Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About UNIT
1. The Real-Life United Nations Forced UNIT To Rebrand
As part of the promotion for Doctor Who's return in 2005, various dummy websites were set up to reflect various aspects of the new show.
Clive's Who is Doctor Who website listed various sightings of the Doctor through the years, which includes a brilliant UNIT reference from someone who claims that their uncle used to work in an "over-rated army base."
The other website launched by the BBC was www.unit.org.uk, which raised a few eyebrows at the real-life United Nations. In a letter dated 22 April 2005, the UN explained that the BBC was guilty of unauthorised use of the United Nations' name and emblem.
The BBC break the Geneva Convention and their website editor is threatened with extraction to Hauge and be tried for his crimes. (2005) pic.twitter.com/oSGFQn5Lcn
— Crazy Ass Moments in Doctor Who History (@DrWhoMoment) August 3, 2022
The letter read, in part, that "the use of the United Nations name and emblem without the authorization of the Secretary-General" is strictly prohibited. The BBC actually thought this was a hoax at first, before hastily changing UNIT's name from "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce" to "Unified Intelligence Taskforce".
All that just for Chris Chibnall to shut down UNIT in 2019 with a throwaway line of dialogue!