The War Between the Land and the Sea

The War Between the Land and the Sea is an upcoming British science fiction television series created by Russell T Davies for BBC One and Disney+. A spin-off of the Whoniverse franchise, the series is set to feature UNIT as they attempt to prevent a global war caused by the return of the Sea Devils. It is expected to star Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jemma Redgrave, and Alexander Devrient.

The War Between the Land and the Sea began filming in August 2024. The miniseries will consist of five episodes, and is currently expected to be released in 2025.

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]

• Russell Tovey
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw
• Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart
• Alexander Devrient as Colonel Ibrahim
• Ruth Madeley as Shirley Ann Bingham
• Colin McFarlane as General Austin Pierce
• Adrian Lukis^[2]
• Patrick Baladi^[2]
• Vincent Franklin^[2]
• Francesca Corney^[2]
• Mei Mac^[2]

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 Phil Collinson, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter.^[3][8] Edoardo Ferretti took on the role of television producer. Pre-production was underway by July 2024.^[9]

Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are expected to 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.^[10][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.^[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 spin-off of Doctor Who.^[12] Adrian Lukis, Patrick Baladi, Vincent Franklin, Francesca Corney, and Mei Mac were announced as additional cast members in October 2024.^[2]

The five-part series was written by Davies and Pete McTighe.^[13] Davies is the current showrunner of Doctor Who while McTighe also previously wrote for the parent series.^[14] 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] A read-through for all five episodes occurred on 20 August.^[15] The series is set to see the return of the Sea Devils.^[1]

Location scouting took place in July 2024.^[9] Some filming is set to take place internationally.^[15] All five episodes are being produced in one block, compared to the two to three blocks that would usually be used for five episodes.^[4] Location filming began on 29 August 2024 in Barry and Atlantic Wharf, both in Cardiff, Wales.^[16] Filming continued into September in various locations across Wales, including at the Welsh Government Building, City Arms pub, Hodge House, and Merthyr Mawr.^[17][18] Further recording is set to take place in Mallorca, Spain in October 2024.^[19] Davies revealed that filming would conclude just before Christmas 2024.^[4]

The series is expected to air on BBC One and stream on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, and release on Disney+ internationally in 2025.^[20][5]