far, not to do so. However, she would not be the last.

Captain Magambo (left) doesn't wear a UNIT ID card

Standard UNIT troops are also present in this story.

UNIT troops flank Donna and Rose

A female UNIT soldier (left) and Rise Tyler (right)

“The Stolen Earth” / “Journey’s End”

In this story we get to see the American contingent of UNIT, based in New York. The soldiers wear the same red berets and black SWAT gear as their British counterparts.

US UNIT troops and civilian personnel

A UNIT soldier protects a civilian colleague

UNIT troops prepare for a Dalek attack

US UNIT soldiers wear the same patch as their UK counterparts

They are commanded by Lieutenant General Sanchez, who wears a then-standard US Army Service Dress uniform (known as Class A), with the UNIT logo on his right breast (as opposed to the left breast, where the British wear it). His UNIT ID card is also worn on his right breast.

US Army officer's Class A uniform

General Sanchez (left) and Dr Jones (right)

A UNIT soldier (left) and General Sanchez (right)

I am not as familiar with US uniform regulations as with British ones, but I believe the patch at the top of the left sleeve indicates the wearer's current division, and if they served in a previous division in wartime, they can wear the patch of that division on their right sleeve. With that in mind, the logo on General Sanchez’s upper right arm is the insignia for the 82^nd Airborne Division, which presumably means that he served in this division of the US airborne infantry in a combat environment, obviously prior to his posting with UNIT.

Patch of the US 82nd Airborne Division

General Sanchez wears the patch on his upper right sleeve

Sanchez wears no division patch on his left sleeve, presumably because he is currently seconded to UNIT (but note that this was where the US officers in "Aliens of London" wore their UN patches). However, at the top of his left sleeve is a Rangers tab, meaning that he has graduated from the US Army Ranger School at some point in his career.

Ranger patch

The Rangers tab can be seen on General Sanchez's upper left sleeve

Another view of the patch on General Sanchez's sleeve

Sanchez also wears numerous US medals and awards on his left and right breasts. The blue metal rectangle with the picture of the rifle in at the top of his left breast (just peeking out from under his lapel) is the Combat Infantryman Badge, awarded to those who personally fought in active ground combat.

US Combat Infantryman's Badge

General Sanchez wears numerous decorations on his uniform

Sanchez wears a red aiguillette on his right shoulder, which to me was reminiscent of the red lanyard worn by British UNIT soldiers in the classic era.

Red US Army aiguillette

General Sanchez wears the red aiguillette on his right shoulder

We do not see Sanchez wearing any headwear, but it is logical to suppose that US officers could wear the standard red UNIT beret.

In this story we also get to see UNIT soldiers from China and Liberia, and they too wear the standard black coveralls and tactical vest. At least one of them is also wearing the red beret.

Soldier from the Chinese branch of UNIT

Soldier from the UNIT branch in Liberia

“Enemy of the Bane”

Brigadier (retired) Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart returns to our screens in this Series 2 episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It also marks the first on-screen appearance of UNIT in the spin-off show.

The UNIT troops we see on duty at the Black Archive are clad in the same black SWAT gear and red berets that they wear in the parent show itself.

UNIT troops at the Black Archive

“Enemy of the Bane” also introduces us to the character of UNIT Major Kilburn. He is dressed in Service Dress uniform and peaked cap, with UNIT wings on his left breast and headwear.

Major Kilburn salutes

Major Kilburn

Major Kilburn levels his sidearm

Things to note are that he wears his UNIT ID card on his left breast and not his right, and also the fact that he isn’t wearing a white lanyard on his right sleeve.

Major Kilburn wears his ID on the left, and has no lanyard

“Planet of the Dead”

Captain Magambo became the first recurring UNIT character in NuWho when she, and UNIT, appeared in this 2009 special.

Magambo is again clad in black Service Dress with UNIT wings on the left breast, rank pips on the epaulettes, and ‘exploding grenade’ insignia on the lapels.

Captain Magambo

Captain Magambo speaks over her radio

Captain Magambo sees something in the sky

Captain Magambo (left), Professor Malcolm (right), the Doctor (extreme right), and a UNIT soldier (centre)

Although her look is reminiscent of her appearance in “Turn Left”, a closer examination shows that she has actually been given a new uniform by the costume department; the cut of the jacket is slightly different as the horizontal seams down the front run from top to bottom, unlike the ones on her previous uniform, meaning that for this appearance the costume department sourced a military-style rather than Police uniform. These minor differences can easily be put down to the fact that the previous Magambo we saw was actually from a parallel universe.

Her medals are also different (she now has more), but again, this isn’t a problem as she could either have been awarded more between the two stories, or again be explained away by the parallel universe theory.

Captain Magambo now has more medals

As with her previous appearance, Magambo wears no UNIT ID card or white lanyard. She does, however, wear a belt and pistol holster in this story.

Captain Magambo wears a belt and pistol holster

Captain Magambo draws her pistol

The actress (Noma Dumezweni) appears to have been a given a new beret by the costume department (either that or her head shrank), because the headwear she wears in this story is clearly too big for her. So much so that her ears are tucked underneath it!

Captain Magambo's beret is far too big for her

The UNIT troops themselves are clad in their usual black SWAT gear and red berets.

UNIT troops deploy

UNIT troops take aim

UNIT troops

UNIT troops fire at the flying alien stingrays

Something of interest is that this story gives us our first (and so far only) look at the rank insignia of modern UNIT ORs, as worn by Sergeant Ian Jenner.

Sergeant Ian Jenner

If you look closely at his epaulettes, you can see three silver stripes, which appear to be metal (and presumably corresponding to the three chevrons of a Sergeant. One supposes that a Corporal would have two stripes and a Lance Corporal one).

A little blurry, but it is possible to make out the rank bars on the Sergeant's epaulettes

A slightly better shot of the Sergeant's rank bars

It is just possible to make out the edges of the Sergeant's rank bars on this screencap too

Something else to note is that the UNIT wings are also worn on the lab coat of the civilian scientist Professor Malcolm Taylor. He also wears a UNIT ID card.

Professor Malcolm Taylor wears a UNIT lab coat

Professor Taylor (left) and Captain Magambo (right)

Professor Taylor is on the receiving end of a pistol

When outside, Taylor also wears a black bomber jacket over his lab coat, which also sports the UNIT wings.

Professor Taylor wears a UNIT jacket over his lab coat

“Children of Earth”

UNIT made their second appearance in Torchwood in the serial “Children of Earth”.

The UNIT soldiers we see are mostly background characters but can clearly be seen to wear the same black SWAT gear worn in Doctor Who.

Two UNIT officers appear in the story, in the form of Colonel Oduya and an unnamed Major, both of whom wear khaki Service Dress with the UNIT wings on their left breast. Colonel Oduya also wears the white lanyard on his right sleeve, but the unnamed Major does not. Both officers have the standard peaked cap.

Oduya, as a Colonel, wears scarlet gorget patches on his lapels. The Major wears the ‘exploding grenade’ insignia.

Colonel Oduya (right) wears the gorget patches of his rank

The UNIT Major (front right) wears 'exploding grenade' collar badges

Also, neither of the officers in this serial wear UNIT ID cards.

Colonel Oduya doesn't wear a UNIT ID card

One thing to note in Episode One is that Lois Habibah wonders what uniform Colonel Oduya is wearing as she says it is “not British”. This line was obviously added to highlight that a special organisation were involved and that the threat was clearly ‘alien’, but it stuck out for me because Oduya’s uniform is most certainly a British Service Dress uniform! The only visual identification that he is not standard British Army is the UNIT wings logo on his left breast, which to be fair are pretty unobtrusive and could easily be mistaken for the wings worn by Army pilots.

Like most UNIT officers, Colonel Oduya's uniform is unmistakeably British Army in origin

However, if Oduya had been wearing the black Service Dress favoured by Captain Magambo, then Habibah’s comments would have been justified.

“The End of Time”

In the Tenth Doctor’s final story, we see UNIT Headquarters in Geneva. However, all the UNIT personnel we see have been replaced by the Master as part of his latest plot, so they are all played by John Simm.

We see UNIT troops dressed in their black SWAT gear.

UNIT troops in Geneva are all replaced by the Master

We also see a UNIT General, who wears a Service Dress uniform with UNIT wings, a General’s peaked cap, also with UNIT wings, and General’s scarlet gorget patches with gold oak embroidery. Note that he wears neither the white lanyard nor a UNIT ID card.

The Master replaces a UNIT General

UNIT General in Geneva

Since the rank insignia on his epaulettes shows that he is a full General, this character is the highest ranking UNIT officer we have seen in the show. Shame we never got to see what he actually looked like!

The epaulettes display the rank of a British General

“Death of the Doctor”

Technically, this story is set during Steven Moffat’s tenure as showrunner, and indeed, it features the Eleventh Doctor. However, as it is from The Sarah Jane Adventures, and this show was run by Russell T Davies, I am grouping it into his era.

The UNIT troops appearing in this story remain unchanged, apart from the fact that they don’t appear to be wearing the UNIT ID cards anymore. This would be the final time we’d see this style of UNIT soldier.

UNIT soldier

UNIT troops arrive in Bannerman Road

UNIT troops flank 'Colonel' Karim

The character of Colonel Karim is another matter entirely! Where to begin?

Promo picture of 'Colonel' Karim

Karim wears a long black coat, with UNIT insignia on the sleeves and rank pips on the shoulders. The look is completed by the red UNIT beret and black leather gloves (she is the villain after all!).

Karim's hair-style is non-regulation

Her uniform and boots do not look like any form of real-life military uniform, and in fact look like she has just come from Primark! In the opening scenes her hair is tied up, but for the rest of the episodes she wears it down, in contravention of strict military regulations. But the worst offender, courtesy of the costume department, is her rank insignia. She is supposed to be a Colonel, yet on her epaulettes she only has two pips, which denotes the rank of a Lieutenant. Personally, I don’t think she should have been a Colonel anyway (UNIT has too many Colonels in the new series!). I would have made her a Captain, or Major. They could even have substituted one of her pips for a crown and made her a Lieutenant Colonel. But surely someone at some point should have noticed this glaring error of insignia.

Karim's epaulettes clearly display the rank pips of a Lieutenant and not the pips and crown of a Colonel

For me, the costuming of this character let down what was an otherwise fantastic episode, and she represents a nadir of RTD’s UNIT. Which is a shame, since it is their last appearance under his otherwise brilliant ministrations.

The Wilderness Years: 1989 – 2005

2015-12-16T02:35:00.000-08:00

From the eras of the Seventh Doctor, and the years when the show was off-air:

Yes, I know that the Seventh Doctor’s era wasn’t technically part of the Wilderness Years (in fact, it was the era that introduced me to the show and is one of my favourites!). However, for the purposes of this blog, the UNIT uniforms from the McCoy era are better grouped together with the 90s than the previous eras I’ve posted about.

“Battlefield”

UNIT re-appeared for their final appearance in the classic series in the 1989 story “Battlefield”, which is set, according to the Doctor “a few years” in Ace’s future. More specifically, the novelisation written by Ben Aaronovitch (the same man who wrote the episode screenplay) places it in 1997.

The UNIT uniforms of the 1990s are completely updated in line with the then-modern British Army. UNIT troops now wear Combat Dress consisting of 1968-pattern DPM camouflage combat jacket and trousers over a khaki shirt and military pullover.

UNIT Soldier in Combats

'68-pattern combat jacket

Brigadier Bambera (left) and Sergeant Zbrigniev (right)

UNIT Private (left) and Sergeant Zbrigniev (right)

The colour of the UNIT beret has now changed to sky blue, which is the beret worn by real-life UN peacekeeping troops.

Blue United Nations beret

The UNIT logo also received an update and is now a yellow-coloured winged globe. When worn as a cap badge, the new UNIT logo is a cloth patch rather than a plastic/metal badge as the old ones were.

The new winged UNIT globe

The new UNIT logo as a cloth cap badge

The new UNIT logo on the door of a Land Rover

The old UNIT oval patch that used to be worn on uniform sleeves is now no longer present. Instead, the new winged UNIT globe is seen worn at the top of the left sleeve on combat jackets and pullovers (it should be noted, however, that this is not consistent, and is only seen on certain characters throughout the story).

Brigadier Bambera (right) has UNIT wings on her upper left arm of her combat jacket

This UNIT Private also wears UNIT wings on his pullover sleeve

These UNIT soldiers do not have UNIT wings on their sleeves

Brigadier Bambera (left) wears the UNIT patch on her sleeve; Sergeant Zbrigniev (right) does not

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) does not wear the UNIT wings patch on the sleeve of his combat jacket or his pullover

Some UNIT troops can be seen wearing Kevlar helmets rather than berets.

The UNIT troops lying on the grass are wearing Kevlar helmets

When he comes out of retirement, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart dons his Service Dress uniform. Since we last saw him in this uniform way back in “Robot”, he appears to have been awarded a few extra medals.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in his Service Dress uniform

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and his wife, Doris (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's medals are slightly different to the ones he wore during the 1970s

Something to note is that the Service Dress worn by the Brigadier in “Battlefield” no longer has the red lanyard on his right arm, or the oval UNIT insignia on the left sleeve. It could be suggested that this is because he has retired from UNIT so has no right to wear any of their insignia, but since he apparently retired from both UNIT and the army at the same time, it raises the question of why he would have gone to the trouble of removing the UNIT insignia before putting his uniform into storage. Perhaps the top secret (ahem) nature of the organisation required it. Alternatively, maybe these are no longer a part of the UNIT Service Dress uniform in the 1990s.

The Brigadier's Service Dress no longer has the red UNIT lanyard, or any form of UNIT patch

Barrack Dress is also seen to be worn in this serial. It consists of the same shirt and jumper worn with the Combat Dress, but without the jacket and with a pair of plain khaki trousers known as ‘lightweights’.

Army pullover
The modern version now features epaulettes

British Army 'lightweights'

Brigadier Bambera wears Barrack Dress in the final scene of the serial.

If you look closely...

...you can see Brigadier Bambera sat in the backseat of Bessie...

...wearing her Barrack Dress uniform

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart wears his Barrack Dress throughout most of the story, after changing out of his Service Dress. Unlike Bambera, who wears her UNIT beret with her Barrack Dress, Lethbridge-Stewart wears his peaked Brigadier’s cap.

Brigadier-Lethbridge-Stewart in Barrack Dress

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart now wears his pistol on his right hip
Previously he had always worn it on his left

Flight Lieutenant Lavel (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

In Episode Four, Lethbridge-Stewart dons a DPM camouflage jacket over his Barrack Dress.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) wears a combat jacket over his Barrack Dress

Ace (left), the Doctor (centre), and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart loads his pistol with silver bullets

Both Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Brigadier Bambera wear mini gorget patches on their shirt collars, as befits their rank (technically, Lethbridge-Stewart should have worn these with his Barrack Dress back in the 1970s too).

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart wear mini gorget patches on his shirt collar

Brigadier Bambera's gorget patches can also be seen beneath her combat jacket

Note that in one scene, the costume department attached Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart’s gorget patches to the wrong part of his collar, making them vertical instead of horizontal.

Incorrect placement of the Brigadier's gorget patches

With both Barrack Dress and Combat Dress, UNIT now appears to wear a scrim neck scarf underneath the shirt, in the style of a cravat.

Brigadier Bambera (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)
This publicity photo shows the scrim scarf being worn like a cravat

Brigadier Bambera

Sergeant Zbrigniev

This serial also gives us a look at the UNIT ID cards of the 1990s.

Brigadier Bambera displays her UNIT ID card

UNIT is made up primarily of personnel from the British Army, but we have previously also seen an officer from the Royal Navy (Harry Sullivan). This serial introduces us to the character of Flight Lieutenant Lavel, a pilot from the Royal Air Force. Lavel wears a DPM camouflage jacket over a flight jumpsuit. The epaulettes of the jacket display her RAF officer’s rank insignia, and she wears a standard UNIT beret.

Flight Lieutenant Lavel wears a UNIT beret

Flight Lieutenant Lavel's (right) RAF rank insignia can be seen on her epaulettes

Flight Lieutenant Lavel draws her firearm

Flight Lieutenant Lavel wears a flight suit under her combat jacket

“Battlefield” also introduces us to the character of Major Husak, who is an officer in the Czechoslovakian contingent of UNIT, specifically a part of their engineering group. Husak wears the Combat Dress of the Czechoslovak People’s Army, topped off with the standard blue UNIT beret. The star on his collar is the Czechoslovakian rank insignia of a Major.

Major Husak of the Czechoslovakian branch of UNIT

Husak’s Czechoslovakian troops are clad in the same camouflage.

Czechoslovakian UNIT troops

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) talks with soldiers from UNIT's Czechoslovakian contingent

Oddly, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in 1993, when the country was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Since “Battlefield” is set in 1997, this raises a few questions.

Spin Off Material

There will forever be an ongoing debate about the canonicity of the spin-off material, such as the audio adventures, the novels, and the comics, but it should be noted that the UNIT logo introduced in “Battlefield” continued to be used in these mediums.

Here it is in the comic story “The Mark of Mandragora”.

UNIT Headquarters

Captain Muriel Frost, wearing Barrack Dress and the 90s UNIT wings on her beret
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in his Service Dress is stood behind her

And in the comic “Evening’s Empire”.

The new UNIT winged globe still used as a capbadge

UNIT soldiers still wear the blue UN beret

UNIT wings are worn here on the upper sleeve

It is also used on the CD covers for the Big Finish UNIT audio dramas, suggesting that UNIT used this logo into the early years of the 21^st Century (popular consensus, I believe, places these stories in early 2005).

1.1 UNIT "Time Heals"

1.2 UNIT "Snake Head"

1.3 UNIT "The Longest Night"

1.4 UNIT "The Wasting"

Another Audio Drama, “Animal” is based on one of the TV scripts for the potential Season 27 that was never produced due to the show being cancelled. However, it features the return of UNIT and Brigadier Bambera. The story is set in 2001 and artwork featured with the audio CD shows Bambera clad in DPM camouflage, suggesting that UNIT were still wearing British Army uniforms at least into the early years of the 21^st Century.

The CD cover for "Animal"

Brigadier Bambera and the Doctor face off against the Numlock

Obviously, the images of Bambera are taken from “Battlefield”, but it is clearly intended that UNIT in this story are still wearing British Army uniform rather than the black SWAT gear they will soon be wearing in NuWho. As this is the case, the British Army in 2001 were wearing Combat Soldier 95, consisting of a DPM camouflage shirt and trousers over a khaki T-shirt, with additional layers of pullover and/or DPM smock depending on the situation/climate. So this is what UNIT could be implied to be wearing too.

Combat Soldier 95 shirt
Rank is now displayed on a slide on the shirt front rather than on epaulettes

“Dimensions in Time”

Very few people have ever tried to argue that “Dimensions in Time” is actually part of the official Doctor Who canon. However, since it was made by the BBC and features the official actors from the show, I have included it here for the sake of completism, since UNIT make a brief appearance.

This 30^th anniversary charity special features the first on screen meeting of the Brigadier and the Sixth Doctor. The Brigadier wears his Service Dress uniform that appears unchanged since he wore it in “Battlefield”.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) finally meets the Sixth Doctor (left)

Captain Yates wears Barrack Dress, and his beret sports the winged UNIT logo from “Battlefield”. However, the beret itself is not the blue UN one, but rather a standard dark blue beret worn by most infantry regiments in the British Army.

Captain Yates drives Bessie

Captain Yates wears Barrack Dress

The navy blue beret of British Army infantry regiments

Something interesting to note is that we have actually seen this colour of UNIT beret in the canon of the official show; it can be seen on a coat stand in UNIT HQ in “The Five Doctors”.

“Downtime”

“Downtime” was a direct-to-video production made by an independent production company. However, with the introduction of Kate Stewart into the main Doctor Who show in recent years, it could be argued that this story has now been canonised, since this was where the character first appeared.

Having said that, because it was an independent production without access to the budgets the BBC had available to them, or indeed the costume department’s archive of clothing, the uniforms worn by UNIT could understandably fall outside the series canon due to a lack of continuity. But I shall look at them anyway.

The Service Dress uniform worn by the Brigadier is different to the one he wore throughout the Doctor Who series. It is still an officer’s pattern uniform, but there are two buttons on either cuff, which were not previously present. In fact, this was the style of uniform worn by Captain Yates. His medals also bear no resemblance to the ribbons he wore in the main series.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in a dream-like vision orchestrated by the Great Intelligence

However, since the scenes in which we see him wearing this uniform are a dream, engineered by the Great Intelligence, these anachronisms can easily be explained away.

We get to see a UNIT officer in the form of Captain Cavendish, who wears his Service Dress uniform. However, it displays none of the traits we have come to expect. There is no red lanyard, or a UNIT patch on his left sleeve. Nor does he even wear any UNIT insignia on his lapels or cap badge. He does wear insignia, but these are merely regimental insignia for a British Army regiment.

Captain Cavendish

Finally, we also get to see some standard UNIT troops wearing DPM camouflage fatigues. The cap badges worn by the UNIT troops are the old-style white globe from the 1970s, but they are worn on the sky blue UN berets that we saw in “Battlefield”. This suggests that UNIT adopted the blue berets before updating their logo, and since this story is set in 1995, and “Battlefield” is set in 1997, it is certainly feasible that the winged logo was introduced sometime between the two stories.

UNIT soldiers in blue UN berets with the old style UNIT globe

The UNIT jeep displays the old UNIT logo

The Intermediary Phase between the Old and the New

As previously noted, the Brigadier’s Service Dress uniform in “Battlefield” featured neither the red lanyard, nor the UNIT patch on the sleeve. And though unofficial productions, these are also absent in “Downtime” and “Dimensions in Time”. Nor are they worn by UNIT Captain Cavendish from “Downtime”. Thus, it could possibly be concluded that the UNIT Service Dress uniforms of the 1990s did not feature these affectations. However, without seeing a UNIT officer from an official BBC production, it is impossible to say for certain.

Having said that, it would seem illogical to abandon the red lanyard in favour of no lanyard, only for them to introduce the white lanyard in the mid-2000s. One must assume that the Service Dress of the 1990s is a logical progression between the 70s/80s, and the one seen in NuWho. It’s possible, of course, that the lanyard may have been looked at when the beige berets were replaced with the blue one, but it seems tenuous to suggest, especially when the lanyards survived the bigger change from the beige 1960s uniforms to the British Army fatigues in the 1970s. I would suggest that the red lanyard continued to be worn right up until the point UNIT ‘rebranded’ (as the UNified Intelligence Taskforce), at which point the white lanyard was introduced.

The UNIT logo, of course, was redesigned in the 1990s to add wings to the globe. This badge was worn on the berets, but also, as seen in “Battlefield”, on the left sleeve of the combats. This means that the UNIT oval patch is no longer being worn, in favour of the winged globe. This is similar to 21^st Century UNIT, who wear the winged logo in multiple places on their uniforms. I would surmise that this trend would also have transferred to the 90s Service Dress, whereby instead of the oval patch, they now wear the winged globe (and for the sake of continuity, I’d place it on the left breast as in NuWho).

As a final note, when Doctor Who returned to our screens in 2005, the United Nations politely asked Russell T Davies to disassociate the fictional UNIT organisation from the real-world UN, forcing him to change the name from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, to UNified Intelligence Taskforce. It is perhaps the reason why UNIT no longer wear the blue UN beret in the series, like they had the last time we saw them on screen in “Battlefield”.

But, what if this happened within the Doctor Who universe itself, as well? Maybe the Whoniverse’s UN decided it wanted to distance itself from its intelligence taskforce. Though it still supports and funds UNIT, perhaps it is no longer a wholly subsumed department of the UN; it could be more along the lines of a quango, whereby they are funded by the UN, but no longer run by them. This directive could have caused UNIT to change its name from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, to the simplified UNified Intelligence Taskforce, and could also explain why the UN blue berets were replaced with red ones. This might also explain the drastic difference between the modern, paranoid UNIT (as glimpsed in Torchwood's "Fragments", for example), and the more homespun UNIT of the Third Doctor's era, or even "Battlefield". A change in management from the UN to a specific UNIT commander in Geneva could logically have brought this change about. In The Sarah Jane Adventures Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart even highlights how different UNIT has become.
This change would feasibly have occurred at some point in 2006, after the events of “Aliens of London” (when they still wore UN patches), but before “The Christmas Invasion”.

The Sporadic Years: 1975 – 1983

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From the eras of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors:

“Terror of the Zygons”

Director Douglas Camfield reckoned that the UNIT fatigues used previously “looked too soft”, so for “Terror of the Zygons” the look of the UNIT troops was updated and they were given DPM camouflage jackets, which brought them up-to-date with the look of the real British Army of the time.

UNIT OR in Combats

Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM)

The oval UNIT patch is not worn on the sleeves of the new DPM jackets.

UNIT troops in camouflage combat jackets

The UNIT cap badge was also modified from the plastic-looking white logo, to a new metallic-looking black-coloured disk.

RSM Benton sporting the new UNIT cap badge

The Brigadier retained his Barrack Dress and peaked cap, but reverted to his ’37-pattern webbing belt and flapless pistol holster.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and the Doctor (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) in his Barrack Dress
He has reverted to his '37-pattern belt

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart discharges his pistol

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (centre) in his Barrack Dress
Behind him you can see UNIT troops in their new DPM jackets

Since UNIT were out on active service in Scotland for the duration of this serial, no Service Dress uniforms were seen.

“The Android Invasion”

In their next appearance, UNIT troops are dressed in Barrack Dress., although they don't wear the UNIT patch on their pullover sleeves.

UNIT Private in Barrack Dress

UNIT Corporal in Barrack Dress

RSM Benton wears his Service Dress uniform throughout, and he appears to have finally been awarded a medal. His lanyard is again worn on his right arm.

RSM Benton (right) now wears a General Service Medal ribbon

(From left to right) Grierson, Lieutenant Sullivan, Colonel Faraday, and RSM Benton

Interestingly, the cap badges are now white again, with a slightly different design to the old style of UNIT globe. The outer circle is thinner, and it no longer appears to have UNIT written on it (though there are certainly markings where the lettering ought to be). There is also a black rim around the outside.

The UNIT cap badge now features a larger globe at the centre, and a black outline around the outer perimetre

Oddly, Benton appears to have reverted to wearing the old style of globe.

RSM Benton still wears the old style of UNIT cap badge

Instead of the normal cloth belts, the UNIT troops in this serial wear '58-pattern belts with their Service Dress, which allows for the addition of pistol holders.

RSM Benton wears a '58-pattern belt and pistol holster with his Service Dress

'58-pattern belt worn with Service Dress

Because actor Nicholas Courtney was unavailable for this story, the character of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is absent, replaced by the character of Colonel Faraday, who is said to be in charge while the Brigadier is away at UNIT HQ in Geneva. Oddly, Colonel Faraday wears no UNIT insignia; there is no oval patch on his arm, nor does he wear a red lanyard.

Colonel Faraday wears none of the distinctive UNIT insignia

This could suggest that he has only been temporarily seconded to UNIT just for the duration of the Brigadier’s absence. However, given the Top Secret nature of UNIT, this seems like an odd thing to do, when surely UNIT would have their own officers who could just take temporary command. My theory is that since the Brigadier is in Geneva, perhaps he is being groomed for bigger and better things there, so Faraday could have been sent to UNIT as the Brigadier’s potential permanent replacement. We know that the Brigadier retired from UNIT in 1976; we don’t know that at the point of retirement whether he was still in charge of the UK contingent, or if he had moved on to better things higher up the organisation. Additionally, since this story was broadcast in 1975 that is close enough to the Brigadier's 1976 retirement date to explain Faraday's appearance. To me, this is the most likely explanation since it would be unlikely that an organisation such as UNIT would have two such high ranking officers as a Brigadier and a substantive Colonel at the same time within the UK contingent.

Android duplicates of Lieutenant Sullivan (left), Colonel Farady (centre), and the Doctor (right)

Clearly Faraday stayed on with UNIT since he is mentioned in the audio drama “The Oseidon Adventure”, but it is stated he is away in Switzerland at the time of that adventure (set in 1979, three years after the Brigadier retired). However, by 1983 we know that he will have been replaced by Colonel Crichton (as seen in “The Five Doctors”).

Colonel Faraday
Could he have been Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's replacement?

"The Seeds of Doom”

Again, Barrack Dress is the uniform worn by UNIT’s brief appearance in “The Seeds of Doom”.

UNIT troops in Barrack Dress and '58-pattern webbing

UNIT Sergeant (left) in Barrack Dress, with Sarah Jane (centre) and the Doctor (right)

In addition, Major Beresford gets to wear his Service Dress uniform. Oddly, he wears it with a UNIT beret rather than peaked cap, as all other officers have done. Also, one interesting thing to note is that Major Beresford is the only UNIT officer of the classic series, other than the Brigadier (and Benton in “The Android Invasion”), who wears any medal ribbons. However, on closer inspection you can see that Beresford’s medals look vaguely familiar as they are actually identical to the Brigadier’s! I suspect that they have just been recycled by the costume department. Note also that, like Captain Yates’s early appearances, Beresford wears no UNIT globes on his lapels.

Major Beresford (right) wears a beret with his Service Dress uniform

Again, the modified UNIT cap badges introduced in “The Android Invasion” are worn here.

Major Beresford (left) and the UNIT troops (right) wear the modified UNIT globe

Sir Colin Thackeray (left) and Major Beresford (right)

“The Five Doctors”

In this serial we see UNIT’s new commander, Colonel Crichton, wearing Service Dress, and a Sergeant wearing Barrack Dress. Crichton wears a UNIT patch on his left arm, and so does the Sergeant, indicating that it has returned to the Barrack Dress pullover, having being absent for the last two stories. The patch itself is slightly modified as the wide khaki border has once again been removed, making it look more like the original patch again. Crichton also has the red lanyard on his right arm that all UNIT personnel have worn up to this point. However, this story would be the last time we’d see it.

Colonel Charles Crichton

Colonel Crichton (left) in Service Dress, and a UNIT Sergeant (right) in Barrack Dress

Neither wear any headwear as they are indoors; however, Crichton’s cap can be seen on the coat stand (as a full Colonel, his headwear would be the same as the peaked cap previously worn by the Brigadier).

Colonel Crichton's peaked cap can be seen on the coat stand (right)

Through the office door we can also see the Sergeant’s beret hung on the coat stand in the ante-room. However, it appears to be black or navy blue rather than the sand colour we’ve previously seen. Could this suggest that UNIT had a darkly-coloured beret in the 80s, between the beige of the 70s and the blue of the 90s?

The Sergeant's darkly-coloured beret can be seen on the coat stand behind him

Captain Yates also re-appears in this episode, wearing Service Dress. However, his uniform has no UNIT markings on it (or any regimental markings whatsoever), though he does wear the red lanyard on his right arm.

The Captain Yates apparition wears the red lanyard but no other regimental markings

Though it should be noted that the Yates who appears in this story is merely an apparition engineered to fool the Doctor; any anachronisms with his uniform can easily be explained away if necessary.

Medals

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One oddity to note from the early UNIT era is that the Brigadier is the only member of UNIT we ever see with any medals ribbons on his uniform. Logic, however, tells us that Sergeant Benton should also have medals. It typically takes about twelve years (minimum) to attain the rank of sergeant, suggesting that Benton should have seen some form of action in the 1960s (the British campaigned in Korea, Borneo, Radfan, South Arabia, Malay Peninsula, South Vietnam, Northern Ireland, and Dhofar, in the 1960s, all of which were eligible for a General Service Medal). Not to mention that fact that he would conceivably have won other decorations for bravery or gallantry (such as the Military Medal, for example) or exemplary conduct. The many Captains that served under the Brigadier (Munro, Hawkins, Turner, Yates) could also have been awarded medals. Since UNIT would surely only recruit the best of the best from the services I find it hard to believe that none of them have ever been decorated. Obviously, the real reason was that the costume department probably had neither the time nor the inclination to source the correct medals for each character’s history, beyond the Brigadier himself.

Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart CMG DSO

With regards to the Brigadiers medals, on the top row he has the Order of St Michael and St George (presumably he's a Companion of the Order, since any higher and he would have been a Sir, which we know doesn't happen until much later); the British Empire Medal (awarded for meritorious military service worthy of recognition by the Crown); and the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), which in actual fact means he should properly be addressed as Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart CMG DSO (It should also be noted that the order of precedence is wrong; the DSO should come before the British Empire Medal). On the bottom row of medals he wears the General Service Medal; and the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. After this he wears medal ribbons for foreign awards he has earned, including the Legion of Merit; the medal of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour; and the Canadian Forces Decoration.

The Brigadier's medal ribbons during the early 1970s

Regarding medals, it should also be noted, just to add to the UNIT dating controversy, that none of the military characters wear the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, which was issued in 1977 to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne of the United Kingdom. This suggests, as observed in the Fifth Doctor Story “Mawdryn Undead” that the UNIT stories do indeed take place before 1977 (interestingly, in “Battlefield” it can be seen that this particular medal has actually been added to the Brigadier’s Service Dress uniform).

The Golden Years: 1971 – 1975

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From the eras of the Third and Fourth Doctors:

For this new season, producer Barry Letts wanted UNIT to have a more military look to it, so UNIT troops were now kitted out with near-contemporary British Army uniforms.

A possible in-universe explanation for this could be that when the United Nations established UNIT (in the late 1960s?) they decided to outfit their taskforce in a distinctive beige uniform unique to UNIT troops. However, the early 1970s was a time of economic stagnation in much of the western world, resulting in recession and cutbacks. The UN could feasibly have slashed the budget for UNIT meaning that funding for a unique uniform was cut, resulting in the troops having to be outfitted in Army gear from their host nations instead, thus switching the cost of uniforms to the country’s governments instead (a cost that would be negligible since UNIT soldiers were seconded from the Army anyway, so would have had this kit to begin with). Just a theory, of course.

“Terror of the Autons”

The UNIT characters now have a variety of uniforms to choose from, for either office wear at their HQ, or battle dress gear for engaging in combat.

As a day-to-day uniform, the Brigadier and Captain Yates wear officer’s Service Dress uniforms.

UNIT officer in Service Dress

British Army officer's No 2 Service Dress uniform jacket

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in his new Service Dress uniform

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Captain Yates

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and the Doctor

The Brigadier’s Service Dress now follows UK regulations, whereby the ranks of Colonel and Brigadier have their own insignia, and generally don’t display regimental distinctions. As a result, the cap badge on the Brigadier’s peaked cap is now a crown, topped by a lion, and the cap itself features a red band around it.

Peaked cap worn by Colonels and Brigadiers

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in his peaked cap

The lapels on the Brigadier’s jacket, rather than displaying the UNIT globe, have red gorget patches on them, which denotes him as a senior British Army officer.

A gorget patch of substantive Colonels and Brigadiers

Brigadier Lethbdridge-Stewart wear scarlet gorget patches on his lapels

There are still signs of his affiliation to UNIT, however, in the form of the oval UNIT patch on his left sleeve, and the red lanyard around his right arm/shoulder.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart still wears the red UNIT lanyard

The Service Dress worn by Captain Yates doesn’t feature the UNIT insignia on the jacket lapels (which we know from later episodes, all other UNIT personnel will have), in fact his lapels have no insignia badges whatsoever. He does, however, have the oval patch on his left sleeve. He also has two buttons on the cuff of his jacket, which most Service Dress uniforms don’t have. This could suggest that Yates previously served in one of the Army’s Household Cavalry regiments as their uniforms feature this affectation (they also, similar to Yates, wear no lapel insignia). Like the Brigadier, Yates too wears a red lanyard.

Captain Yates has no insignia on his lapels

Yates also wears a peaked officer’s cap with his Service Dress uniform, but the cap badge he wears with it is not the standard UNIT globe. What he actually wears is the General Service cap badge, comprising a lion and a unicorn flanking a central crest. This is the cap badge of the General Service Corps, which is a British Army corps whose function is to act as a holding unit for specialists not yet assigned to other units or corps.

General Service Corps cap badge, as worn by Captain Yates

Throughout the story, both Yates and the Brigadier wear officer’s Sam Browne belts with their Service Dress uniforms. Sometimes these are accessorised with pistol holsters and ammo pouches.

Sam Browne belt

Captain Yates in a Sam Browne belt with pistol holster and ammo pouch

In this serial, as in the later ones, both Yates and the Brigadier can be seen wearing a cloth belt as an alternative to the leather one, usually in scenes based a UNIT HQ.

Captain Yates in cloth Service Dress belt

The ORs also now have a Service Dress uniform, but we don’t get to see it in this episode.

The other uniform available to UNIT troops is a combat uniform, comprising a khaki green jacket and trousers. This is 1960-pattern British Army combats. Oddly, this makes UNIT slightly behind the times since by the 1970s the real British Army had switched to DPM camouflage combats. In the real world, however, it was probably easier for the Doctor Who production team to get hold of a bulk-load of the old-style combat uniforms as the Army would no longer be using them.

UNIT Soldier in Combat Fatigues

1960-pattern British Army combat jacket

This does, of course, raise questions as to the validity of the “UNIT stories are set in the future” argument if they are wearing outdated uniforms. It worked with the ‘futuristic’ beige uniforms, but now they wear real-life Army fatigues it does tend to date them.

These combat fatigues as worn by the ORs, are worn with ’58-pattern webbing and belts, and the look is finished off with ’37-pattern webbing gaiters on the ankles and a scrim neck scarf. The fatigues feature the UNIT patch on the upper left sleeve.

'58-pattern webbing

'37-pattern webbing gaiters

The combat fatigues are also worn by officers, who wear a shirt and tie under the jacket. Their rank insignia is displayed on a slide worn on the shoulder epaulettes.

Officer's rank is displayed on epaulette slides worn on the shoulders

The beige beret and UNIT globe remain the same as before and worn by all personnel. When clad in his combats, the Brigadier wears a UNIT cap badge on his beret, rather than the brigadier’s cap badge that he wears on his peaked cap. Yates too wears the standard UNIT globe rather than the General Service cap badge he wears with his Service Dress.

Combat fatigues are worn by both officers and ORs

“The Mind of Evil”

In “The Mind of Evil” both the Brigadier and Captain Yates continue to wear the Service Dress uniforms introduced in the previous story.

Captain Yates (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) in Service Dress

We also get to see the Service Dress worn by the ORs; however, in this serial, it is only worn by background characters based at UNIT HQ. But based on its appearance in later episodes we can form a detailed description. They wear the standard British Army ORs Service Dress uniform, which in this era featured pleating on the pockets (this pleating would be removed from real-world OR uniforms in the 1980s). The UNIT ORs wear a cloth belt, as well as the UNIT globe on their lapels and the UNIT patch on their left sleeve.

UNIT OR in Service Dress

British Army Other Ranks No 2 Service Dress uniform jacket
This is actually a post-1980s pattern jacket as there is no pleating on the breast pockets

UNIT Private in OR Service Dress

In this serial the ORs wear a peaked cap with their Service Dress (as opposed to the standard UNIT beret that they would wear in future serials). As background characters, I wasn’t able to get a good enough look at what cap badge they wear with this hat.

UNIT Corporal wearing a peaked cap with his Service Dress

The 1960-pattern combat fatigues are also worn in this serial by UNIT troops, including Sergeant Benton, Captain Yates and Major Cosworth.

Sergeant Benton rallies the troops, all dressed in combat fatigues

Captain Yates in his combat fatigues spies through some barbed wire

Captain Yates is captured by the Master

Sergeant Benton (left) stands to attention before Major Cosworth (centre) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right, seated)

In this story, the Brigadier debuts another uniform available to UNIT officers; instead of combat fatigues, he now wears Barrack Dress, consisting of a thick military jumper over an open-neck shirt, and a ’37-pattern belt and pistol holster. He wears this with a UNIT beret and brown leather gloves.

UNIT officer in Barrack Dress

Mid-1960s British Army pullover
This style features no epaulettes

'37-pattern webbing belt and pistol holster
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart wears his belt without the ammo pouch

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) in Barrack Dress and Major Cosworth (right) in combat fatigues

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and the Doctor (right)

“The Mind of Evil” also introduces us to the character of Corporal Bell, a female soldier on the Brigadier’s administrative support staff. This, of course, was back in the days when women served in a separate Army corps to their male counterparts, and as such Corporal Bell wears the uniform of the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC), which consisted of a grey jacket and skirt. Being seconded to UNIT, she wears the UNIT patch on her left arm. We do not get to see her in any headgear.

Uniform jacket of the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC)

Corporal Bell (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

“The Claws of Axos”

“The Claws of Axos” opens in UNIT HQ, and we see the Brigadier and Captain Yates once again in their Service Dress uniforms.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) in his Service Dress and cloth belt
He is talking to Horatio Chinn (centre) and the Doctor (right)

Corporal Bell can also be seen in her WRAC uniform.

Corporal Bell (rear left) sits at her desk behind Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left), Haratio Chinn (centre left), the Doctor (centre right) and Bill Filer (right)

Sergeant Benton gets to debut his Service Dress uniform in this story. Unlike the other ORs, Benton wears a red lanyard similar to the Brigadier and Captain Yates. However, over the course of the series, the arm on which he wears it changes. In “The Claws of Axos” it is on his left arm.

Sergeant Benton (rear left) wears his ORs Service Dress. Not visible in this shot is the red lanyard on his left arm.

The Radar Operators at UNIT HQ wear khaki shirts and ties with the UNIT patch on the left sleeve.

UNIT Radar Operator in khaki shirt and tie

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and the Doctor (centre) lean over the Radar Operator (front).
Behind them Sergeant Benton can be seen in his Service Dress uniform

The Brigadier’s Barrack Dress and beret return for when he is out and about on operations.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in his Barrack Dress and beret

The Doctor (front left) briefs Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (front centre)
Bill Filer (rear left), Jo Grant (rear centre) and Chinn (right) also listen in

So too do the combat fatigues.

The Master (left) and a UNIT soldier (right)

Two UNIT soldiers (right) prepare to engage an Axon (left)

It doesn't end well for them!

“The Daemons”

“The Daemons” continues to show UNIT personnel dressed in either Service Dress, Barrack Dress, or combat fatigues.

UNIT Corporal in Service Dress at UNIT HQ

Sergeant Osgood in combat fatigues

UNIT Private Jenkins prepares to unleash "Five rounds rapid"

In this serial the Brigadier takes to wearing his peaked cap instead of his UNIT beret to accompany his Barrack Dress. He would continue to wear this as his standard headwear throughout the rest of the show.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Barrack Dress

The Brigadier has now taken to wearing his peaked cap instead of a beret

This episode also features a Sergeant wearing the standard OR Service Dress uniform, topped off with a red and midnight blue peaked cap. This style of headwear is actually the standard Service Dress hat for most infantry regiments of the British Army (with some distinctions in colour between certain regiments), though it is the only time we ever see UNIT ORs wearing it (in the new series, however, it would be worn by many of the officers).

UNIT Sergeant (left) in Service Dress and formal peaked cap

This is a more formal look than the normal beret they wear. If coupled with the white belts they wear whilst on political duties in “Day of the Daleks” this could represent a more formal Service Dress for UNIT ORs.

In Episode One of this serial, the Brigadier is seen wearing his Mess Dress uniform, though it is unclear whether or not this is a standard UNIT Mess Dress, or if he is wearing the Mess Dress of his former regiment. Since he is off to a reunion dinner, it is more likely to be the latter, especially since we can see that the lapels feature the insignia of the Coldsteam Guard (though the Mess jacket itself is not the Coldstream Guards pattern).

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Mess Dress
The insignia of the Coldsteam Guards can be seen on his lapels

This could mean that the Brigadier was once an officer in the Coldstream Guard, but it surely must have been his early years in the army. The only time we saw him before his UNIT assignment was in the Second Doctor serial “The Web of Fear”, during which he was said to be in the Scots Guards, and he wore combat fatigues and the glengarry hat of a Scottish regiment. It should be noted, however, that the thistle cap badge he wore in that serial is certainly not the cap badge of the Scots Guards.

Lieutenant Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart in combat fatigues and glengarry hat
("The Web of Fear")

This raises another point: It is often stated that Lethbridge-Stewart was a Colonel in “The Web of Fear”, but this is incorrect. He was, in fact, only a Lieutenant Colonel, not a full Colonel (he wears regimental headgear and displays the rank insignia of a Lieutenant Colonel not a substantive Colonel). Yet, when we next see him in “The Invasion”, he says that he has “gone up in the world” and been promoted to Brigadier, so either he skipped the rank of Colonel entirely, or held it for a very short period of time!

But I digress…

“Day of the Daleks”

“Day of the Daleks” continues to use the array of British Army uniforms we saw over the previous season. The Brigadier and UNIT HQ staff wear Service Dress, and the female staff wear the uniform of the WRAC.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left), Jo Grant (centre), and the Doctor (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart on the telephone
In the background, a UNIT Sergeant can be seen in Service Dress, as well as a couple of WRAC personnel

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) wears his Service Dress jacket open after a long night at UNIT HQ
UNIT Radio Operator Corporal Maisy Hawke (right) wears the uniform of the WRAC

The Brigadier also wears his Barrack Dress.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (centre) wears his Barrack Dress to the peace conference at Auderly House, hosted by Sir Reginald Styles (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) issues orders to Captain Yates (right) from a UNIT jeep

Combat fatigues continue to be worn.

UNIT Privates (left) and Sergeant Benton (right) in combat fatigues

Sergeant Benton (left), Captain Yates (centre), and Jo Grant (right)

The only new addition we see are white formal belts worn over the Service Dress uniforms of the UNIT soldiers on parade at the Peace Conference. With this uniform they wear their UNIT berets, though since we know UNIT has a peaked cap (as seen in “The Daemons”) that would be a more appropriate headwear for such an occasion.

Behind the UNIT jeep it is possible to see a UNIT soldier dressed in Service Dress and formal white belt

Interestingly, for the Special Edition DVD release of this story, specially filmed shots were inserted into Episode 4 to make the Dalek attack seem more impressive. Anachronistically, the UNIT soldiers in these new shots are clad in DPM camouflage rather that the 1960-pattern combats.

A Dalek (left) and UNIT soldier (right) from the specially shot extra scenes for the DVD release

“The Time Monster”

Service Dress is seen to be worn by the Brigadier, Yates and Benton.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and the Doctor (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) briefs the Doctor (right)
Jo Grant (centre left) and Captain Yates (centre right) are also present

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (rear left) and Sergeant Benton (centre) wear Service Dress at the Newton Institute

Captain Yates

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Sergeant Benton’s lanyard is again worn on his left sleeve.

Sergeant Benton
His red UNIT lanyard can be seen under his left epaulette

The Brigadier also wears Barrack Dress.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) in his Barrack Dress

The Doctor and Jo Grant (left) sat in Bessie, talking to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (centre)

Combat fatigues are worn by UNIT soldiers.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart flanked by UNIT soldiers

“The Three Doctors”

In this tenth anniversary special, both the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton wear Service Dress uniform throughout.

The Second incarnation of the Doctor (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) is cynical of the Second Doctor (right)
Sergeant Benton (centre) keeps his weapon trained on a potential threat

The Third incarnation of the Doctor (left) looks out of the window with Jo Grant (centre) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart looking shocked

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left), Sergeant Benton (centre), and the Second Doctor (right)

It should be noted that Benton can be seen wearing brown shoes with his Service Dress uniform, which is a massive breech of regulations. Only officers are permitted to wear brown leather. Benton, as an NCO, should wear black shoes.

Sergeant Benton incorrectly wears brown shoes with his Service Dress uniform

Once again, his lanyard is worn on the left.

Sergeant Benton

The Second Doctor (centre) briefs Sergeant Benton (right) whilst an increasingly frustrated Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (rear left) looks on

UNIT troops are, as usual, dressed in combat fatigues.

UNIT Private (rear left) and Corporal Palmer (front right) in combat fatigues

“The Green Death”

Forever known as the story with the giant maggots, this story took UNIT to South Wales (ironically, the current home of Doctor Who).

The story opens in UNIT HQ, where the Brigadier wears his Service Dress uniform.

Jo Grant (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Upon arriving in Wales (in civvies), he soon switches to his Barrack Dress uniform.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (centre) and the Doctor (right)

The Doctor (right) watches as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) takes aim at a giant maggot

For some reason, despite being out in the field, Benton does not don his combat fatigues, and instead wears his Service Dress uniform throughout the whole story.

The Doctor (left) uses his sonic screwdriver on the maggots, watched by Sergeant Benton (rear centre)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and Sergeant Benton (right)
UNIT soldiers can be seen behind them

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and Sergeant Benton (right) and the Llanfairfach Colliery

A production still of the cast on location for "The Green Death"
Note: The Brigadier is no longer wearing his 1960-pattern combat trousers with his Barrack Dress. Oddly, he appears to be wearing his Service Dress trousers.

Benton's red UNIT lanyard is still on his left sleeve at this point.

Sergeant Benton

UNIT troops, as always, wear their combat fatigues.

UNIT soldiers open fire on the green maggots

“The Time Warrior”

UNIT only have a fleeting cameo in this story. The Brigadier wears his Service Dress uniform.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) in his Service Dress talking to the Doctor (left)

A couple of UNIT troops are also shown wearing their combat fatigues, but without the jackets or webbing, so they are just in khaki trousers and shirt (which looks very similar to the OR uniform worn in “The Invasion”).

UNIT soldier with his combat jacket removed

“Invasion of the Dinosaurs”

Starting with this serial, the UNIT patch on the left sleeve is slightly modified, now featuring a wide green border around the outside of the oval.

A new, slightly modified UNIT patch can be seen on the sleeve of the Brigadier's pullover (right)

Both Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton wear their Service Dress uniforms throughout this serial.

The Doctor (centre) on the phone, while Sarah Jane (right) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (rear centre) look on
Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates (left) wear their Service Dress uniforms

Sergeant Benton (left) and Captain Yates (right)

Captain Yates disables the Doctor's anti-dinosaur weapon

Captain Yates (left) pulls a gun on his UNIT colleagues, including Sergeant Benton (right)

Interestingly, Captain Yates now wears the UNIT globes on his lapels (though he still wears the General Service cap badge on his peaked cap rather than a UNIT one).

Captain Yates's Service Dress uniform now features insignia on the lapels

Here you can clearly make out his General Service Corps cap badge

A closer inspection of the lapel globes here reveals that the UNIT lettering is at the bottom of the circle, as opposed to along the top as it is on the cap badges.

Close-up shot showing the UNIT globes on Captain Yates's Service Dress lapels

Sergeant Benton’s red UNIT lanyard has moved to his right sleeve in this story, so he now matches Yates and the Brigadier.

Sarah Jane Smith (left) and Sergeant Benton (right)

The Doctor (left) and Sergeant Benton (right)

The Brigadier himself only wears his Barrack Dress in this story. This is the first serial in which the Brigadier wears a UNIT patch on the arm of his pullover.

The Doctor (left) surprises Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

The Doctor (left), General Finch (centre), and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

UNIT Corporal (left), Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (centre), and the Doctor (right) observe a stegosaurus

He also wears a slightly modified pistol hoslter, without the flap over the top.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) oversees UNIT soldiers (left)
You can see that his pistol holster no longer features a flap

Combat fatigues are worn by the UNIT troops.

UNIT soldiers in combat fatigues

UNIT soldiers

“Planet of the Spiders”

The Third Doctor’s final story, rather appropriately, features UNIT. Throughout the serial, the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton wear their Service Dress uniforms.

Sergeant Benton (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) observe the Doctor (centre)

Sarah Jane (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and Sergeant Benton (right)

The Doctor (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and Sarah Jane (rear centre) over the dying body of the Doctor (front centre)

Benton’s lanyard is again worn on the right.

Both Sergeant Benton (centre) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) wear their UNIT lanyards on the right arms of their Service Dress uniforms

One thing that started to get ridiculous around “The Green Death” and reaches its worst extremes in this story is the Brigadier’s hair. Obviously it was the 1970s and civilians favoured longer hair in that decade, but the Brigadier is in the military and regulations would never have allowed his hair to grow that long! I’m surprised his cap still fitted onto all that hair.

The Brigadier's bouffant hairstyle in contravention of military regulations

A UNIT technician is also seen in this serial servicing the Doctor’s Whomobile, and he wears khaki coveralls.

UNIT Technician
This actor (Pat Gorman) also portrayed UNIT soldiers in two previous serials

“Robot”

Continuing on from the regeneration of the Third Doctor, UNIT appears in the Fourth Doctor’s debut story.

Service Dress uniform is again worn by the Brigadier.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) gets to grips with the fourth incarnation of the Doctor

Brigadier-Lethbridge-Stewart (centre) in his Service Dress uniform, behind Professor Kettlewell (left) and Sarah Jane (right)

The Doctor (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and RSM Benton (right)

Benton too wears his Service Dress. However, by this story, Benton has (rather unfeasibly) been promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1, holding the position of Regimental Sergeant Major. This means that he has skipped the intervening ranks of Staff Sergeant and Warrant Officer Class 2. Extremely unlikely outside of wartime (and even then it would be iffy...)! The other issue with this promotion is that RSMs wear a Service Dress uniform that is identical to an officer, not an OR, yet (due to costuming needs, no doubt) Benton retains the same OR uniform that he wore as a sergeant, merely with his sergeant chevrons removed and his new rank displayed on his cuff. For those keeping track, Benton’s red lanyard is once again on his right sleeve.

RSM Benton (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) in Service Dress
Benton's new Warrant Officer Class 1 rank insignia can be seen on his right cuff

When out and about, the Brigadier again wears his Barrack Dress uniform, but this time he wears it with a ’58-pattern belt and pistol holster.

The Doctor (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (centre) observes the Doctor (right) at work
RSM Benton and UNIT troops are behind them

RSM Benton (left), the Doctor (centre), and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Here you can see the Brigadier's '58 pattern pistol holster

1960-pattern combat fatigues are once again seen on UNIT soldiers, but it will be for the final time.

RSM Benton in his combat fatigues

RSM Benton

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and RSM Benton (right)

RSM Benton (left) and Sarah Jane (centre) lean over the Doctor (right)
Benton's rank insignia can be seen on his cuff

UNIT soldiers engage the Giant Robot

This serial also introduces us to Surgeon Lieutenant Harry Sullivan, a Royal Navy medical officer attached to UNIT (who would go on to become one of the Doctor's companions). As a commissioned officer, Harry wears the No. 1 dress uniform of the Royal Navy; yet oddly, he wears no UNIT insignia with it, not even the oval patch on his sleeve. One could speculate, perhaps, that if he had worn combats and beret he would then, like Yates and the Brigadier, have sported the UNIT globe.

Lieutenant Harry Sullivan (centre) between Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and the Doctor (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left), the Doctor (rear centre), and Lieutenant Sullivan (right)
Sullivan is in his Royal Navy uniform

The Early Years: 1968 - 1970

2015-11-12T03:36:00.004-08:00

From the eras of the Second and Third Doctors:

The concept behind UNIT was that it would be a United Nations-run military organisation who the Doctor would work with when he became exiled to Earth. The original premise was that the UNIT stories would be set slightly in the future (a rule that was adhered to intermittently and has caused decades of debate over what has become known as the 'UNIT Dating Controversy'). However, in line with this premise, the UNIT uniforms from this early era were custom-made in order to appear slightly futuristic.

“The Invasion”

In their first ever appearance, UNIT are shown wearing a uniform that consists of a beige-coloured bomber jacket, with pleat-less breast pockets, and notched lapels, worn with matching beige trousers.

UNIT Officer

Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart dressed in his UNIT uniform

These images from The Prop Gallery website show detailed images of the jacket:

Uniform jacket and trousers

Here you can see the button fastening on the waistband

The breast pockets are fastened with a button, and two poppers to keep the flap down at the sides

Button fastening on the cuff

This flap would be fastened to a corresponding button on the trousers to stop the jacket riding up

An oval insignia with the word “UNIT” embroidered on it is worn on the upper left arm, and a red lanyard is worn around the right arm/shoulder.

A UNIT patch is worn on the left sleeve of the uniform jacket

Red lanyard

Officers, such as the Brigadier and Captain Turner, wear their rank insignia on their shoulder epaulettes. They also wear brown leather belts, with matching pistol holsters.

Lethbridge-Stewart wears three pips and a crown to denote the rank of Brigadier
Note the red UNIT lanyard

Turner wears the three pips of a Captain, and the UNIT lanyard

This uniform is also worn by senior NCOs, such as Sergeant Walters. His rank chevrons are displayed on his upper right arm.

Sergeant Walters

UNIT soldiers ranked at Private, Lance Corporal and Corporal (such as Corporal Benton) all wear an open-necked khaki shirt and trousers, sometimes worn with webbing.

Corporal Benton in his UNIT beret and open-necked shirt

Here you can see the UNIT patch on Benton's left sleeve

Private Perkins in an ORs uniform

UNIT Privates (left) wear khaki webbing, whereas officers (right) wear brown leather belts

Unlike officers, ORs do not wear the red lanyard.

Sergeant Walters (front left) does not wear a red lanyard, unlike Captain Turner (front right)
Behind them are Corporal Benton and Private Perkins in OR uniforms

All ranks wear a sand-coloured beret, similar to the one worn by the SAS. The cap badge is a round UNIT globe.

Sand-coloured beret (sans cap badge), like those worn by the SAS

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart wears his UNIT beret

UNIT's first logo

“Spearhead from Space”

UNIT’s next appearance was in colour, in the Third Doctor’s debut story, “Spearhead from Space”, and their uniforms remained mostly unchanged.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and Captain Turner (right)
The Brigadier is not wearing his belt or pistol, unlike Turner

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Note that the rank insignia has a red outline to match the lanyard

Captain Turner

Dr Elizabeth Shaw (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

The obvious difference being that all ranks are now wearing the beige jacket and trouser combo (rather than the khaki shirt that the junior ranks wore in “The Invasion”). There is, however, some variation in the cut of the jacket between officers and ORs. The standard jacket, as worn by officers, has notched lapels and no pleating on the breast pockets. However, the jacket worn by the ORs, such as the Sergeant, Corporal Forbes, and the UNIT Privates, has peaked lapels and has pleating on the pocket. In fact, it appears to be based on the American ‘Ike’ jacket that was popularised by US troops in World War II.

Corporal Forbes in the ORs uniform jacket

UNIT Sergeant

UNIT Private

US Army 'Ike' Jacket

However, no doubt due to the available wardrobe stock in the costume department, there is one instance when a private (the soldier who shoots the Doctor in Episode One) wears an officer’s-cut uniform.

Corporal Forbes (left) in the OR-style jacket, and a UNIT private (right) incorrectly attired in the officer-style jacket

Unlike the brown leather belts worn by the officers, the ORs wear khaki coloured '37-pattern webbing belts.

The two officers in the foreground wear brown leather belts; the ORs behind them wear khaki webbing belts

Private Hawkins in his ORs webbing belt

There is also a difference in the colours of the neckties. Officer’s ties are silky in appearance and are a golden brown colour, whereas OR’s ties are green.

Captain Turner wearing the golden brown tie of an officer

The green tie worn by ORs

There also appears to be a uniform for office-based UNIT staff, consisting of a shirt and tie combo (though feasibly, this could just be the standard uniform with the jackets removed).

UNIT office staff

Office-based UNIT personnel

“Doctor Who and the Silurians”

The Third Doctor’s second adventure took him and UNIT to Wenley Moor to face off against the Silurians. The uniforms worn by UNIT officers in this adventure remains unchanged.

Dr Shaw, the Doctor, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
This is a behind-the-scenes photo and you can see Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier) holding his script

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (left) and the Doctor (right)

Captain Hawkins

The Head of Security at Wenley Moor (left) faces off against Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

The ORs continue to wear the ‘Ike’ jacket seen in “Spearhead from Space”.

Sergeant Hart

Private Robins (right); he is also wearing a hardhat due to being underground

Corporal Nutting

“The Ambassadors of Death”

For “The Ambassadors of Death” the costume designer wanted a more ‘futuristic’ look, so all UNIT troops were outfitted in zip-up jackets without lapels, worn over a roll-neck jumper, and black leather belts.

UNIT soldier
"The Ambassadors of Death"

Sergeant Benton (right) in the new 'futuristic'-style UNIT ORs uniform

A UNIT private in the new uniform

UNIT Sergeant

Private Johnson

UNIT soldiers prepare to fire; Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is stood with them

The Brigadier retained his beige bomber jacket uniform, with the addition of brown leather officer's gloves.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right) discharges his firearm; a UNIT soldier is beside him (left)

The Doctor (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart talks over his radio
Note his brown leather gloves

The Doctor in a spacesuit (left) shakes hands with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
You can see the Brigadier's swagger stick under his arm

“Inferno”

In “Inferno” the UNIT troop uniforms were changed again. This time they all wore Denison smock jackets, which were camouflage jackets issued to British Special Forces (such as the parachute regiment) during World War II. They also appear to have reverted to wearing the khaki trousers first worn by Privates and Corporals in “The Invasion”.

Denison smock

The Doctor (left) with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right); Sergeant Benton (centre) is wearing the Denison smock

Private Latimer

Private Wyatt

Again, the Brigadier wore the same uniform we’d seen him in since “The Invasion”, but it would be for the last time.

Dr Shaw (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

The Doctor (left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Dr Shaw (rear left), the Doctor (front left) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (right)

Glossary of Terms

2015-11-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

For the purposes of this blog I have split the UNIT uniforms into six distinct eras, which will be as follows:

The Early Years: 1968 to 1970
The Golden Years: 1971 to 1975
The Sporadic Years: 1975 to 1983
The Wilderness Years: 1989 to 2005
The RTD Years: 2005 to 2010
The Moffat Years: 2010 to date

Throughout this sartorial chronology I shall use a number of terms relating to the military, so to avoid any confusion I shall outline those terms before I begin:

Officer – this refers to any member of the military who holds a commission from Her Majesty the Queen. They are therefore sometimes referred to as Commissioned Officers. Officers in the British Army have all attended The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Officers in UNIT are generally seconded from the Army (though we have also seen officers from the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force). Officer ranks in the British Army are as follows (in ascending order):

Second Lieutenant
OF-1

Lieutenant
OF-1

Captain
OF-2

Major
OF-3

Lieutenant Colonel
OF-4

Colonel
OF-5

Brigadier
OF-6

Major General
OF-7

Lieutenant General
OF-8

General
OF-9

During UNIT's appearance in the classic series, there was also an even more senior officer rank of Field Marshal (OF-10), but this is now defunct in the UK as it is classed as a wartime rank.

Officers wear their rank insignia on shoulder epaulettes.

Other Ranks (ORs) – this refers to anyone who is not a commissioned officer and includes Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers (Corporals and Sergeants), and Private soldiers.

The OR ranks, in ascending order are:

Private
OR-1 and OR-2

Lance Corporal
OR-3

Corporal
OR-4

Sergeant
OR-6

Staff Sergeant
OR-7

Warrant Officer Class 2
(Company Sergeant Major)
OR-8

Warrant Officer Class 1
(Regimental Sergeant Major)
OR-9

NCOs (Lance Corporal up to Staff Sergeant) wear their rank chevrons on their upper arms; Warrant Officers wear their rank insignia on their cuff (however, it should be noted that in the modern-age where UNIT ORs wear all-black SWAT uniforms, ranks are displayed differently).

Note: the letter and number underneath each rank is the corresponding NATO code, which is assigned to every rank in the armed forces and allows different country's armies, navies and air forces to see how each of their ranks corresponds with each other, and with other country's equivalent armed forces. This is probably especially useful for UNIT who have personnel from different branches of each armed service in every UN country in the world.

Uniforms

For much of their run, UNIT wore standard British Army uniform. However, the British Army have a variety of different uniforms for various occasions ranging from ceremonial to combat. This is how they classify them:

Full Dress – This is the most elaborate uniform available, and is only worn these days by the Foot Guards and Guards Regiments. It is the scarlet jacket you will see being worn by soldiers guarding Buckingham Palace, for example.

Full Dress Uniforms of the Guards Regiments
From Left to Right: Grenadier Guards, Scots Guards, Welsh Guards, Irish Guards, and Coldstream Guards

No. 1: Temperate Ceremonial Uniform (also referred to as Dress Uniform, or Dress Blues) – This is a universal ceremonial uniform worn on specific ceremonial occasions. For most regiments it consists of a midnight blue tunic and trousers, worn with a peaked cap.

Various different patterns of No 1 Dress being worn at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Front row (from left to right) A Major General, a General, a Royal Artillery officer, and a Royal Navy officer
Stood to attention behind them are Officer Cadets; the mounted soldier belongs to a Scottish regiment

No. 2: Service Dress – This is the standard khaki jacket and trousers that many people associate with the army. It is used as a temperate parade uniform. Current regulations specify that all ranks wear the same style of Service Dress, but previous regulations had separate patterns for officers and ORs.

This is a uniform that we will see being worn by UNIT a lot.

Two styles of Service Dress
The old OR pattern uniform (left) and the new all-ranks pattern (right) known as Future Army Dress

No 3: Warm Weather Ceremonial Uniform – This is the equivalent of the No 1 Dress Uniform, but worn on overseas assignments in climates that are considered “hot-weather”. It consists of a white tunic over No 1 Dress trousers. Most recently, this style of uniform was seen being worn by Prince Harry whilst in Australia.

Captain Wales (Prince Harry) in the No 3 Dress of the Blues and Royals

No 4: Warm Weather Service Dress (officers only) – Similar to No. 2 Dress, but stone-coloured and made of a lighter fabric.

General Sir David Richards (former Chief of the Defence Staff) wearing No 4 Dress

No 5: Battledress (now obsolete) – Worn between 1939 and 1961 this is the woollen combat uniform worn throughout Word War II and will be most familiar to people who enjoy Dad’s Army as it is the uniform they wear (from Series 4 onwards).

The cast of the BBC TV series Dad's Army dressed in No 5 Battldress uniforms

No 5: Desert Combat Dress (now obsolete) – This was jacket and trousers in sand-coloured DPM, worn in desert environments such as the First Gulf War and the early years of Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2011 it has been replaced with a new style of Combat Uniform.

Lieutenant Wales (Prince Harry) and other officers wearing No 5 Dress

No 6: Warm Weather Parade Uniform (also known as a Bush Jacket) – In Australia it is known as the “safari uniform”. It is issued to all officers and ORs on posting to a warm weather station and consists of a tan-coloured jacket and trousers that can be worn with or without shirt and tie underneath.

No 7: Warm Weather Barrack Dress – A tropical stone-coloured shirt and trousers uniform.

No 8: Temperate Combat Dress – The current No 8 Dress was introduced in 2011 and is known as Personal Clothing System – Combat Uniform (PCS-CU) and is based around a multi-terrain pattern that is interchangeable with both woodland and dessert environments.

General Sir David Richards wearing the new No 8 Dress, known as PCS-CU

Previous to 2011, No 8 Dress consisted of Combat Soldier 95, which was similar to the new uniform, but patterned in the old-style of DPM camouflage, which was only suitable for woodland warfare.

Lieutenant Wales (Prince Harry) dressed in Combat Soldier 95

Before CS95, soldiers wore an older style of combat gear (which can be seen on UNIT troops in the Seventh Doctor’s era, as well as being worn in the TV series Soldier Soldier).

1990s-era No 8 Dress, as seen in the TV series Soldier Soldier

Before that an even older style of combat fatigues were worn, which date back to the 1960s.

No 9: Tropical Combat Dress (now obsolete) – This was a shirt and trouser combo patterned in DPM, but made from a lightweight material suitable for wear in tropical environment.

No 10: Temperate Mess Dress – The military equivalent of a Dinner Jacket; Mess Dress uniforms come in a variety of different cuts and colours, depending on regimental traditions, and are usually worn with a black bow tie and dress shirt. This uniform is worn for formal evening functions.

Each regiments has an individual style of No 10 Dress. Here are a small example of the variety of Mess Dress patterns available:

The Life Guards

Coldstream Guards

Royal Artillery

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME)

Intelligence Corps

Parachute Regiment

No 11: Warm Weather Mess Dress – In tropical environments, a white jacket is worn instead on the coloured one of No 10 Dress.

No 12: Protective Clothing – This order of dress includes clothing such as overalls, worn by engineers and technicians, to specialist kit worn by aircrews, chefs and medics etc.
I suspect the black SWAT gear worn by modern UNIT troops would fall into this category.

Protective coveralls fall under No 12 Dress

No 13: Temperate Barrack Dress – This is the thick woollen jumper worn over shirt and trousers that was often worn by the Brigadier in Doctor Who. In real life, the pullover worn by some Regiments and Corps are cut differently or come in a variety of colours, depending on tradition.

Officer of the Life Guards in No 13 Dress

No 14: Shirt Sleeve Order – The same as No 13 Dress but with the jumper removed and the sleeves of the shirt rolled up. This dress is allowed during the summer months.

Officer of the Life Guards in No 14 Dress

NCO of the Life Guards in No 14 Dress

So, I think that covers the basics. Without further ado, let's delve into the world of UNIT's sartorial development.

UNIT Through the Ages

2015-11-09T13:38:00.004-08:00

The United Nations-run military taskforce known as UNIT has been a staple organisation of Doctor Who since their debut appearance in 1968. Since then, they have appeared in adventures with all subsequent incarnations of the Doctor, and have become a popular fan favourite. Certainly (along with the Daleks) they are my favourite aspect of the show.

Over the half a century that UNIT has been on our screens they have worn a variety of different uniforms. In this blog I intend to go through each era of the show and look at these uniforms in depth, and examine their progression throughout the show.