The new era of Doctor Who looks set to expand as speculation of a potential spin-off focusing on the Unified Intelligence Taskforce (abbreviated to UNIT), with Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) leading the new series emerged online.
The BBC has yet to confirm the rumours surrounding the spin-off. Reported by The Radio Times, the outlet described the spin-off as a “Torchwood-style series” based on the fictional organisation first established in 1968’s “The Web of Fear.”
The six-part story, one of which is almost entirely missing from the BBC Archives, featured Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor and marked a debut for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (the late Nicholas Courtney). Kate, the Brigadier’s daughter, first appeared in 2012’s “The Power of Three” and has featured alongside the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors in later stories. In 2009, Torchwood writer Phil Ford told the Radio Times he’d “always wanted to see more done with UNIT. I’ve always thought there’s stuff we could do with UNIT there.”
The prospect of a shared universe has been gaining momentum for some time now, with Russell T Davies recently confirming that the “next stage” of the long-running sci-fi series would include spin-offs, which he says are “ready.”
Now, all we’ve got to do is hope the BBC will announce a Time War series and the return of Torchwood, which has been absent from our screens for over a decade. Doctor Who is set to materialise on our televisions in November 2023, with three special episodes planned. The series is available to stream via the BBC iPlayer, with classic episodes available on Britbox. What are you most excited to see from the future of the series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!