The War Between the Land and the Sea


The War Between the Land and the Sea is a British science fiction drama television miniseries. The series was created by Russell T Davies for BBC One and Disney+ as part of the Doctor Who franchise, known as the Whoniverse.
Starring Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the series features UNIT in their attempt to prevent a global war caused by the return of the Sea Devils, now known as "Homo Aqua". Jemma Redgrave, Colin McFarlane, Alexander Devrient and Ruth Madeley reprise their respective roles from Doctor Who and its franchised series. The series was first reported on in July 2024, and filmed from August to December 2024 across Wales, Cardiff and Spain. Of the five episodes, the premiere and finale were written by Davies, with the other three by Pete McTighe.
The War Between the Land and the Sea premiered on BBC One on 7 December 2025 with its first two episodes, and is scheduled to be released on Disney+ in 2026. The series has received generally positive reviews from critics for its performances and its similarities to Torchwood.

Premise

must take action to prevent a global war once an ancient species, the Homo aqua, comes out from the sea, revealing itself to humanity.

Cast

Main

  • Russell Tovey as Barclay Pierre-Dupont, a low-level UNIT transportation logistics manager who is unexpectedly appointed as humanity's ambassador.
  • Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Salt, a Homo Amphibia who serves as Ambassador of the Homo Aqua.

    Recurring

  • Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the commander-in-chief of UNIT. Redgrave reprises her role from Doctor Who.
  • Colin McFarlane as General Austin Pierce, a high-ranking American UNIT officer. McFarlane reprises his role from Torchwood: Children of Earth.
  • Alexander Devrient as Colonel Christofer Ibrahim, a senior UNIT officer who is part of Kate's personal staff. Devrient reprises his role from Doctor Who.
  • Ruth Madeley as Shirley Bingham, UNIT's fifty-sixth scientific advisor and part of Kate's personal staff. Madeley reprises her role from Doctor Who.
  • Adrian Lukis as Sir Jonathan Hynes, a British politician initially appointed as humanity's ambassador.
  • Vincent Franklin as Harry Shaw, the Prime Minister.
  • Steward Alexander as General Oscar Gunsberg, a United States Army diplomatic envoy and ally of Shaw.
  • Barbara Probst as General Dominique Dussolier, a French Navy diplomatic envoy and ally of Shaw.
  • Patrick Baladi as Sir Keith Spears, a water utilities businessman, key ally and donor of Shaw.
  • Francesca Corney as Sergeant Hana Chakri, a UNIT soldier assigned to protect Barclay.
  • Ann Akinjirin as Barbara Pierre-Dupont, Barclay's ex-wife.
  • Cat Gannon as Kirby Pierre-Dupont, Barclay and Barbara's teenage child.
  • Lachele Carl as Trinity Wells, an American news reporter. Carl reprises her role from Doctor Who.
  • Samuel Oatley as Tide, a Homo Amphibia representative who succeeds Salt as Ambassador of Homo Aqua.
  • Catherine Garton as Corporal Jane Hart, a UNIT soldier.
  • George Robinson as Steve Chesney, a UNIT computer expert.

    Guest

  • Mei Mac as Min Tso, a UNIT science and technology chief technician.
  • Hannah Donaldson as Captain Louise Mackie, a UNIT company officer specialising in translation.
  • William Gaminara as Ted Campbell, a humanity deputy ambassador from South Africa.
  • Manpreet Bachu as Ravi Singh, another operative on the ship sent into the Romanche Trench.
  • Carolin Stoltz as Elizabeth, Kate’s psychiatrist.

    Episodes

Production

Development

In July 2024, Deadline Hollywood reported a new Doctor Who spin-off titled The War Between the Land and the Sea was set to begin filming in September. Russell T Davies confirmed later that month at San Diego Comic Con that production would begin in August. Produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios, Davies served as executive producer along with Pete McTighe, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter. Edoardo Ferretti took on the role of television producer with pre-production underway by July 2024.

Casting

and Gugu Mbatha-Raw lead the series with Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient reprising their roles from Doctor Who as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Ibrahim, respectively. Tovey and Mbatha-Raw previously played Alonso Frame and Tish Jones in Doctor Who. Ruth Madeley also returns from Doctor Who, playing Shirley Anne Bingham. Colin McFarlane reprises his role as General Austin Pierce, a character first introduced and last seen fifteen years prior in the third series of Torchwood, another Doctor Who spin-off. Adrian Lukis, Patrick Baladi, Vincent Franklin, Francesca Corney and Mei Mac were announced as additional cast members in October 2024.

Writing

The five-part series was written by Davies and Pete McTighe. According to McTighe, Davies had already devised the series' concept and scripted its first episode prior to writing the 60th anniversary specials of Doctor Who, which marked the beginning of his second tenure on the series as writer and showrunner. After McTighe delivered the first draft of "Lucky Day", his episode of the fifteenth series of Doctor Who, Davies asked him to collaborate on the remainder of the spin-off in 2023. The two split writing duties across the programme, with Davies writing the finale in addition to his existing opening script, and McTighe the second, third and fourth episodes; Davies initially stated he had co-written the fourth with McTighe, but was subsequently not co-credited in the episode itself. Following filming wrapping on series 15 of Doctor Who, the first read-through for all five episodes occurred on 19 August 2024.

Filming

Some filming took place internationally, including on Mallorca. All episodes were produced in one block, compared to the two to three blocks that would usually be used for five episodes. Location shooting began on 29 August 2024 in Barry and Atlantic Wharf, both in south Wales. Filming continued into September in various locations across Wales, including at the Welsh Government Building, City Arms pub, Hodge House, and Merthyr Mawr. In October, the series was spotted filming at Cardiff City Hall and National Museum Cardiff. November filming occurred at Town Bridge in Newport, Wales. Filming concluded on 10 December 2024.

Music

On 30 May 2025, it was announced that Lorne Balfe had been hired as the show's composer.
A soundtrack album of Balfe's score was released digitally on 5 December 2025. The first track from the album, "Barclay's Theme", was released as a digital single 28 November 2025 and a cover of "'Heroes'" by Alison Goldfrapp and Balfe was released as a single 12 December 2025 by Goldfrapp's label A.G. Records. A CD edition will be released 30 January 2026.

Release

The series premiered on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom on 7 December 2025, and will stream on Disney+ internationally in 2026.

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

The critical reception of the opening two episodes was summarised by Martin Belam in The Guardian as "mixed". Ed Power of The Independent criticised the inclusion of UNIT as a primary presence in the show, saying that "it's always been a rule of thumb that the more UNIT in an episode, the more boring the results". Power remarked that this was the case for The War Between the Land and the Sea and awarded 2 out of 5 stars. Writing for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan gave 3 out of 5, feeling that the spin-off was "an opportunity wasted", comparing it in an inferior light to Russell T Davies' previous show, Years and Years. Several outlets praised the performance of returning actress Jemma Redgrave, including Radio Times, SciFi Pulse and The London Standard. Isobel Lewis, writing for The i Paper, compared the show to Torchwood, highlighting the use of profanity. Lewis praised Davies' "willingness" to "not simply feed fans the same stories over and over", noting how the finales featuring Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor often "struggled to stick the landing".
In a review for the third and fourth episodes, David Opie of Digital Spy criticised the unsubstantial build-up of the relationship between Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Cristofer Ibrahim, arguing "if you're going to pull off a stunt like this, you need to invest more time in the relationship before it's ripped apart." Louise Griffin, writing for Radio Times, concluded that the sacrifice of Ibrahim allowed for Stewart to "shine on her own", beyond only "carrying the legacy of the Brigadier." The connection between Barclay and Salt was described by Ruchika Bhat of Digital Mafia Talkies as the show exiting Doctor Who territory and entering into "sappy romance territory", with the different elements feeling incomplete and "such complicated themes in such a short span of time" seeming "a little bit ridiculous." Bhat praised the visual effects and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's performance however.
Writing for Voice Magazine, Kieran Battams compared the conclusion to Barclay's story as a reversal of The Shape of Water, whilst giving praise to Redgrave's multi-layered performance. Gizmodo writer James Whitbrook criticised what he felt was a rushed story, feeling Barclay and Salt's relationship was not "really give any time to develop", and despite the war being mentioned in name "we never get to really see that conflict." Soap Central writer Deanna Dsilver highlighted that The War Between was "easy to follow", with The End of the War "keeping that trend".