Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, fully Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, created by writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln and played by Nicholas Courtney.[1] He is one of the founders of UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, later Unified Intelligence Taskforce), an international organisation that defends Earth from alien threats, and serves as commander of the British contingent. Presented at first as reluctant to accept the continuing aid of the Doctor, over time the Brigadier became one of the Doctor's greatest friends and his principal ally in defending Earth.
As one of the series' most prominent recurring characters over its history, the Brigadier appeared in 23 stories during the original run of Doctor Who, first appearing in the 1968 serial The Web of Fear opposite the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). The character made frequent appearances on the series following the introduction of the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) in 1970's Spearhead from Space. His final appearance in the program was in 1989's Battlefield opposite the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy). Nearly 20 years later, Courtney reprised the role in the DVD Special Feature called "Liberty Hall" in 2009 written by Karen Davies and directed by Brendan Sheppard in which the Brigadier was interviewed by a Times journalist. Then he finally appeared in the spin-off programme The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2008,[2] his last appearance prior to Courtney's death in 2011. That year, Doctor Who later paid tribute to Courtney by announcing the Brigadier had died with a line of dialogue in "The Wedding of River Song". Later still, a Cyberman avatar of the Brigadier also appears, and achieves some closure with the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi), in "Death in Heaven" (2014).
The 2012 episode "The Power of Three" introduced the Brigadier's daughter, new UNIT chief Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave). The character was originally created in the unlicensed video spin-off Downtime in 1995, in which the Brigadier also appeared. Kate becomes a recurring character making appearances alongside every Doctor from the Tenth to the Fifteenth.
Most of the stories about the Third Doctor were set on Earth and feature UNIT and the Brigadier heavily. While not as ubiquitous in following years, he appeared alongside every subsequent Doctor in the original television series run, excluding the Sixth Doctor, with whom he appeared only in the 30th anniversary special, Dimensions in Time in 1993. Although Lethbridge-Stewart first met the Doctor in his second incarnation, he also met and worked with the First Doctor in the opening serial of the 10th anniversary season, The Three Doctors and again in the 20th-anniversary special, "The Five Doctors". He eventually retired from the military to teach mathematics at an English public school in 1976, as seen in Mawdryn Undead (1983). The Brigadier and the Sixth Doctor, as well as later incarnations of the Doctor, have been paired in numerous spin-off productions (see Other appearances).
Lethbridge-Stewart's last appearance in a Doctor Who television episode was in 1989, in the Seventh Doctor serial Battlefield. Called out of retirement to deal with an other-dimensional invasion of armoured knights led by Morgaine, he found himself once again at the Doctor's side. Lethbridge-Stewart served as his world's champion as he faced down and killed the demonic Destroyer of Worlds armed only with his service revolver and a load of silver-tipped bullets. (Battlefield was stated to be a few years into Ace's future but not a specific date. The Virgin New Adventures books place it in 1997.)
Little was shown of Lethbridge-Stewart's life outside UNIT in the television series. Planet of the Spiders referred to a relationship with a woman called Doris. By Battlefield, he was married to her (played by Angela Douglas). It was Courtney's own belief that the Brigadier had been in a previous marriage to a woman named Fiona, and that he and Doris were having an affair; his first marriage ended due to his work.[5]
Although Lethbridge-Stewart never appeared in the revived series, the character is still alive during the Tenth Doctor's tenure. In the spin-off programme The Sarah Jane Adventures story Revenge of the Slitheen, Sarah Jane Smith says to "give [her] love to the Brig". In the Tenth Doctor episode "The Poison Sky", the Doctor mentions that he could use the help of "the Brigadier". He is then told that "Sir Alistair" is "stranded in Peru", indicating that the Brigadier has been knighted by this time. The first film footage from the classic era to appear in the revived era was his photograph displayed in the slow pan across Sarah Jane Smith's attic in the opening scene of The Sarah Jane Adventures' première, Invasion of the Bane.
In 2008, Courtney again reprised the role in a The Sarah Jane Adventures story, Enemy of the Bane, and confirmed his knighthood repeatedly: Major Kilburne and Sarah Jane each address him as "Sir Alistair" and he later introduces himself fully as "Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart" to Mrs. Wormwood. This episode refers back to the Peru mission as there is mention of him being de-briefed about it. Sarah Jane asks Lethbridge-Stewart to assist her in accessing UNIT's "Black Archive", a top secret alien artefact facility first alluded to by Douglas Cavendish to Sir Alistair's daughter in Dæmos Rising. Sarah Jane prefers to avoid seeking official clearance, to avoid awkward questions about Luke, her artificially-grown son. In his old age, the Brigadier has developed a dislike for the new way UNIT works and often refers to events that happened in "his day". He walks with a walking stick now, but is seen driving a Bentley T-series to UNIT's "Black Archive". His wife (presumably Doris) is mentioned in this episode. The Brigadier assists Sarah Jane and Rani in escaping UNIT and later confronts a Bane disguised as a UNIT officer, shooting him dead with a gun hidden within his cane.
In The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde Langer tells Peter Dalton that the Brigadier cannot make it to the wedding because he is back in Peru. It had been intended by the production team that Lethbridge-Stewart would indeed appear in the story and meet the Tenth Doctor, but Courtney was recovering from a stroke and unable to take part.[6] He is reported to be in Peru for a third time in Death of the Doctor (2010). Clyde describes him as being Sarah Jane's oldest friend; Sarah Jane met both the Doctor and Sir Alistair in the first episode of the Third Doctor serial, The Time Warrior (1974).
In 2009, Courtney reprised the role for a final time in the short film Liberty Hall, an extra for Mawdryn Undead's DVD release. The film is a seven-minute mockumentary where a fictional journalist interviews the Brigadier about his life. The Brigadier discusses his marriages with Fiona and Doris, and mentions his daughter Kate and grandson Gordon (referencing Downtime). He states that his most recent encounter with the Doctor took place in 2000, when he was on unofficial UNIT business in Malebolgia in the United States (referencing the Eighth Doctor audio drama Minuet in Hell). He concludes, "So, now I've hung up my uniform for good... unless I hear that a blue police box has been found somewhere, and then, don't you worry, I'll be ready!"[7]
Sometime later, the Brigadier becomes ill and is moved into a nursing home.[8] In 2011's "The Wedding of River Song", the Eleventh Doctor rings the nursing home to have the Brigadier made ready for a trip; a nurse regretfully informs him that the Brigadier died peacefully "a few months ago" and had spoken well of him often, insisting a glass always be kept ready for him in case he turned up. The Doctor is visibly shattered by the news, which forces him to realise that he can't avoid his predestined death.[9]
In the 2014 episode "Death in Heaven", Missy (the regenerated female Master) resurrects the Earth's dead as flight-capable Cybermen. The Brigadier's daughter Kate is apparently killed falling from a plane during a Cybermen attack. Overcoming his programming, the converted Danny Pink commands the Cybermen to sacrifice themselves to thwart Missy's plan. The Doctor prepares to execute Missy, but is preempted by a lone surviving Cyberman, who seemingly vaporizes her with a forearm-mounted ray-gun. Finding that the Cyberman has rescued Kate, the Doctor realizes it is the converted Brigadier, saying "Of course! Earth's darkest hour, and mine. Where else would you be?" Overcome with emotion, the Doctor salutes him – something Kate said her father had always wanted – and the Brigadier fires his leg jets and flies away. What happens to him afterward is left unknown.
In the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time", the First and Twelfth Doctors unwittingly intervene when Testimony, an organization in the far future that collect memories from those about to die, retrieve a seemingly-innocuous captain in the First World War from the moment before his death, the temporal anomaly of the two Doctors resisting their imminent regenerations disrupting Testimony's efforts to return the captain to his scheduled death. The Doctors are able to bend the rules and return the captain to a point a couple of hours after he was taken out of time, in time for his life to be saved by the Christmas truce. Before he returns to time, the captain reveals that his name is Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart, suggesting that he is a relative of the Brigadier. Although not confirmed on-screen, Gatiss later confirmed in an interview with Radio Times that the character is one of the Brigadier's grandfathers. [10]
The Brigadier and the Sixth Doctor were paired in the two-part charity special Dimensions in Time and the Big Finish audio play, The Spectre of Lanyon Moor. The Sixth Doctor also meets the Brigadier in the novel Business Unusual, also purporting to be the first meeting of the two characters, subsequently working together in The Shadow in the Glass to track down the newly discovered Fourth Reich; in the short story "Brief Encounter: A Wee Deoch an..?", written by Sixth Doctor actor Colin Baker and published in Doctor Who Magazine Winter Special, 1991, they cross paths but neither realises it. The Brigadier has also appeared with the Eighth Doctor in the novel The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks (set after the events of the TV Movie and during moments of The Doctors' past lives) in audio plays and the novels The Dying Days and The Shadows of Avalon. The Tenth Doctor met the Brigadier in the Doctor Who Magazine comic The Warkeeper's Crown.
The Brigadier and his family have made several appearances in the spin-off media. The spin-off UNIT videos Downtime and Dæmos Rising feature Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the Brigadier's daughter from his marriage to his first wife, Fiona (first named in the Missing AdventureThe Scales of Injustice by Gary Russell). Also appearing was Kate's young son, Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Kate also played her UNIT role in the fiftieth anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor" (2013).
The novels also gave Lethbridge-Stewart another offspring. While on duty in Sierra Leone as a young lieutenant, Lethbridge-Stewart met and was intimate with a local girl named Mariatu, the daughter of a village chief, and unknown to Lethbridge-Stewart, she had a son. This was first hinted at in Ben Aaronovitch's novelisation of his 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks, which featured quotes from a fictional history of UNIT (The Zen Military) written by a Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart (Mariatu's granddaughter) in 2006. In the 1992 New Adventures novel Transit (also by Aaronovitch, and set in the 22nd Century), the Seventh Doctor meets the adopted daughter of General Yembe Lethbridge-Stewart, one of Mariatu's descendants. This daughter, also named Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart, went on to become a recurring character in the New Adventures.
The novels have also fleshed out the Brigadier's ancestry, establishing that he comes from a long-standing military family. In the New Adventures novel The Dying Days by Lance Parkin, he talks about three ancestors who reached the rank of general. One, William Lethbridge-Stewart, was in the retinue of James VI of Scotland and I of England. The other two fought at Naseby and Waterloo. The Scales of Injustice names the latter as Major-General Fergus Lethbridge-Stewart. The Brigadier also says in The Dying Days that his father died in World War II, fighting alongside Field-Marshal Montgomery in Africa.
In the novels, Lethbridge-Stewart emerged from retirement again during the events of The Dying Days where he dealt with an invasion of Ice Warriors from Mars in 1997. At the end of that novel he was promoted to General. Lethbridge-Stewart was subsequently rejuvenated with alien technology in Happy Endings by Paul Cornell, taking place in 2010. The rejuvenated Lethbridge-Stewart, widowed as a result of an accident at sea but back with the military, next appeared in the BBC BooksEighth Doctor Adventures novel The Shadows of Avalon, also by Cornell, where he still held the rank of General but preferred to be called "the Brigadier". According to The King of Terror by Keith Topping, Lethbridge-Stewart eventually passes away in the early 2050s.
Courtney played the Brigadier in two BBC Radio 4Doctor Who plays set during the Third Doctor's era, The Paradise of Death (1993) and The Ghosts of N-Space (1996), alongside Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. For Big Finish, he has played the part of Lethbridge-Stewart in several plays, with Minuet in Hell revealing that he played a role in the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and also that he does covert work for the UN as a plausibly deniable agent. He also played an alternate universe version of the Brigadier in the Doctor Who Unbound play Sympathy for the Devil, opposite David Warner as the Doctor and David Tennant (later cast as the Tenth Doctor) as Colonel Brimmecombe-Wood. At the conclusion of Sympathy, the alternate Brigadier- referred to as 'Alistair'- joins Warner's Doctor as his companion, but after an unspecified amount of time travelling together, they part ways in the later audio Masters of War, when the two arrive on Skaro and force the Daleks and the Thals to join forces to fight off an invasion by a race known as the Quatch, Alistair remaining once the Quatch are defeated to help the two sides maintain their new truce.
In December 2004, Big Finish released the first of a series of UNIT-based audio plays, where General Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart acted as a consultant to a new generation of officers and by series' end became UNIT's new Scientific Advisor. If the events in this series are to be reconciled with the books, these plays would seem to take place between the events of The Dying Days and Happy Endings, as this version of Lethbridge-Stewart does not seem to be rejuvenated. Also, the public does not believe in existence of aliens, which would appear to place it before the events of "The Christmas Invasion".
In the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip story Warkeeper's Crown (DWM #378–380), Lethbridge-Stewart made a reappearance alongside the Tenth Doctor after being kidnapped by Warlords as a tactical commander. He was an old officer stationed at Sandhurst.
A series of novels featuring the young Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart has been published by Candy Jar Books since 2015. The novels are licensed by the literary estate of co-creator Mervyn Haisman and endorsed by Henry Lincoln.
In 2017, The Third Doctor Adventures- Volume Five features Jon Culshaw acting as the Brigadier in a series of audios set during the Third Doctor's era.
In The Legacy of Time, a special six-part audio to celebrate Big Finish's twentieth anniversary of producing Doctor Who-related audios, the story The Sacrifice of Jo Grant sees Jo Grant and Kate Stewart of the present day being sent back to the 1970s by a series of temporal rifts, where they meet the Third Doctor as he investigates the anomalies in his time. While Kate attempts to avoid introducing herself to limit the risk of a paradox, the Doctor realizes her identity and convinces her to call her father, introducing herself as the commander of UNIT in the future without identifying herself by name, with the Brigadier (voiced by Jon Culshaw once again) telling her that he is assured that the future of UNIT is in good hands.
Minuet in Hell (with the Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard)
Zagreus (the TARDIS creates a holographic projection in the form of the Brigadier)
Sympathy for the Devil (Doctor Who Unbound series, out of normal Doctor Who continuity; travels with an alternate Third Doctor)
Masters of War (Doctor Who Unbound series, out of normal Doctor Who continuity; leaves an alternate Third Doctor after facing an alternate Davros and the Daleks)
The Face of the Enemy by David A. McIntee (Third Doctor's era; works with Benton, Yates, Ian, Barbara and the Master in the absence of the Third Doctor and Jo)
Deep Blue by Mark Morris (set in the Third Doctor's era but working with the Fifth, Tegan & Turlough; also Benton & Yates)
"Final Genesis" by Warwick Gray and Colin Andrew (Doctor Who Magazine 203: cameo appearance in parallel universe)
"Mark of Mandragora" by Dan Abnett (Doctor Who Magazine 167–172: has a small role as most of the UNIT leader's role is carried out by Muriel Frost)
"The Warkeeper's Crown" by Alan Barnes (Doctor Who Magazine 378–380)
"The Forgotten" by Tony Lee (writer) and Pia Guerra (artist) (IDW Publishing Issue #2: has a small part in the Third Doctor's segment)
"Prisoners of Time" by Scott and David Tipton. Issue three and issue twelve.
References outside of Doctor Who
The character also appears briefly in a cameo role at the end of writer Paul Cornell's novelisation of the 1997 ITV science-fiction serial The Uninvited. Although the character is not named in the book, the description is that of Lethbridge-Stewart and Cornell later admitted that this was indeed his intention.
Marvel Comics' Excalibur featured an organisation called W.H.O. (the Weird Happenings Organisation) run by a Brigadier Alysande Stuart. Her twin brother Alistaire was WHO's "scientific advisor" (the role the Doctor had in UNIT). A character named "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart" had earlier appeared in three panels of Uncanny X-Men #218, supervising the arrest of the Juggernaut in Edinburgh, where he also calls out to a "Sergeant-Major Benton" at one point.
An unnamed army brigadier, who looks and acts very similar to Lethbridge-Stewart, appears in the comic strip Caballistics, Inc. He first appeared in the story Going Underground, where he is in charge of the army's response following a demon invasion of the London Underground; a member of his SAS team refers to "bloody robot yetis" having been down there once. He shows up again in the story Ashes, in charge of the military response to a devastating attack on Glasgow. This character is one of several references to both the Doctor Who universe and other sci-fi/horror properties in Caballistics.
Although unnamed, two characters strongly resembling Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton (who was specifically named) appear in the John M. FordStar Trek novel How Much for Just the Planet? at a rather treacherous golf course on the planet Direidi.
Similarly to Alysande Stuart, the comic book Jack Staff includes Commander Liz Stewart of S.M.I.L.E. (Secret Military Intelligence Lethal Executive).
The Brigadier was referenced in name in the ABC Family show The Middleman. In the episode "The Clotharian Contamination Protocol", Wendy and The Middleman go to check out a returned Voyager probe. However, a nearby NASA listening station team also arrives. Using their random IDs, and due to the quick thinking of the Middleman, they are intimidated into leaving. As they go, the Middleman calls out the other team's lead, "Mr... Lethbridge-Stewart, if that is your real name!"
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 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).
Harry Sullivan is a fictional character from the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who and is a companion of the Fourth Doctor. Played by Ian Marter, the character appears as a regular during the programme's twelfth season in 1974–1975. Harry appeared in 7 stories.
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running BBC Television science fiction series Doctor Who and two of its spin-offs. Sarah Jane is a dogged investigative journalist who first encounters alien time traveller the Doctor while trying to break a story on a top secret research facility, and subsequently becomes his travelling companion on a series of adventures spanning the breadth of space and time. After travelling with The Doctor in four seasons of the show they suddenly part ways, and after this she continues to investigate strange goings-on back on Earth. Over time, Sarah Jane establishes herself as a committed defender of Earth from alien invasions and other threats, occasionally reuniting with The Doctor in the course of her own adventures, all the while continuing to work as a freelance investigative journalist.
Reeltime Pictures Ltd is a British film, television and video production company and a distributor of the films of other companies, founded in 1984 by Keith Barnfather.
The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates. Consequently, both the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Preceded in regeneration by the Second Doctor, he is followed by the Fourth Doctor.
William Nicholas Stone Courtney was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was best known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Sergeant John Benton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by John Levene. He was the senior NCO of the British contingent of UNIT, a fictional international organisation that defends Earth from alien threats, and is eventually promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1, holding the post of regimental sergeant major. He appeared semi-regularly on the programme from 1968 to 1975.
Captain Mike Yates is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Richard Franklin. He was adjutant of the British contingent of UNIT, an international organization that defends Earth from alien threats.
Josephine "Jo" Grant, later Jo Jones, is a fictional character played by Katy Manning in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Jo was introduced by Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks in the first episode of Doctor Who's eighth season (1971) as a new companion of series protagonist the Doctor, in his third incarnation. After the Doctor's previous companion Liz Shaw, a scientist and intellectual, the production team looked to introduce a less experienced companion to act as an audience surrogate. Jo appeared in 15 stories.
Downtime is a direct-to-video spin-off of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was produced by the independent production company Reeltime Pictures. It is a sequel to the Second Doctor serials The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and The Web of Fear (1968).
The Ghosts of N-Space is a radio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was recorded in 1994 and finally broadcast in six parts on BBC Radio 2 from 20 January to 24 February 1996. This was the second Third Doctor radio play, following The Paradise of Death in 1993. Plans for subsequent serials were abandoned after the death of Jon Pertwee in May 1996.
Simon A. Forward is an English author and dramatist most famous for his work on a variety of Doctor Who spin-offs. He lives and works in Penzance as a full-time writer.
The Auton trilogy is a series of direct-to-video spin-off productions based on the long running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who. The three films in the series are Auton (1997), Auton 2: Sentinel and Auton 3. They were produced by the independent BBV company and are sequels to the Third Doctor stories Spearhead from Space and Terror of the Autons. All three films have been reissued on DVD.
Wartime is a 1988 direct-to-video science fiction film produced by Reeltime Pictures. It is the first professionally produced, authorized independent spin-off of the British television series Doctor Who, and the only such production to be made while the original run of the show was still on the air.
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, or shares adventures with, the Doctor. A companion is generally the series' co-lead character alongside the Doctor for the duration of their tenure, and in most Doctor Who stories acts as an audience surrogate by providing the lens through which the viewer is introduced to the story, and often, the series itself.
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith is the third serial of the third series of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. The two-part story was first broadcast on BBC One on 29 and 30 October 2009. It guest stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, marking the first appearance of parent programme Doctor Who's main character in a spin-off show. The episode includes the final scenes David Tennant recorded during his first tenure as the Doctor.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, also known as Kate Stewart, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was initially created by writer Marc Platt and was played by Beverley Cressman in the independent direct-to-video spin-offs Downtime (1995) and Dæmos Rising (2004). Kate was re-introduced by writer Chris Chibnall in the 2012 episode "The Power of Three" played by Jemma Redgrave, who continued to reprise the role in a recurring capacity through 2024. She will star as a lead character of the upcoming spin-off series The War Between the Land and the Sea, which began filming in September 2024.
Enemy of the Bane is the sixth and final serial of the second series of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It first aired in two weekly parts on the CBBC channel on 1 and 8 December 2008. This story was originally intended to be a crossover with the modern Doctor Who series; Russell T Davies, an executive producer of Doctor Who and creator of The Sarah Jane Adventures reveals in his non-fiction book Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale that former companion Martha Jones was intended to appear in the two-parter, but had to be replaced with classic series character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart "at the last minute" due to Freema Agyeman's role in the ITV series Law & Order: UK, making this the last episode to have Courtney as the Brigadier prior to his death in 2011.
The Third Doctor Adventures is a sci-fi audio series produced by Big Finish Productions based on the TV show Doctor Who. It sees the return of Katy Manning as Jo Grant, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, and John Levene as Sergeant Benton while the voice of the Third Doctor is performed by Tim Treloar replacing the original actor, Jon Pertwee, who died in 1996.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
