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
Written by
Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams
Starring
Composer Lorne Balfe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
ProducerEdoardo Ferretti
Production companies
Original release
Network
Related
Doctor Who

The War Between the Land and the Sea is an upcoming British science fiction television miniseries created by Russell T Davies for BBC One and Disney+ as part of the Whoniverse franchise. Starring Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient, the series features UNIT in their attempt to prevent a global war caused by the return of the Sea Devils.

Contents

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

Premise

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

Cast

Adrian Lukis, Patrick Baladi, Vincent Franklin, Francesca Corney, Mei Mac, [3] Waleed Hammad, Iestyn Arwel, Hannah Donaldson, Manpreet Bachu and Ann Akinjirin have been cast in undisclosed roles. [4]

Episodes

No.Episode  [5] Directed by  [6] Written by  [7] Original release date  [8] UK viewers
(millions)
1Episode 1 Dylan Holmes Williams Russell T Davies 7 December 2025 (2025-12-07)TBD
2Episode 2Dylan Holmes Williams Pete McTighe 7 December 2025 (2025-12-07)TBD
3Episode 3Dylan Holmes WilliamsPete McTighe14 December 2025 (2025-12-14)TBD
4Episode 4Dylan Holmes WilliamsRussell T Davies and Pete McTighe14 December 2025 (2025-12-14)TBD
5Episode 5Dylan 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. [9] Russell T Davies confirmed later that month at San Diego Comic Con that production would begin in August. [10] Produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios, Davies is an executive producer along with Phil Collinson, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter. [6] [11] Edoardo Ferretti took on the role of television producer with pre-production underway by July 2024. [12]

Casting

Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw lead the series with Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient. Redgrave and Devrient are reprising their roles from Doctor Who as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Ibrahim, respectively. [13] [1] Tovey and Mbatha-Raw previously played Alonso Frame and Tish Jones in Doctor Who, but are set to take on new characters in the spin-off. [14] 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. [15] Adrian Lukis, Patrick Baladi, Vincent Franklin, Francesca Corney and Mei Mac were announced as additional cast members in October 2024. [3]

Writing

The five-part series was written by Davies and Pete McTighe. [16] Davies is the current showrunner of Doctor Who while McTighe also previously wrote for the parent series. [17] 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. [7] The first read-through for all five episodes occurred on 19 August. [12] The series sees the return of the Sea Devils. [1]

Filming

Location scouting took place in July 2024. Some filming took place internationally. All episodes are being produced in one block, compared to the two to three blocks that would usually be used for five episodes. [7] 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. Further recording was set to take place in Mallorca, Spain in October 2024. November filming occurred at Town Bridge in Newport, Wales. Filming concluded on 10 December 2024. [18]

Music

On 30 May 2025, it was announced that Lorne Balfe had been hired as the show's composer. In addition to the news, Balfe also announced that there would be an upcoming opportunity for some people to be audience members at a recording session for the show the following month. [19]

Release

The series is set to air on BBC One and stream on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom on 7 December 2025, and will stream on Disney+ internationally in 2026. [8]

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. ↑ "Doctor Who spinoff shares first trailer and new character images". Digital Spy. 31 May 2025. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  3. 1 2 Cormack, Morgan (10 October 2024). "Doctor Who spin-off casts Line of Duty and Gentleman Jack stars". RadioTimes. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  4. ↑ "'The War Between the Land and the Sea' comes to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in December". Doctor Who TV. 30 October 2025. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  5. ↑ "'The War Between the Land and the Sea'". BBC One. 21 November 2025. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 1 2 "Doctor Who Spinoff Sets UK Airdate, US Fans Will Have to Wait". Den of Geek. 14 November 2025. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. 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.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ 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.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ 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.
  18. ↑ Gearan, Hannah (10 December 2024). "Russell T Davies Confirms Doctor Who Spinoff Filming Has Wrapped With BTS Photo". Screen Rant . Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  19. ↑ Martin-Jones, Josh (30 May 2025). "'Doctor Who' Spin-Off 'The War Between the Land And The Sea' Taps Legendary Composer Lorne Balfe".
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