Russell T Davies prepares to return to his former post as showrunner, it's hoped that the next era of the BBC franchise will finally give UNIT the attention—and hopefully the spin-off series—that it deserves. After all, the potential is certainly there.
Featured prominently during the classic years of Doctor Who, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce was reintroduced by Russell T Davies for the show's revival, where they assisted the Tenth Doctor aboard the Sycorax spacecraft on Christmas Day in 2006. Martha Jones, a former companion of the Time Lord, even ended up working for them, and they played their most significant part in the revived series during Steven Moffat's run as showrunner, led by Jemma Redgrave's formidable Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. When the controversial Chris Chibnall picked up the baton in 2017, however, he elected to cut down UNIT's involvement in the "Whoniverse" drastically, though they finally returned during Doctor Who season 13 (aka Flux).
While the task force has played a key part in almost every era of Doctor Who, the modern series has, thus far, failed UNIT in one, simple regard: it deserves a televised spin-off venture and has yet to receive one. A hypothetical UNIT spin-off would be the perfect vehicle to showcase the inevitable alien incursions that take place while the Doctor is away on their travels through the cosmos, in the same vein as Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Class. It would also work perfectly as a way of bringing back former Doctor Who nemeses and characters without overloading the mothership show with cameos. Granted, Big Finish has released several lines of incredible audio dramas which focus on UNIT, but it would nevertheless work just as well on-screen too.
How Russell T. Davies Can Fix Doctor Who's UNIT
With the return of Russell T Davies as showrunner and executive producer of Doctor Who on the horizon, now would be a better time than ever to offer UNIT its long-overdue televised solo series. Davies is, after all, responsible for the conception of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, both of which are the BBC flagship show's most successful ventures into the world of expanded media. A series focused on UNIT would undoubtedly tick all of the same boxes and more, as the premise is arguably more mainstream, and since the Unified Intelligence Taskforce is a world-leading organization, the scope and scale would be greater than that of preceding spin-offs.
Prior to being offered a return to his former post, Russell T Davies confessed (the future of Doctor Who has never been brighter.