10 Doctor Who Questions That Always Confused You
4. When Do The UNIT Stories Take Place?
The UNIT dating controversy is a running debate in Doctor Who fandom. Were the UNIT stories of the Troughton and Pertwee eras taking place in the present day or the future? If the future, then how has the Brigadier resigned to teach maths in 1976 during Mawdryn Undead?
UNIT's debut story The Invasion is set in about 1979, so how can a man retire from an organisation that won't exist for another three years? If that wasn't bad enough, Sarah Jane Smith states that she's from 1980 in Pyramids of Mars. So in what year do stories like Invasion of the Dinosaurs or Robot take place?
It's a question that has flummoxed fans for decades, with attempts to resolve it all in various novels, audios and even DVD special features. The real answer is probably the simplest, the Brigadier wasn't supposed to be in Mawdryn Undead. William Russell, who was originally due to return as Ian Chesterton dropped out. Writer Peter Grimwade hastily rewrote the serial by slotting Lethbridge-Stewart in, adding some lines about UNIT, Axons, Daleks etc. but he forgot to adjust the dates accordingly.
More simply, time is constantly being rewritten and reshaped in Doctor Who, so it's probably for the best that Chris Chibnall upturned the apple cart with the Grand Serpent's meddling with UNIT chronology in Flux.