The War Between the Land and the Sea

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The War Between the Land and the Sea
The War Between the Land and the Sea Logo.jpg
Promotional logo used on social media channels
Genre
Created by Russell T Davies
ShowrunnerRussell T Davies
Written by
Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams
Starring
Composer Lorne Balfe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes2
Production
Executive producers
ProducerEdoardo Ferretti
Running time43–53 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
Release7 December 2025 (2025-12-07) –
present
Related
Doctor Who

The War Between the Land and the Sea is a British science fiction television miniseries created by Russell T Davies for BBC One and Disney+ as part of the Doctor Who franchise. Starring Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jemma Redgrave and Colin McFarlane, the series features UNIT in their attempt to prevent a global war caused by the return of the Sea Devils, now called "Homo Aqua".

Contents

The War Between the Land and the Sea was filmed from August to December 2024. It consists of five episodes and premiered on BBC One on 7 December 2025, and is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in 2026.

Premise

UNIT must take action to prevent a global war once an ancient species, the Homo aqua, comes out from the sea, revealing itself to humanity. [1]

Cast

Episodes

No.Episode  [2] Directed by  [3] Written by  [4] Original release date  [5] UK viewers
(millions)
1"Homo Aqua" Dylan Holmes Williams Russell T Davies 7 December 2025 (2025-12-07)TBD
2"Plastic Apocalypse"Dylan Holmes Williams Pete McTighe 7 December 2025 (2025-12-07)TBD
3"The Deep"Dylan Holmes WilliamsPete McTighe14 December 2025 (2025-12-14)TBD
4"The Witch of the Waterfall"Dylan Holmes WilliamsRussell T Davies and Pete McTighe14 December 2025 (2025-12-14)TBD
5"The End of the War"Dylan Holmes WilliamsRussell T Davies21 December 2025 (2025-12-21)TBD

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. [6] Russell T Davies confirmed later that month at San Diego Comic Con that production would begin in August. [7] Produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios, Davies is an executive producer along with Pete McTighe, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter. [3] [8] Edoardo Ferretti took on the role of television producer with pre-production underway by July 2024. [9]

Casting

Russell Tovey 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. [1] [10] Tovey and Mbatha-Raw previously played Alonso Frame and Tish Jones in Doctor Who. [11] 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. [12] Adrian Lukis, Patrick Baladi, Vincent Franklin, Francesca Corney and Mei Mac were announced as additional cast members in October 2024. [13]

Writing

The five-part series was written by Davies and Pete McTighe. [14] Davies is the current showrunner of Doctor Who while McTighe also previously wrote for the parent series. [15] The two split writing duties across the programme, with Davies writing the premiere and finale episodes, McTighe writing the second and third episodes, and the two co-writing episode four together. [4] The first read-through for all five episodes occurred on 19 August 2024. [9] The series sees the return of the Sea Devils. [1]

Filming

Some filming took place internationally, including on Mallorca. [16] All episodes were produced in one block, compared to the two to three blocks that would usually be used for five episodes. [4] 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. [16] Filming concluded on 10 December 2024. [17]

Music

On 30 May 2025, it was announced that Lorne Balfe had been hired as the show's composer. [18]

The War Between the Land and the Sea
Soundtrack album by
Lorne Balfe
Released5 December 2025
Genre Soundtrack
Label Silva Screen
Singles from The War Between the Land and the Sea
  1. "Barclay's Theme"
    Released: 28 November 2025
  2. "'Heroes'"
    Released: 12 December 2025

A soundtrack album of Lorne Balfe's score will be released digitally 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 will also be released as a single 12 December 2025. A physical release of the album will launch in 2026. [19]

All tracks are written by Lorne Balfe, except where noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Barclay’s Theme" 
2."Aqua" 
3."The Mistake" 
4."Mission Launch" 
5."Into the Unknown" 
6."All over the World" 
7."Negotiations" 
8."Welcome our Guests" 
9."Weight of the World" 
10."Descending" 
11."Aqua Den" 
12."Prisoner of War" 
13."Lawless" 
14."Calling for Her" 
15."Survivor" 
16."Terrified of You" 
17."'Heroes'" (David Bowie, Brian Eno, performed by Alison Goldfrapp & Balfe) 

Release

Broadcast

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. [5]

Critical reception

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. [20] 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 . [21] Several outlets praised the performance of returning actress Jemma Redgrave, including Radio Times , SciFi Pulse and The London Standard . [22] [23] [24] 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". [25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Vlessing, Etan; Gajewski, Ryan (26 July 2024). "Doctor Who Spinoff Officially Happening at Disney, BBC". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  2. 1 2 "BBC One - The War Between the Land and the Sea - Episode guide". BBC One. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  3. 1 2 Stephan, Katcy (26 July 2024). "Doctor Who Spinoff The War Between the Land and Sea Announced, Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw to Star". Variety . Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Hibbs, James (12 October 2024). "Doctor Who showrunner confirms when filming will wrap on spin-off". Radio Times . Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Doctor Who Spinoff Sets UK Airdate, US Fans Will Have to Wait". Den of Geek. 14 November 2025. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  6. ↑ Goldbart, Max (17 July 2024). "Doctor Who's Regeneration: Has The Disney Gamble Paid Off?". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  7. ↑ Colbert, Isaiah (26 July 2024). "Doctor Who Spin-Off The War Between the Land and the Sea Announced at San Diego Comic-Con". IGN . Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  8. ↑ Berman, Marc (26 July 2024). "Doctor Who News: The War Between the Land and the Sea Spinoff On The Way". Forbes . Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Everything we know so far about Doctor Who spin-off 'The War Between the Land and the Sea'". Doctor Who. 19 November 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  10. ↑ Mitovich, Matt Webb (26 July 2024). "Doctor Who: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Russell Tovey Join Series Vets in War Between Land and Sea Spinoff". TVLine . Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  11. ↑ Youngs, Ian (26 July 2024). "Doctor Who spin-off to star Tovey and Mbatha-Raw". BBC. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  12. ↑ Williams, Marisa (23 August 2024). "We Just Got Our First Look at 'Doctor Who' Spin-Off 'The War Between the Land the Sea'". Collider . Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  13. ↑ Cormack, Morgan (10 October 2024). "Doctor Who spin-off casts Line of Duty and Gentleman Jack stars". RadioTimes. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  14. ↑ Taylor, Drew (26 July 2024). "Doctor Who Spin-Off The War Between the Land and the Sea Heads to Disney+". TheWrap . Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  15. ↑ Adams, Tim (26 August 2024). "Doctor Who Reveals First Look at Spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea". ComicBook.com . Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  16. 1 2 Ellis, Sophie (24 November 2025). "Doctor Who spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea now has a release date – and it's soon". BBC . Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  17. ↑ Gearan, Hannah (10 December 2024). "Russell T Davies Confirms Doctor Who Spinoff Filming Has Wrapped With BTS Photo". Screen Rant . Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  18. ↑ Martin-Jones, Josh (30 May 2025). "'Doctor Who' Spin-Off 'The War Between the Land And The Sea' Taps Legendary Composer Lorne Balfe".
  19. ↑ "Original Soundtrack for 'The War Between the Land and the Sea' coming 5th December". DoctorWho.tv. 28 November 2025. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  20. ↑ Power, Ed (8 December 2025). "The War Between the Land and the Sea review – Doctor Who spin-off is bland without the Time Lord". The Independent . Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  21. ↑ Mangan, Lucy (7 December 2025). "The War Between the Land and the Sea review – prepare to roll your eyes a lot at this fishy Doctor Who spinoff". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  22. ↑ Griffin, Louise (2 December 2025). "The War Between the Land and the Sea review: Doctor Who spin-off could turn the tide for the Whoniverse". Radio Times . Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  23. ↑ Cullen, Ian (8 December 2025). "In Review: The War Between the Land and the Sea (S1 – EP 1 & 2) Homo Aqua & Plastic Apocalypse". SciFi Pulse. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  24. ↑ Jessop, Vicky (3 December 2025). "The War Between the Land and the Sea on BBC One review: a thoughtful, Doctor-lite take on aliens". London Standard . Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  25. ↑ Lewis, Isobel (6 December 2025). "The War Between Land and Sea is a swearier, sexier Doctor Who". The i Paper . Retrieved 8 December 2025.
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