The Tertiary Console Room: Review - UNIT

"It's about time UNIT changed..."

The idea of a spin-off revolving around the United Intelligence Taskforce is such an obvious idea and yet it took last year's Doctor Who Unbound release Sympathy for the Devil to lead the way as to the best way to achieve such a series. Its presentation of UNIT as a modern and effective fighting force was light years away from the cosiness of the Pertwee era and it's a similar fresh, contemporary depiction that Big Finish have chosen to give UNIT here, which begins with The Coup - a special prelude given away free with the Doctor Who Magazine.

Written by Simon Guerrier, this introductory chapter suggests that the UNIT series' tone will be centred on combining intrigue with explosive action and if The Coup is anything to go by then it will prove a potent mix and very different from the "blood and thunder" invasion-of-the-week days of old. Wisely, this introduction focuses on the figure that embodies the traditional UNIT values and places him into the role of examining its changing role within society.

The short but capable script takes great delight in subverting expectations by greeting the listener with the news that UNIT is to be closed down, ceding its power to a new (shadier) organisation called the Internal Counter Intelligence Service. While it's obvious that this is never going to happen - it is after all UNIT and not ICIS - part of the fun of this play is anticipating how the transfer of power will be averted and it's not difficult to work out that this will fall to UNIT's former leader, the (still) retired Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart but who is now recognised by Big Finish as a General and also (somewhat belatedly as he might have attained this honour as early as Minuet In Hell) as a knight of the realm in honour of all those times he's saved the world. It's great to hear Nicholas Courtney back in action once more as he always seems to relish returning to his most famous role and his commanding presence proves a reassuring point of recognition amidst dangerous new times. Lethbridge-Stewart's solution to further the existence of UNIT is ingenious and unexpected, but also has potentially huge implications for future stories within this series which need to be examined.

The idea of the rival organisation also has plenty of potential to exploit for exciting drama. Guerrier quickly establishes the differing outlooks between ICIS's aggressive "kill-em-all" approach and UNIT's protective policies through the conflicting attitudes of the characters, although the ICIS characters veer towards stereotype too closely. Guerrier slowly reveals how their agenda differs from UNIT through the xenophobic hate demonstrated by their members and the brutality they will employ to achieve their aims. And given the status by the end of The Coup, they should prove dangerous adversaries to UNIT but if they are to play a sizeable role in the series to come, there must be some focus given to their leadership to give some balance.

With the play's duration running less than a single episode of the original Doctor Who series, there isn't must time to introduce all the new characters. Guerrier wisely chooses to focus on the partnership of old and new with Lethbridge-Stewart taking the lead and UNIT's new spin-doctor Colonel Emily Chaudhry lurking in the background, ready to step in and deal with the public fallout of UNIT's actions whenever needed. Her reaction to the pitched battle between a combined UNIT/ICIS force against a group of Silurians that opens this play is a perfect example of her work as she reassures a news reporter that this isn't an attack from an alien force but protesting London car drivers. Thanks to the casting of Siri O'Neal, who was simply stunning as Ruth in Full Fathom Five, her warm and seductive charm lends great credibility to this otherwise absurd suggestion and you get the feeling Emily is a woman who could make you believe whatever she wanted you to. While there is no time for significant character development, Guerrier is canny enough to give us just an impression of who Colonel Chaudhry is and O'Neal's impressive and appealing performance highlights the potential there is for this character for the remaining writers to build upon.

Listeners excited by cover's promise of Silurians may feel a bit disappointed as their role within The Coup is important, but small. Guerrier undermines lazy expectations once more, as these are not the archetypal resentful Silurians out to reclaim their world they frequently seem, but something altogether more interesting. If there is no development of the repercussions of the conclusion, then it will be a wasted opportunity to do something interesting with how the wider world would deal with knowledge of other life forms and the sort of problems this could create for an organisation such as UNIT. Indeed dealing with the sort of issue is the sort of direction that could form an intriguing basis of the new series as if UNIT has had to become more open to survive, how does that affect their work?

Producer Ian Farrington's directorial debut is crisp and efficient; while David Darlington's stylishly low-key electronic music creates a distinctive and individualistic atmosphere that suggests something vibrant and new. With the fast-paced script never lagging, The Coup is a tantalising glimpse of what we might expect from UNIT the series and by creating such a fascinating groundwork through its potential in terms of scenarios and characters, this is a very promising start to the new regime.