UNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Operating under the auspices of the United Nations and initially led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, its purpose is to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to Earth. Several UNIT personnel (such as the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton and Mike Yates) played a major role in the original Doctor Who series, and it was a regular feature from The Invasion (1968) until The Seeds of Doom (1976).
Originally referred to as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, executive producer Russell T Davies said in 2005 that the UN was no longer happy to be associated with the fictional organisation and the UN's full name could now no longer be used. However, the "UNIT" and "UN" abbreviations could be used as long as it was not explained what the letters stood for. In 2008, he announced that the organisation's name had been changed to the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. This new name was first mentioned on-screen in "The Sontaran Stratagem", also in 2008, in which it was indicated in a line of dialogue that the United Nations still supports UNIT with funding.