UNIT:Assignment Earth

nezza

Chapter 1: And So It Begins

"I've never hid my dislike of Dr Who. I thought it was silly and too violent but I also knew it was pulling in 10 million viewers a week. Brian was inspired casting and he and Nicola were a great double act. So bearing all that in mind when JNT came to me with an idea I had to put my personal feelings to one side and listen to him"

Michael Grade talking in 1993.

"The notion of a spin-off on British Television was something of a novelty in the mid 1980's. The USA were past masters of this and were making it a ratings and financial success. In 1985 I had been in the states for meetings with NBC about Brian's second series. One night at the hotel I was channel switching and saw the start of The Colbys. The next day I read that it topped the ratings and that started me thinking"

John Nathan Turner 1994

"Looking back now I think I can say that that was the moment the Saturday Night Wars started. The BBC had set in motion this incredible lineup and we had to match them simply to keep parity"

Greg Dyke, Director of Programmes ABC Television 1986 to 1991. Talking in 2005

"I remember thinking that we were in trouble"

Anthony Simmons-Gooding. Chief Executive British Satellite Broadcasting speaking in 2000.
 

nezza

British Television in 1984
BBC1 and 2

ITV as OTL but with following divergences:
No Border Television, ABC and ATV still exist as programme producers. No separate breakfast licence. Good Morning is run by ITN and Thames with regional optouts.

Channel 4.
 

nezza

"I wanted a writer with a proven track record. Someone with an ability to weave humour with action. There was only one man I knew of and that was Brian Clemens

JNT 1994
 

nezza

Radio Times August 1985:
vlcsnap-2019-03-04-20h10m54s661.png


Any thoughts?
 

nezza

Certainly.

Its a variation on a theme. I'm basing it on the timeline "Who's The Doctor" It starts in 1984 and looks not just at the creation and transmission of the first DW spinoff "UNIT" but also at how that programme plus others created what will become the "Saturday Night War". A ratings battle initially between the BBC and ITV but as the late 80's and early 90's approach bringing in other players specifically BSB and Sky. This will look at how Films, sports (not just football but both NWA and WWF) and entertainment will lead to at least a decade long clash between 5 networks.

(NB a warning. This TL will have references to both football hooliganism and tragedy, specifically Heysel and Hillsborough and censorship)

BTW the sixth doctor is Brian Blessed.
 

tallthinkev

Nice idea, couple of points.
Who is going to be in a new UNIT the Brig is retried, Yates 'left' sometime before and to have Benton in charge, well he was an NCO, if of course it is set in 1985.
A totally new cast could well be, well not good. Spin offs will little or no continuity from the first program have not always been well excepted.
Were's the money going to come from? Doctor Who was being starved of funds at the time so this new program is unlikely to have any money at all.
A much better option would be an idea from 1978, I think, Jago and Litefoot. They have had 11+ cd's out on Big Finish
 

nezza

The new UNIT will be a spin off from a DW episode where the Doctor is invited to a reunion but discovers the sea devils are still alive. The story will be a backdoor pilot.
In this TL even though Grade still hates the show he puts business first and invests.
As regards J and L. Watch and see.

Thanks for the feedback.
 

nezza

Chapter 2: Heavens Above

"We thought that we were going to have a clean run.We had the money, we had the backing and we were the establishment choice. As far as I was concerned we were going to be the third network"

Simmonds-Gooding, 2000

"The new consortium to be called British Satellite Broadcasting or BSB will initially offer six stations each with a specific programming style.

A general entertainment channel called Galaxy will be offer general entertainment and will mix new programmes along with a 'best of British' selection from both the BBC and ITV
Screen will be a 24-hour movie station and will initially be the only pay channel for an estimated £7 per month
Stadium will show sports around the clock
Zigzag will show programmes for children and teenagers
Now will be a 24 hour rolling news station in the vein of the US' CNN. ITN will be providing regular bulletins for the channel.
Performance will be an arts channels showing opera, musical performances and documentaries."

With a launch date of Spring 1988 its set to be a frantic time but BSB are confident that they will be on air.."

ITN report 1985
 

NOMISYRRUC

nezza said:
ITV as OTL but with following divergences:
No Border Television, ABC and ATV still exist as programme producers. No separate breakfast licence. Good Morning is run by ITN and Thames with regional optouts
Click to expand...
Is this the ABC which IOTL was forced by the ITA to merge with Associated-Rediffusion to form Thames?
 

tallthinkev

Another few points if I may, the last post. Film not movies, and sport not sports. Also don't think rolling news would be used at that time, at least not in the UK. A 24 hour news station more than likely.
 

nezza

tallthinkev said:
Another few points if I may, the last post. Film not movies, and sport not sports. Also don't think rolling news would be used at that time, at least not in the UK. A 24 hour news station more than likely.
Click to expand...

Slight grammatical error. With the news channel I agree that rolling news in 1985 would have been highly unlikely.

NOMISYRRUC said:
Is this the ABC which IOTL was forced by the ITA to merge with Associated-Rediffusion to form Thames?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's right. In this TL ABC was owned by the Kemsley-Winnick Group who in real-life was one of the original licensees:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemsley-Winnick_Television
 

Lord Wyclif

With Brian Clemens involved, there would be plenty of ‘hard men’ actors who could be UNIT members.
Martin Shaw
Lewis Collins
Bill Murray
Denis Waterman
Patrick Mower
Ray Winston
Bob Hoskins etc
Though UNIT soldiers usually there to get exterminates by darleks
 
Emote Control

Emote Control

Lord Wyclif said:
With Brian Clemens involved, there would be plenty of ‘hard men’ actors who could be UNIT members.
Martin Shaw
Lewis Collins
Bill Murray
Denis Waterman
Patrick Mower
Ray Winston
Bob Hoskins etc
Though UNIT soldiers usually there to get exterminates by darleks
Click to expand...

I know it's the 80s, but UNIT should have female representation.
 

Lord Wyclif

Joanna lumley from sapphire & steel and the new avengers
Jenna Knyvette and Jacquline Pearse both from Blake’s 7
 
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nezza

I'm delighted with the response so far. Thanks a lot. I shall return to UNIT later but in the meantime...

"When I heard what he was doing I was dumbstruck. It was as if someone had plunged a knife into my heart. I thought 'you bastard'."

Simmonds-Gooding 2000

BSB faces rival network

" A battle for the new satellite television market in the UK was launched yesterday when it was revealed that Rupert Murdoch's News International is to create its own network to rival British Satellite Broadcasting.
Sky Television based in Luxembourg but broadcasting from London will beam 5 new stations into the country thus locking horns with the government backed service.

The channels will be:
Sky Channel showing general entertainment
Sky Movies, a subscription based station
Eurosport, Sky News and the Disney Channel.

Murdoch who was defeated in the big to gain the IBA's licence said in conference yesterday

"We will be providing a real choice for viewers and give BSB and the rest a real run for their money"

This will leave viewers with a choice of networks and systems to buy"

Ray Snoddy Financial Times 1985
 

NOMISYRRUC

nezza said:
Yes, that's right. In this TL ABC was owned by the Kemsley-Winnick Group who in real-life was one of the original licensees:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemsley-Winnick_Television
Click to expand...
AFAIK the ex-ABC people became the dominant force within Thames. An alternative Thames could dramatically change ITV's output in the 1970s and 1980s ITTL.

E.g. Cosgrove-Hall was a subsidiary of Thames. Therefore, we might not have Dangermouse ITTL.

Another subsidiary was Euston Films, whose output included The Sweeney, Widows, Minder, Van der Valk and The Knowledge. IIRC Nigel Hawthorne's performance in the latter helped him get the part of Sir Humphrey Appleby.
 
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