UNIT Recruiting Film (TV story)

UNIT Recruiting Film
Main character(s):	Narrator
Featuring:	the Brigadier
Key crew
Writer:	Kevin Davies
Director:	Kevin Davies
Producer:	Caroline Wright
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	17 December 1993
Premiere network:	BBC One
Doctor Who and the Daleks
← Previous	Police 5: The Master

UNIT Recruiting Film was a short 1993 comedic television story regarding UNIT. It was broadcast for the 30th anniversary year of Doctor Who.

It aired on BBC One alongside the final episode of Planet of the Daleks, as part of a series of featurettes called Doctor Who and the Daleks. This video was a marketing stunt to promote the repeats.

Synopsis

Ever thought about joining UNIT, even with the high death count?

Plot

The narrator of the film, a UNIT soldier, tells of his experiences serving in this international military/scientific taskforce, while Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart tells the story of UNIT's beginnings and encourages the public to "unite with UNIT and save the world".

Cast

• Narrator - Dexter Fletcher
• Voice of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney

Crew

• Writer - Kevin Davies
• Director - Kevin Davies
• Producer - Caroline Wright
• Executive producer - John Whiston

Story notes

• Towards the end of this featurette, a telephone number, 071 757 7047, was given on-screen for anyone interested in joining UNIT (which has been edited out for DVD). Those who did call the number heard a recorded message from Nicholas Courtney in character as the Brigadier, who congratulated the caller on passing what was actually a UNIT initiative test, before announcing the news that The Green Death was to be repeated on BBC Two in the New Year. (Please note: the aforementioned telephone number is now no longer valid.)
• UNIT Recruiting Film and The Antique Doctor Who Show are the only 30th anniversary specials in the Doctor Who and the Daleks featurette series to be made available commercially as DVD extras. Three of the other four, Bigger Inside Than Out, I Was That Monster and Police 5: The Master, remain off-limits for DVD and Blu-ray due to a variety of copyright and clearance problems — for example, Bigger Inside Than Out used newsreel footage that would be very expensive, if not impossible, to clear for commercial release. The situation regarding the three aforementioned featurettes is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. The remaining featurette, Missing in Action, will never be released as a DVD or Blu-ray extra for various legal reasons.

Continuity

to be added

Home media

• The featurette was released as an extra on the DVD releases of Spearhead from Space and Spearhead from Space: Special Edition.