UNIT HQ, City of London: Difference between revisions

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{{Rename|Perhaps this should be [[UNIT HQ (The Star Beast)]], since [[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)]] was also located in the City Of London. Unless this is a combined page for both, we need some way of differentiating between the two.}}
{{Rename|Perhaps this should be [[UNIT HQ (The Star Beast)]], since [[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)]] was also located in the City Of London. Unless this is a combined page for both, we need some way of differentiating between the two.}}
{{Infobox Location
{{Infobox Location
|aka        = UNIT tower,<br>Nitwit Tower
|image      = The Star Beast UNIT HQ, City of London.jpg
|image      = The Star Beast UNIT HQ, City of London.jpg
|type        = [[Skyscraper]]
|type        = [[Skyscraper]]
Line 6: Line 7:
|made by    = [[UNIT United Kingdom|UNIT]]
|made by    = [[UNIT United Kingdom|UNIT]]
|first      = The Star Beast (TV story)
|first      = The Star Beast (TV story)
|appearances = [[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}
|appearances = {{Il|[[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}|[[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Giggle (novelisation)}}|[[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)}}|[[WC]]: {{cs|Incoming Transmission - February Update Video (webcast)}}|[[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}|[[TV]]: {{cs|Empire of Death (TV story)}}|[[EXHIBIT]]: {{cs|Travel Through Time and Space (exhibit)}}|[[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Pantheon of Discord (audio story)}}}}
}}
}}
By late [[2023]], [[UNIT United Kingdom|the branch]] of [[UNIT]] that operated in the [[United Kingdom]] had its '''[[UNIT HQ|headquarters]]''' ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)|timestamp=00:49:15}}) located in the [[City of London]], near [[the Gherkin]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)|chaptnum=3|chaptname=Everything Changes|page=71}}) It had a [[helipad]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)|timestamp=00:49:15}})
By late [[2023]], [[UNIT United Kingdom|the branch]] of [[UNIT]] that operated in the [[United Kingdom]] had its '''[[UNIT HQ|headquarters]]''' ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)|timestamp=00:49:15}}) located in the [[City of London]], near [[the Gherkin]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)|chaptnum=3|chaptname=Everything Changes|page=71}}) It had a [[helipad]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)|timestamp=00:49:15}})
It was sometimes referred to as the '''UNIT tower''', ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)|chaptnum=Fifteen|page=116|name="TCoRR"}}) although it was also given the nickname '''Nitwit Tower''', ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|name="TCoRR"}}, [[TV]]: {{cs|The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)}}) as well as the '''Big Penguin''' by [[Londoner]]s. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|73 Yards (novelisation)|page=78}}) It was likened to something out of the ''[[Avengers]]'', ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So (short story)}}) and seen as a symbol in the heart of the city and possible attractor of alien menaces. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|73 Yards (novelisation)|page=77}})


== History ==
== History ==
The previous [[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)|headquarters]] was destroyed during [[the Master's Dalek Plan]] when [[Tegan Jovanka]] and [[Kate Stewart]] initiated the [[structural termination system]] to implode the building and entomb the [[Cyber-Warrior|Cybermen]] lead by a cloned [[Ashad]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}})
{{section stub|Information from [[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}} and [[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Giggle (novelisation)}} needs to be added.}}
The previous [[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)|headquarters]] was destroyed during [[the Master's Dalek Plan]] when [[Tegan Jovanka]] and [[Kate Stewart]] initiated the [[structural termination system]] to implode the building and entomb the [[Cyber-Warrior|Cybermen]] led by a cloned [[Ashad]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}})
 
[[Kate Stewart]] proposed the construction of a new tower to the [[King]], stating to him that if one needed to justify the expense of the organisation, one may as well have something significant to show for it. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|73 Yards (novelisation)|page=77}})
The UNIT HQ was among [[21st century London|London]]'s skyline ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)|timestamp=00:49:15}}) by the [[November 2023 UFO incident]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (novelisation)}})
 
After the [[Cracked timeline (The Church on Ruby Road)|timeline was cracked]] by the [[Goblins (The Church on Ruby Road)|Goblins]] on [[24 December]] [[2023]], resulting in a literal crack running through [[3 Minto Road]], the [[Fifteenth Doctor]] pointed in the director of the UNIT tower through the window, telling [[Carla Sunday]] to contact [[Shirley Anne Bingham|Shirley]] and she'd ensure Carla and her family would be compensated. However, Carla considered UNIT's operations to be a waste of [[tax]]es as they chased, in her opinion, monsters and aliens that did not exist; she mockingly referred to them as "Nitwit Tower". ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|name="TCoRR"}})
 
At some point after 2023, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)}}) the [[Fifteenth Doctor]] welcomed [[individual (Travel Through Time and Space)|an individual]] into [[the TARDIS]] in London, with UNIT HQ visible as part of the skyline. ([[EXHIBIT]]: {{cs|Travel Through Time and Space (exhibit)}})


The UNIT HQ was among [[21st century London|London]]'s skyline by the time [[the Meep]]'s attempted [[Destruction of London]] was thwarted by the [[Fourteenth Doctor]], [[Donna Noble]], and her daughter [[Rose Noble|Rose]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)|timestamp=00:49:15}})
In [[February]] [[2024]], [[Sergeant]] [[Darren (Incoming Transmission - February Update Video)|Darren]], located in UNIT HQ, received a transmission across time from his friend and coworker [[Sasha (Incoming Transmission - February Update Video)|Sasha]], who had been stranded in the [[Dark Times]] by an encounter with [[the Entity (The Archive of Islos)|the Entity]]. After they ascertained her coordinates, UNIT called [[the Doctor]] in as "reinforcements", and he managed to rescue her, bringing it back to the 21st century; Darren then proudly reported that she was "safe and sound in UNIT HQ" to [[Dave (Incoming Transmission - February Update Video)|his commander]]. ([[WC]]: {{cs|Incoming Transmission - February Update Video (webcast)}})
 
[[Aoife Fitzgerald]], a [[SIGNET]] member in [[York]], once thought about the "imperious nearly-''[[Avengers]]'' tower in the middle of London." ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So (short story)}})
 
[[The Vlinx]] broadcast to the [[Royal Albert Hall]] from its usual spot in UNIT HQ during [[Operation Maestro]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Pantheon of Discord (audio story)}})
 
=== Other realities ===
In [[Timeline (73 Yards)|a timeline]] where a [[fairy circle]] was broken by the [[Fifteenth Doctor]] and [[Ruby Sunday]] and the Doctor disappeared, Ruby went to visit the tower after her life had settled back into a sense of normality, despite the presence of a [[The Woman (73 Yards)|mysterious woman]] and absence of her mother [[Carla Sunday|Carla]]. A young man, [[Jordan (73 Yards)|Jordan]], was working at its [[reception]], and allowed [[Ace]] to meet with her to discuss her issue and refer her to Kate Stewart. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|73 Yards (novelisation)|page=78}}) UNIT would later abandon Ruby due to the woman's influence. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|73 Yards (novelisation)|page=90-91}})
 
As a result of the fairy circle being broken, time became "suspended" along that event, meaning that there were no further [[alien|extraterrestrial]] threats to the [[human race]]. As a result, by [[2046]] what remained of UNIT Tower had been abandoned, and then redeveloped into '''The Unit''', a complex with numerous [[restaurant]]s and [[café]]s on its lower levels, [[shopping arcade]]s above them, and highly expensive housing from there up to the top, including a [[penthouse]] [[apartment]] on the floor with the helipad. It also featured a [[gymnasium]] to which residents had free access. Resolving to never give up on the Doctor, the tower's [[concierge]], [[Osgood]], was the only employee there that knew the building's previous status, but had signed the [[Official Secrets Act]]. Ruby could see the tower from her flat on the [[Powell Estate]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|73 Yards (novelisation)|page=145-146}})


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
[[file:LeadenhallStreet.jpg|thumb|Leadenhall Street in the real world; the exact location of the UNIT HQ in the DWU.]]
[[file:LeadenhallStreet.jpg|thumb|Leadenhall Street in the real world; the exact location of the UNIT HQ in the DWU.]]
[[File:The Power of the Doctor Ace Leadenhall Street.jpg|thumb|To [[Ace]]'s left is 11 Leadenhall Street ([[Starbucks]]) and 12 Leadenhall Street ({{w|Lloyd's building}}) and to her right is 122 Leadenhall Street ([[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)|UNIT HQ]] in the DWU, the {{w|Leadenhall Building}} in the real world). The UNIT HQ in {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)}} is located in the ''middle'' of this street.]]
[[File:The Power of the Doctor Ace Leadenhall Street.jpg|thumb|To [[Ace]]'s left is 11 Leadenhall Street ([[Starbucks]]) and 12 Leadenhall Street ({{w|Lloyd's building}}) and to her right is 122 Leadenhall Street ([[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)|UNIT HQ]] in the DWU, the [[Leadenhall Building]] in the real world). The UNIT HQ in {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)}} is located in the ''middle'' of this street.]]
This UNIT HQ, going off the on-screen geography seen in {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)}}, appears to be located the financial district of the [[City of London]]. However, upon analysing the position further, it makes less sense as it can be seen that {{w|the Scalpel}} and {{w|40 Leadenhall Street}} are located to the immediate area east, the {{w|Leadenhall Building}} north, the {{w|Lloyd's building}} and {{w|Willis Building (London)|Willis Building}} to the south, and the construction site of {{w|1 Leadenhall Street}} to the west, thus placing the skyscraper in the ''middle'' of Leadenhall Street.
This UNIT HQ, going off the on-screen geography seen in {{cs|The Star Beast (TV story)}}, appears to be located the financial district of the [[City of London]]. However, upon analysing the position further, it makes less sense as it can be seen that {{w|the Scalpel}} and {{w|40 Leadenhall Street}} are located to the immediate area east, the [[Leadenhall Building]] north, the {{w|Lloyd's building}} and {{w|Willis Building (London)|Willis Building}} to the south, and the construction site of {{w|1 Leadenhall Street}} to the west, thus placing the skyscraper in the ''middle'' of Leadenhall Street.


Furthermore, the [[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)|UNIT HQ]] seen in {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}} is located where the Leadenhall Building is in real life; the road [[Ace]] parachutes down towards is Leadenhall Street. ''The Star Beast'' (set in late [[2023]]) creates a minor continuity issue by showing that the Leadenhall Building is among London's skyline, despite that tower being non-existent during ''The Power of the Doctor'' (set in [[2022]]). ''The Star Beast'' also posits that UNIT was able to clear the site of their imploded HQ, deal with the [[Cyber-Warrior]]s entombed within, and construct their new tower all in the space of a year.
Furthermore, the [[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)|UNIT HQ]] seen in {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}} is located where the Leadenhall Building is in real life; the road [[Ace]] parachutes down towards is Leadenhall Street. ''The Star Beast'' (set in late [[2023]]) creates a minor continuity issue by showing that the Leadenhall Building is among London's skyline, despite that tower being non-existent during ''The Power of the Doctor'' (set in [[2022]]). ''The Star Beast'' also posits that UNIT was able to clear the site of their imploded HQ, deal with the [[Cyber-Warrior]]s entombed within, and construct their new tower all in the space of a year.
Additionally, the [[mini-episode]] {{cs|The Promise (webcast)}} — released in [[2019 (releases)|2019]] and set approximately around that time — showed the City of London as it exists in the real world, including the Leadenhall Building, not the building occupied by UNIT in ''The Power of the Doctor''.


Prior to the airing of ''The Giggle'', the images of both the newly bigenerated Fifteenth Doctor, first seen in the trailer following ''The Power of the Doctor'', and the Fourteenth Doctor preparing to "regenerate", as seen in the trailer following {{cs|Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)}}, were modified to remove the appearance of UNIT HQ.
Prior to the airing of ''The Giggle'', the images of both the newly bigenerated Fifteenth Doctor, first seen in the trailer following ''The Power of the Doctor'', and the Fourteenth Doctor preparing to "regenerate", as seen in the trailer following {{cs|Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)}}, were modified to remove the appearance of UNIT HQ.
{{map|Willis Building, London|15|hybrid}}
{{City of London}}


{{map|Willis Building, London|15|hybrid}}
[[Category:UNIT bases]]
[[Category:UNIT bases]]
[[Category:UNIT-UK]]
[[Category:UNIT-UK]]

Revision as of 09:02, 6 September 2024

This topic might have a better name.

Perhaps this should be UNIT HQ (The Star Beast), since UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor) was also located in the City Of London. Unless this is a combined page for both, we need some way of differentiating between the two.

Talk about it here.

By late 2023, the branch of UNIT that operated in the United Kingdom had its headquarters (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...{"timestamp":"00:49:15","1":"The Star Beast (TV story)"}) located in the City of London, near the Gherkin. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...{"chaptname":"Everything Changes","page":"71","chaptnum":"3","1":"The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"}) It had a helipad. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...{"timestamp":"00:49:15","1":"The Star Beast (TV story)"})

It was sometimes referred to as the UNIT tower, (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"name":"\"TCoRR\"","page":"116","chaptnum":"Fifteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"}) although it was also given the nickname Nitwit Tower, (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"name":"\"TCoRR\"","page":"116","chaptnum":"Fifteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"}, TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) as well as the Big Penguin by Londoners. (PROSE: 73 Yards [+]Loading...{"page":"78","1":"73 Yards (novelisation)"}) It was likened to something out of the Avengers, (PROSE: I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So [+]Loading...["I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So (short story)"]) and seen as a symbol in the heart of the city and possible attractor of alien menaces. (PROSE: 73 Yards [+]Loading...{"page":"77","1":"73 Yards (novelisation)"})

History

This section's awfully stubby.

Information from TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"] and PROSE: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (novelisation)"] needs to be added.

The previous headquarters was destroyed during the Master's Dalek Plan when Tegan Jovanka and Kate Stewart initiated the structural termination system to implode the building and entomb the Cybermen led by a cloned Ashad. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"])

Kate Stewart proposed the construction of a new tower to the King, stating to him that if one needed to justify the expense of the organisation, one may as well have something significant to show for it. (PROSE: 73 Yards [+]Loading...{"page":"77","1":"73 Yards (novelisation)"}) The UNIT HQ was among London's skyline (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...{"timestamp":"00:49:15","1":"The Star Beast (TV story)"}) by the November 2023 UFO incident. (PROSE: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (novelisation)"])

After the timeline was cracked by the Goblins on 24 December 2023, resulting in a literal crack running through 3 Minto Road, the Fifteenth Doctor pointed in the director of the UNIT tower through the window, telling Carla Sunday to contact Shirley and she'd ensure Carla and her family would be compensated. However, Carla considered UNIT's operations to be a waste of taxes as they chased, in her opinion, monsters and aliens that did not exist; she mockingly referred to them as "Nitwit Tower". (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"name":"\"TCoRR\"","page":"116","chaptnum":"Fifteen","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})

At some point after 2023, (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) the Fifteenth Doctor welcomed an individual into the TARDIS in London, with UNIT HQ visible as part of the skyline. (EXHIBIT: Travel Through Time and Space [+]Loading...["Travel Through Time and Space (exhibit)"])

In February 2024, Sergeant Darren, located in UNIT HQ, received a transmission across time from his friend and coworker Sasha, who had been stranded in the Dark Times by an encounter with the Entity. After they ascertained her coordinates, UNIT called the Doctor in as "reinforcements", and he managed to rescue her, bringing it back to the 21st century; Darren then proudly reported that she was "safe and sound in UNIT HQ" to his commander. (WC: Incoming Transmission - February Update Video [+]Loading...["Incoming Transmission - February Update Video (webcast)"])

Aoife Fitzgerald, a SIGNET member in York, once thought about the "imperious nearly-Avengers tower in the middle of London." (PROSE: I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So [+]Loading...["I'm So Normal I'm So Normal I'm So (short story)"])

The Vlinx broadcast to the Royal Albert Hall from its usual spot in UNIT HQ during Operation Maestro. (AUDIO: Pantheon of Discord [+]Loading...["Pantheon of Discord (audio story)"])

Other realities

In a timeline where a fairy circle was broken by the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday and the Doctor disappeared, Ruby went to visit the tower after her life had settled back into a sense of normality, despite the presence of a mysterious woman and absence of her mother Carla. A young man, Jordan, was working at its reception, and allowed Ace to meet with her to discuss her issue and refer her to Kate Stewart. (PROSE: 73 Yards [+]Loading...{"page":"78","1":"73 Yards (novelisation)"}) UNIT would later abandon Ruby due to the woman's influence. (PROSE: 73 Yards [+]Loading...{"page":"90-91","1":"73 Yards (novelisation)"})

As a result of the fairy circle being broken, time became "suspended" along that event, meaning that there were no further extraterrestrial threats to the human race. As a result, by 2046 what remained of UNIT Tower had been abandoned, and then redeveloped into The Unit, a complex with numerous restaurants and cafés on its lower levels, shopping arcades above them, and highly expensive housing from there up to the top, including a penthouse apartment on the floor with the helipad. It also featured a gymnasium to which residents had free access. Resolving to never give up on the Doctor, the tower's concierge, Osgood, was the only employee there that knew the building's previous status, but had signed the Official Secrets Act. Ruby could see the tower from her flat on the Powell Estate. (PROSE: 73 Yards [+]Loading...{"page":"145-146","1":"73 Yards (novelisation)"})

Behind the scenes

File:LeadenhallStreet.jpg
Leadenhall Street in the real world; the exact location of the UNIT HQ in the DWU.
To Ace's left is 11 Leadenhall Street (Starbucks) and 12 Leadenhall Street (Lloyd's building) and to her right is 122 Leadenhall Street (UNIT HQ in the DWU, the Leadenhall Building in the real world). The UNIT HQ in The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"] is located in the middle of this street.

This UNIT HQ, going off the on-screen geography seen in The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"], appears to be located the financial district of the City of London. However, upon analysing the position further, it makes less sense as it can be seen that the Scalpel and 40 Leadenhall Street are located to the immediate area east, the Leadenhall Building north, the Lloyd's building and Willis Building to the south, and the construction site of 1 Leadenhall Street to the west, thus placing the skyscraper in the middle of Leadenhall Street.

Furthermore, the UNIT HQ seen in The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"] is located where the Leadenhall Building is in real life; the road Ace parachutes down towards is Leadenhall Street. The Star Beast (set in late 2023) creates a minor continuity issue by showing that the Leadenhall Building is among London's skyline, despite that tower being non-existent during The Power of the Doctor (set in 2022). The Star Beast also posits that UNIT was able to clear the site of their imploded HQ, deal with the Cyber-Warriors entombed within, and construct their new tower all in the space of a year.

Additionally, the mini-episode The Promise [+]Loading...["The Promise (webcast)"] — released in 2019 and set approximately around that time — showed the City of London as it exists in the real world, including the Leadenhall Building, not the building occupied by UNIT in The Power of the Doctor.

Prior to the airing of The Giggle, the images of both the newly bigenerated Fifteenth Doctor, first seen in the trailer following The Power of the Doctor, and the Fourteenth Doctor preparing to "regenerate", as seen in the trailer following Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], were modified to remove the appearance of UNIT HQ.

Location information

Loading map...

Though it's possible that a real world location doesn't exist in the same geographic space in the Doctor Who universe, such cases are few and far between. Thus, the map to the right is probably a good indicator of the DWU location of UNIT HQ, City of London.

v • e
City of London
City of London • London • Greater London
Districts
Landmarks
Buildings & structures
Government
Military
UNIT HQ (1 • 2)
Cultural
Religious
Hospitality
Offices
Transport
Other
Roads & streets
Bridges & tunnels
Waterways
Services
Notable events
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